Sports such as volleyball, soccer and cross country are expected to compete for Conference Carolinas championships in the spring. The NCAA, however, has already canceled fall national championships for those sports.

No decisions have been made on whether to delay the start of winter sports, such as basketball or wrestling. Some out-of-season sports, such as baseball and softball, will be able to train and practice within limits for up to eight hours a week. All will be required to wear masks, social distance and observe other required protocols when not actively practicing.

The hope of having athletic competition in the near future will depend largely on testing, according to Hicks, especially for high-risk sports that at King include soccer, basketball, volleyball and wrestling.

“It all hinges on the availability of testing, the cost of testing and on the ability of the tests to meet what our needs are. For us to compete in what the NCAA has identified as high-risk sports, we have to test within 72 hours of competition,” said Hicks, who is as hopeful as everyone that advances will be made in combating the coronavirus. “Currently, the turnaround time on those tests is more than 72 hours.”

While many leagues, such as the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, has shut down sports until the new year, Hicks said Conference Carolinas is leaving it up to individual institutions if they wanted to compete in some low-risk sports such as golf, tennis and possibly cross country and swimming.

King is one of several Conference Carolinas schools who plan to compete in some way, along with non-NCAA sports, such as cycling, e-sports and bass fishing, which is slated to compete in a tournament next weekend.