“Decision to Erase Our Careers”: US Tennis Player Expresses Grief Over Controversial NCAA Decision

In October 2020, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) penalized 12 UMass athletes for receiving a $9,100 impermissible payment between 2014-2017. Shockingly, it erased all the results of involved UMass men’s basketball team and women’s tennis players during that period. Later on, Brittany Collens, former UMass tennis player, received nationwide attention when she made her story public. But it all went in vain as NCAA recently announced that given penalties would stand.

In the case of Collens, she had received an extra $252 from her school due to a clerical error. The money was for access to the landline, which was included in her scholarship funds when she lived on-campus but did not stop even after moving out. For this, she lost her entire junior career, including the Atlantic 10 Conference championship title.

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Tennis player appalled by NCCA’s decision that wiped her junior career

Although nobody involved was aware of this situation, the NCAA’s Division I Infractions Appeals Committee concluded that the overpayments made them ineligible to compete. Accordingly, Collens, a professional player now, took on Twitter to express her grief.

“Today is a pretty sad day,” Collens tweeted. “NCAA never acknowledged us, our petition, or asked us to participate. I truly can’t believe they denied the appeal standing with the decision to erase our careers. This is who the NCAA is. They do not care about athletes in the slightest.”

Today is a pretty sad day. @NCAA never acknowledged us, our petition, or asked us to participate. I truly can’t believe they denied the appeal standing with the decision to erase our careers. This is who the @NCAA is. They do not care about athletes in the slightest. https://t.co/ykFB5ko9Rt

— Brittany Collens (@Brittcollens22) November 17, 2021

Furthermore, the athletic director of the University of Massachusetts, Ryan Bamford, also revealed his disappointment. He also emphasized that the payments made were “inadvertent and unintentional.”

Moreover, he called out NCCA staff and members for their lack of support in the “golden age of student-athlete rights.” Bamford said, “We say we are here for our students, but time and again do things that are incongruent. It’s shameful.”

What’s more disheartening, Collens and her friend lost their junior careers over $252 each, whereas the rest of the amount went to the UMass men’s basketball team.

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Collen’s career so far

After leaving UMass, Collens has been competing at a professional level for the past three years. Presently, she is outside the Top 1000 Rankings in women’s tennis.

Sep 11, 2021; Flushing, NY, USA; A view of the match between Emma Raducanu of Great Britain (L) and Leylah Fernandez of Canada (R) in the women’s singles final on day thirteen of the 2021 U.S. Open tennis tournament at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. Mandatory Credit: Danielle Parhizkaran-USA TODAY Sports

Notably, the Atlantic 10 Conference championship title was one of the highlights of her career. But now, it remains void.

Hopefully, Collens will now put everything into building her career in WTA. Let’s see if she enters the big stage in the coming years.

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