Sports Life Returns to AUC
By: Donya Abouelezz
Special to The Caravan
Athletic activities have gradually come back to campus with the re-opening of the sports complex last month, while maintaining Coronavirus precautions.
The university has slowly been bringing back the facilities and activities that were available prior to the pandemic.
On October 16, the Office of Athletics announced the opening of the sports complex for all professional student athletes and sports enthusiasts provided that the rules and preventive measures are followed to limit the spread of the virus. Only outdoor facilities, with the exception of the gym, will be operational.
To preserve social distance, the available facilities will accommodate a restricted number of students: only 20 students will be allowed in the gym at a time. These students must be completely vaccinated and need to register through the “AUC Connect” application prior to accessing the facilities.
Some indoor activities, such as basketball, handball, and volleyball, have been changed to outdoor games in order to resurrect sports life.
“As part of our system and the university system in general, athletes will be required to [self-test] before using the sports facilities, with any player having any symptoms being denied access,” said Sharif El Arian, the senior director at the Athletics Office at AUC.
According to El-Erian, this semester the Athletics Office is prioritizing skill tests, recruiting new players to teams, as well as training, with the possibility of holding internal competitions. Local competitions for universities are expected to begin next semester.
Athletes representing AUC in the National Universities Tournament will compete among 50 other universities around Egypt in sports such as diving, karate, taekwondo, judo, bodybuilding, gymnastics, darts, billiard, speed ball, and badminton.
New sports have been recently added for the first time at AUC such as the modern pentathlon, which includes sports like fencing, swimming, horse riding, pistol shooting, and running.
Professional athletes are concerned about returning to sporting life with some restrictions, fearing that they would not be able to train well due to the university’s regulations.
“Despite the fact that I am the team’s captain, I don’t know when I’ll actually return to train daily like before, and if there will be official matches and competitions this semester due to all the restrictions imposed by the sports office,” said Karim Shawkat, a Mechanical Engineering senior and second captain of the men’s swimming team.
Youssef Magdy, a sophomore majoring in Computer Engineering and a member of the men’s basketball team, expressed his concern about moving training from the ARTOC hall to outdoor facilities. He went on to explain that basketball is a game that requires specific surfaces to prevent injuries, and so, playing outside could affect players if there are weather fluctuations, for example.
“One of my concerns is that we will compete in competitions with a low classification instead of being with the top ones because we stopped participating for two years despite the participation of the rest of the private universities,” said Magdy.
“This classification will negatively affect us because we will be chosen to play in remote local places where they are not adequately prepared for such sports,” he continued.
