A week after Hurricane Helene hit Asheville, North Carolina, and did immense damage to the city and surrounding area, UNC-Asheville released an update about getting their athletic teams. Director of Athletics Janet Cone shared that all student-athletes have been relocated to outside the immediate area.
“We have been working tirelessly to find a way for our fall sports teams to practice and compete in Big South Conference regular season and championship competitions. Thanks to our sister institution UNC Charlotte, our men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball teams will be housed on their campus starting Monday, October 7…in addition, we now have tentative plans for Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Women’s Golf, and Women’s Swim and Dive to be hosted by other institutions and communities.”
There is no official word yet on where the swim team—which is a women’s only program—will be able to train, but as UNC-Asheville used the word “tentative” to describe their plans for the team, they may not be able to share the exact location until they’ve worked out all the details.
This is not the first time that students from schools affected by hurricanes have been relocated to nearby schools. During Hurricane Katrina, hundreds of universities helped students from Tulane and other New Orleans colleges, including enrolling them as provisional students. Student-athletes were often moved by the team; swimming and diving, along with men’s and women’s tennis, volleyball, and women’s soccer were housed at Texas A&M University.
Full Statement by UNC-Asheville AD:
Dear Bulldog Family,
First and foremost, we would like to thank everyone who has reached out to check on our student-athletes, coaches, and staff. As the City of Asheville begins to recover from this horrendous natural disaster, we have relocated all of our student-athletes to locations outside of our immediate area.
We have been working tirelessly to find a way for our fall sports teams to practice and compete in Big South Conference regular season and championship competitions. Thanks to our sister institution, UNC Charlotte, our men’s and women’s soccer and volleyball teams will be housed on their campus starting Monday, October 7. These programs will be able to practice while at Charlotte in preparation for returning to action as early as Friday, October 11.
In addition, we now have tentative plans for Men’s and Women’s Tennis, Women’s Golf, and Women’s Swim and Diving to be hosted by other institutions and communities.
Our next priority is Men’s and Women’s Basketball, and work has already begun to find temporary spaces for these programs to stay and train.
The safety and well-being of our student-athletes, coaches, and staff is at the forefront of our decisions to find temporary placements for our teams. Having opportunities for our student-athletes to continue competing while our city recovers is a privilege we do not take lightly.
We would like to thank Chancellor van Noort for allowing our students to continue to train, UNC Charlotte Athletic Director Mike Hill and his staff for welcoming our students with open arms, and the Big South for being extremely supportive of our situation here in Asheville. We will share additional information about the remaining programs as we confirm locations and other details.
As we continue to assess our needs and recovery efforts, a UNC Asheville disaster relief fund has been established. Your contributions will support the entire campus community. To give, visit https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/52762/donations/new.
Sincerely,
Janet R. Cone
Director of Athletics
