I have been sharing for years in lieu of being part of the problem, figure out a solution and ironically this past week I did 3 facebook live interviews with guest speakers who had their own spins on Figure it Out and another time was when I was a BC Hockey Summit where Corey McNabb, the director of player development for Hockey Canada also used the term when referencing the importance of not making drills too linear so that players had an opportunity to figure it out and be creative.

These were two of the three from this week talking about how they were returning back to play after the COVID-19 quarantine period that shut down sport mid March

Steve Boyle – Founder & CEO

When I connected with my good friend and colleague, Steve Boyle, the founder and CEO of 241 sports and he shared Figure it Out several times during our chat as he and his wife Kerry have now ran their second sport sampling camp in the Connecticut area coming out of the COVID-19 Pandemic quarantine period.

Their first camp held last week was what he referred to as the scrimmage, just over 40 campers, where they implemented many changes to their normal programming developed over the last 10 years of hosting camps across the USA to adapt to various return to play guidelines from health authorities, parks and recreation and other governing bodies.

Like we will be doing for our first sport sampling camp we will be running in partnership with 241 Sports at the end of July at Queens Park in New West, BC, they added the following safety protocols to mitigate as much risk of possible for any campers, staff and families to be infected by the COVID-19 virus to include;

• Cohort Groups of 10 – kids will be put into cohort groups of 10 for the entire week and will sample 8-10 different sports over the course of the week.  They will be assigned 2 junior coaches along with directors that will manage 2 cohort groups to provide the activities

An example of what that cohort group will look like at our camp is one of the groups from this weeks camp with over 162 campers at their flagship camp in Connecticut below

• Leaders – will all have masks/bandana’s (like those in the pic) and be lifted when social distancing of less than 6’ is not possible, in particular if have to administer first aid
• Lunches – will be ordered from a local sandwich shop for all campers and the sandwich shop will sort by campers order and put in their cohort bags for leaders to pick up when they are delivered. This will prevent any potential of virus contamination to other cohorts as well as challenges to keep the lunches cool during hot days (at this camp the temperature exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees C)

• Sports/Sampling – to minimize the contact of equipment and time to sanitize, team sports like lacrosse, floorball will be run for one day only and all cohorts will get a chance to day, but universal activities like stickball, wiffleball, capture the flag, impromptu baseball with tennis raquet/wiffle ball and so on will be various activities kids will get to try over the course of the week

** This differs from prior 241 model where kids would choose 3 sports they would do over the week augmented with a day of universal sports so as a result of COVID-19 safety protocols, Steve and the rest of 241 team FIGURED it Out to provide even more fun and activities vs. cancelling programs as many other sports organizers have done

• Arrival/Pickup – kids will be asked questions how they feel, temperature checks as required and so forth when arriving at the park, then will be brought to their cohort for 90 minutes of cohort play time before trying various sports activities each day
• Parents are not permitted to exit their cars and masks will be worn by leaders when 6’ or less distancing
• Prescreening of the campers before they get out of the cars (list of questions if feel sick etc))
• Ensure they have their water name with name on it, own sunscreen, bug spray etc (no sharing will be permitted)

“Don’t change the rules in the middle of the game”

He also had to adapt to health authorities changing the rules in the middle of the game where they changed cohorts to 14 and temperature check requirements and one of the parents shared they signed their kids up based on what safety protocols would be enforced from the get go

He went back to original safety protocols and for each camp going forward whatever standards were in place from day 1 would stay in place and we plan to do the same, whatever the bar that is in place at the start of the camp in terms of safety protocols will remain the bar until the end of the week.

Numerous other examples were shared by Steve in our Facebook live we did can view HERE

Dave Newson, Executive Director Semiahmoo Minor Hockey

Another example of a sports organization that has figured it out came from my discussion with Dave Newson, the Executive Director with Semiahmoo Minor Hockey, who shared with me the weekly calls that he initiated with a couple of minor hockey associations which has now evolved to having representation from every minor hockey association in the lower mainland of Vancouver since April.

In a recent news article that he contributed to he was quoted saying ….

“In the past, we’d get together and we wouldn’t get very much done. People would be very territorial and worry about their own situation.”

— Dave Newson, Semiahmoo minor hockey

Although our Face book live had some challenges with wifi connectivity, Dave shared how all the minor hockey associations who traditionally kept things very close to their chest, as a result of COVID-19 and the impact how it will affect minor hockey association returning back to the ice in the fall, now they are working collaboratively along with PCAHA, BC Hockey and Hockey Canada so they can do so safely.

A few things that he shared will be part of the return to play protocols similar to other sports

• Prescreening of players (all ages) will be required before kids are permitted to enter the ice rinks, this will be a series of digital questions each day

• Revised Medical sheets with acknowledgement of COVID-19 risks required to be signed before kids return back to the ice

• Social distancing will be required and smaller groups on the ice to start like has been done with various private skills developers since BC entered Phase III, the first minor hockey association to do so is South Delta and Semiahmoo and many others have plans for skills camps in August.

One of the biggest challenges will be facilities re-opening again, although the private facilities have already done so like Planet Ice, Canlan, Winter Clubs shared in prior posts, the municipally owned facilities may be slower to open due to budget issues, layoffs of staff during COVID-19 and so forth.

What I found of particular interest in our chat is their (Semiahmoo) and other minor hockey associations registrations are on track to be same as last season although initially the model will be different with various COVID-19 return to play guidelines until we get to phase IV with a vaccine or treatment for COVID-19.

That was exciting to hear, as I and many others I have talked to have feared due to economic challenges that people have faced due to layoffs, losing their jobs, businesses it potentially would have a negative impact on youth sports registrations in the fall.

These are just two of many examples how youth sports organizations are improvising, adapting, overcoming and Figuring it Out.

The upside, is they are doing so collectively and collaborating with “competitors or rivals” when they traditionally would not have in past.

Based on early indications from the private organizations who have been the first out of the gate, particularly Burnaby Winter Club who was the first to open their doors under rigid safety protocols May 5^th, now 2 months later, there have been no positive COVID-19 cases reported which is exciting to hear as well.

The one constant that comes out of all the conversations I am having with various others is we still have a long ways to go, but if we follow the guidelines outlined from health authorities and governing bodies, as the examples above showed from 241 sports and initial hockey, returning and mitigating risks can happen if we work in collaboration to Figure it Out.