Provincial sports leaders have come up with a raft of ideas to help limit the spread of COVID-19
This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Imagine youth sports with equipment and hands being sanitized repeatedly throughout games. Picture kids keeping their distance from one another on fields and benches, asked not to high five, huddle up, spit sunflower seeds or do postgame handshakes.
Provincial sport leaders are devising ways to retrofit their sports with physical-distancing adaptations, readying their return-to-play proposals for the day when health authorities ask to see them. If seasons can be salvaged, start dates will vary from region to region and sport to sport, based on provincial government timelines and approvals.
Each provincial soccer association – and each of their local clubs and academies – will submit their own return-to-play plans, based on what local health authorities advise. Soccer leaders across Canada have been collaborating on ideas, deVos says, such as players using only their own equipment, instead of shared balls and team uniforms, and doing activities that keep players spaced apart. Teams may need to add buffer times between sessions and enforce strict drop-off and pickup protocols.
Some provinces are closer than others when it comes to a resumption of team field sports. Softball BC, for instance, has created detailed return-to-play protocols, because they are shooting to start June 1, based on what the B.C. government has announced about its phases for reopening the province. But there are hurdles. Softball BC needs to view provincial health-and-safety guidelines for sport to see if their protocols are compliant.
“We just don’t think we can play games at that age without a mass of kids all running after one ball and we think this will be fun for families in that age group,” said Rick Benson, executive director Softball BC. “We don’t want parents or kids to have any reason to be afraid to come to the ball park.”
“I see a season starting maybe mid-July or beginning of August,” said Maxime Lamarche, Quebec Baseball’s general manager. “And maybe we can go a little deeper into the fall instead of stopping as we normally do in September.”
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