Sports leagues teeing up for relaunch

By Sean Feagan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Area league and club sports are getting ready to relaunch after months of shutdown, although some restrictions and uncertainties remain.

On June 10, the Town of Strathmore announced the reopening of sports fields for organized sports teams that comply with provincial guidelines, at the start of stage two.

That means soccer could kick off sooner than expected, explained Angie Boyd of the Strathmore Soccer Association.

“We are extremely happy with the decision made by the Strathmore Regional Emergency Management Agency today and look forward to looking at what Strathmore Soccer can do moving forward with safe programming,” said Boyd in a statement.

In response to the stage two announcement, Strathmore and District Minor Baseball opened their registration, said Jeff Bodie, president of the organization.

“We’re going to start practicing this week,” he said. “That will be in accordance with the Baseball Alberta Return to Play Guidelines, which has the basic stuff, (such as) emphasis on hygiene and social distancing.”

While Bodie said it is unlikely the organization will participate in the AA or community leagues as usual, there is potential for exhibition games.

According to the Matrix Cheer All-Stars, the second stage of relaunch is something to cheer about. The club is planning a “soft opening” over the next two weeks while preparing to meet all protocols and restrictions, explained Cassi Weiss, head coach and owner.

“Our soft opening will be opening up programs for our current clients, and rehearsing and trying out our new protocols,” she said. “We will be opening our programs up to new clients and releasing our 2020-21 team handbook and competitive team placements in the next few weeks.”

Uncertainty remains for Strathmore Minor Hockey, said Dusty Bassen, president of the organization.

“It’s kind of all up in the air right now,” he said. “We’re waiting for facilities to open and waiting to see what the next set of restrictions are.”

Registration for minor hockey opened on June 1. 

“Right now, we’re planning for the start of the season like normal, until we get those updates from the government and the town,” said Bassen.

The restart of organized team sports is part of Alberta’s stage two relaunch strategy, which started on June 12. However, several restrictions and guidelines remain in effect to limit the potential spread of COVID-19 during sports, as well as physical and recreational activities.

To outline these restrictions, the province released the 14-page document, Return to Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation – Stage 2. Many of the guidelines are like those for other settings that have been repeated for months, such as physical distancing, enhanced hygiene practices and strategies to respond to symptomatic individuals.

Under these guidelines, all aspects of organized sport, physical activity and recreation, including programming, training, practice and competition, may proceed if physical distancing is possible. 

The province is encouraging organizers to modify activities to limit the potential spread of the virus, especially for indoor activities. This includes approaches to reduce the sharing of equipment, increase opportunities for physical distancing, playing outdoors if possible, shortening games or practices, and limiting the number of participants.

If a sport or activity cannot be modified to maintain physical distance among players, the province is instructing organizers to limit the number of contacts between different participants by playing with set cohorts. Cohorts could be a given class timeslot or “mini leagues” that should not exceed 50 people, including participants, officials, coaches and trainers.

Cohorts or mini leagues should remain together throughout stage two and only play within the same geographic region, according to the guidelines. Each participant is restricted to playing within a single cohort in one area, meaning multisport or multiteam athletes will have to choose one league in which to play for now. 

Mini leagues will allow sport teams to play safe and will mitigate risk of widespread virus transmission by limiting the number of athletes that come within close contact, according to the province.