After a 2+ month quarantine period, many provinces, states and countries are starting to ease up on the physical distancing measures implemented to ensure that we flatten the curve of COVID19.

In phase I, we have seen restaurants, hair salons, non-essential retail, hotels and other services return with various safety guidelines to ensure that we continue to flatten the curve of COVID19 but slowly return to a sense of normalcy.

The sector that we are involved with is one that I am most excited in seeing work on return to play protocols, youth sports.

What I have found over the last couple of months during the hiatus, however, is the overall direction provided from national authorities and the trickle down effect from national, to provincial (or state), to municipal levels and literally every organization I have talked to saying they are waiting to see what their respective governing bodies provide in terms of guidelines so they can start the process of having their members return to play.

The first of the most anticipated documents that all sports groups in British Columbia (our home province in Canada) were waiting for was the guidelines for ViaSport, the provincial governing body under new leadership and legacy from the 2010 Winter Olympics held in Vancouver/Whistler.

The link to the guidelines has now been released, click on the image below to download a copy for reference.

The 35-page document outlines a generic return to play guidelines for all provincial sports organizations to then create their own guidelines to then in turn provide to their local organizations to the same.

Note that ViaSport is requiring that level has their own return to play guidelines, board members review/approve before are provided to their memberships.

I.e. First The National Sport Organization, then Provincial, then Regional (if applicable) and lastly local sports organizations.

The document was released June 1^st, so it will take weeks for the various levels to prepare their own set of return to play guidelines to minimize the risk of the further spread of the COVID19 virus.

Yesterday I attended a webinar that was hosted one of my colleagues in Alberta, Lea Weins a Quality Sport Consultant in Alberta, outlining the project they undertook in various communities in Alberta identifying what quality sport would look like which now will look different as a result of the various health and governing guidelines

What I found interesting was a poll of the attendees from various sports organizations highlighted what I suspected, almost all (97%) stated that their were looking for clear guidelines and timelines to return back to activity.  Almost half were looking for assistance to mitigate risk as well as sanitization/cleaning support to ensure the safety of participants.

Source: Alberta Quality Sport Webinar June 2, 2020

This theme is consistent regardless of what sports organization I have talked to in recent weeks and I came across a survey that was done for Project Play By North Carolina and Utah universities of over 1000 youth sports parents in the USA

When asked how comfortable they were with their kids returning to sports 49.5% of parents are afraid of their kids getting sick if sport resumes and just shy of 46% stated they are afraid of getting sick if their child returns to sport!

When parents were asked of their comfort level for their kids returning to various types of sport, over 70% were comfortable for their kids to return to pickup sports (AKA Free Play) and only 50% for what was the pay to play model pre-covid in terms of travel/elite club league sports.

In literally every webinar, Zoom or phone call I have had for over a month the one thing that was consistent was the LACK of consistency but it is due to the fact that every sport has their own challenges how they will return to play, some are low risk (i.e. archery) vs. higher risk team contact sports (rugby) how they can modify their practice sessions initially to adhere to physically distancing requirements.

Below is a chart prepared outlining the various phases for sport activity (also prepared by ViaSport)

Phase I – State of Emergency Quarantine Period (March 13- May 18^th)

Phase II – the phase we (and others are about to enter)

Notice the bare minimum requirements regardless of the sport

1. Physical Distancing (6’/2m) must still be adhered to
2. Increased Hand Hygiene (washing hands for 20 seconds regularly)
3. Outdoor participation is safest … indoor facilities (gyms, pools, rinks) slowly reopening
4. Small Groups, no or limited spectators, focus on fundamental movement skills
5. NO Contact activities which will require contact sports like Rugby, Football, Hockey to revamp programming but also many others like basketball, soccer to ensure adhere to physical distancing
6. Minimal shared equipment and must be disinfected frequently

Phase III/IV are still a ways away so in the short term (at least until September 1^st projected for Phase III), any spring programs/summer camps will have to improvise, adapt and overcome to meet the COVID19 phase II guidelines.

Here are some of the challenges that are holding back sports organizations from shifting to phase II

1. Insurance Requirements and if a pandemic/contagion exclusion is needed
2. Updates to Player Participation/Waivers to include COVID19 disclaimer (i.e. that organizations are not to be found liable if participants test positive for COVID19)
3. Facility Rental – Who is going to bear the costs (product and payroll) to ensure that common areas, equipment is sanitized and if masks will be needed
4. Scheduling – to ensure minimize overlap of large groups for dropping off/pick up of participants
5. Spectators – Yes or No … if so how many?
6. Total Number of participants permitted (players, coaches, trainers, other)?
7. Will lower numbers make the business model viable?

I even had some ask about what others were doing in terms of tryouts, coach and team selection which I shared that was not even being considered, the goal was merely to get kids back out to their sports in the safest way possible, there are not going to be any competitive games in phase II from the all the sanctioned sports organizations I have talked to.

**As far as non-sanctioned sports that is another thing it itself, only time will tell if they also practice the DO NO HARM philosophy vs. ramping up games and tournaments before health authorities deem it safe for us to do so **

Why is there so much ambiguity, confusion?

Because even the experts are no longer experts when it comes to dealing with a pandemic like the novel coronavirus, which is why over and over again we are hearing the term unprecedented.  Never in the course of human history has ALL sport been shut down, from professional to U-sport to high school and community sports.

The other challenge is there are many organizations leary of taking the risk of putting their toe in the water until someone else does so or they are given clear outlines from the higher-ups so to speak.

In sum, as health authorities have now deemed it safe for us to enter phase II, we shared in “What will the new Normal Be” how some organizations were returning to play starting with the infamous Mother’s Day Baseball tourney hosted in St. Louis that many felt was too much too soon.

I just checked my best friend Google to see if any other news had been shared since and to date there have been no reported cases of people that tested positive that participated in the event.

There have been a few others that have or are about to open their doors to return back to play implementing various safety measures to adhere to health authority guidelines.

 

Following the lead of Burnaby Winter Club who re-opened for bookings May 5^th with rigid safety protocols, now my the multi-sheet facility that I coached at for many years has re-opened after their parking lot was turned into a Hyundai new vehicle parking lot

 

 

I started to see cars being parked early part of April as I drove past the rink which I can only assume was a means to generate some revenue as the private facility did close its doors to adhere to the quarantine period.

Fast Forward to May 19^th, they also have opened up 2 of their 4 sheets of ice for skill development sessions like BWC according to Surrey Community staff member that shared during one of the many webinars I have done the last month.

 

Note – just in a few days the facility manager confirmed that 95% of their ice was booked!

Only 6 skaters are permitted on the ice with a skills instructor, dressing rooms and concession are closed, and there is a one way flow inside the arena

They also have been creative in terms of signage for spectators (only one per player permitted and for markings on the ice to ensure that players adhere to physical distancing, including expanding the goalie crease by 6’!

 

Once Soccer Canada, ViaSport reviewed BC Soccer released their return to play guidelines on June 3rd.

Click on the image for the guidelines shared with their members

 

 

They outline 3 return to play phases only so their phase I is what ViaSport is calling phase II (after the quarantine period)

The documents include guidelines for local organizations, sample sessions and timelines

The sample sessions do outline how fields can be utilized (outdoors) to ensure that number of attendees on the field at any one time does not exceed 50

Session Example of 10 players in group 1 with 2 coaches working on various soccer skills

 

There is no reference to competitive game play, only skill sessions which adheres to ViaSports and BC Health Authority Guidelines.

 

 

Still working on their return to play guidelines for clubs but one of their directors shared in webinar how they envision their return to play will be in three components;

#1 – Only singles play, no doubles or mixed doubles play will be permitted

This will be mandatory for U11 and U9 age groups to start which they believe will be a good thing for their overall sport so coaches can focus less on tactics and more on skill development until the players mature and players have the skills to execute tactics

This also will permit coaches to do more one on one coaching vs. group sessions where coach to player ratio was a high as 1:8

HMMMMM … where I have I shared that before???

#2 – No Spectators initially, only players and coaches will be permitted

#3 – They had already started looking at piloting but are going to roll out AIR Badminton (AKA outside badminton like kids have done in their yards for 2 months during quarantine)

This was initiated pre-COVID lockdown to provide another playing experience than indoor, similar to the Beach Volleyball concept

More examples will follow in the coming weeks as more organizations release their return to play guidelines but as the cliché goes, good always comes out of bad and as more and more sports ramp up for Phase II the challenges we faced pre-covid in terms of adult behavior in the stands/sidelines, focusing on winning at all costs will not be an issue we deal with.

Perhaps this also will be the much-needed catalyst for sports in North America to consider other youth sports development models that we have shared in past like Norway, Sweden and Iceland who don’t even have competitive games until kids acquire the skills to from 6-12 years of age and as a result have had huge success at the Olympic and International Levels as a result.

Only time will tell.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids.