Every sport has a moment that fans will remember where they were when It happened. For NASCAR fans, it’s the day Dale Earnhardt died a turn away from finishing the 2001 Daytona 500. For many fans of the NFL, it will be the recent sudden cardiac arrest of Damar Hamlin on the field of play. For gymnastics fans, it’s March 12, 2020, the day NCAA gymnastics suddenly stopped.
On that day, the NCAA released a statement announcing the cancellation of the men’s and women’s Division I basketball tournament, as well as “all remaining winter and spring championships” following weeks of monitoring the coronavirus pandemic. The events that followed days, weeks, and months after the initial cancellation are things that athletes and coaches alike remembered three years later and likely will for the rest of their lives.
This time of year is typically when teams are in the midst of preparing for conference championships, and March of 2020 was no exception. Many teams were able to compete the first weekend of March, setting up for an exciting lead-up to the conference championships. The next week, however, conferences started to announce plans to limit spectators at events to prevent the spread. It was that Thursday, March 12, that the language flipped from limited…
