Island sports teams gradually coming out of virus lockdown
It only remotely resembles the real thing at this point, but it’s better than the virtual and individual sports training that athletes were reduced to during the lockdown.
Just over a week since the province released its Return to Sport Guidelines, after a review by WorkSafe B.C. and viaSport, Island sports teams are beginning to re-emerge.
The main return guidelines concern maintaining physical distance of two metres, minimal sharing of equipment, focusing on skill development in small-group training and staying local.
The first Island team back to practice last week was pro soccer’s Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League.
Next was the B.C. Junior Football Conference. “We are in the small-group phase with nine players on the field at a time, with one coach, and the players are just running,” said head coach Shane Beatty of the BCFC’s Westshore Rebels. “We are not even touching the ball at this point.”
Up next will be the teams of the B.C. Premier Baseball League. The 13-team BCPBL includes the Victoria Mariners, Victoria Eagles, Parksville Royals and Nanaimo Pirates.
“We hope to be ready to [begin practice] in about 10 days, but it is going to look very different,” said Mariners GM and head coach Mike Chewpoy.
“There will only be 10 players total on the diamond at any time and it will be strictly crafted and drill-oriented. The players will stay two metres apart and even our tractor will be sanitized.
“We will need to run two practice sessions, one in the afternoon and one on the evening.”
Chewpoy said the hope is the
BCPBL season can be salvaged with a September start to league play for baseball.
The BCFC also hopes for at least a shortened season with a September launch for football. If it does, Westshore would be a favourite.
“We’re loaded, if we can start,” Beatty said of his highlyregarded recruitment class.
The CPL is aiming for an abbreviated single-site season from mid-July through September at either Westhills Stadium in Langford or Charlottetown, P.E.I.
Based on current B.C. health regulations banning gatherings of more than 50 people, fans would not be allowed to attend games.
The province passed an order Wednesday regarding the return to play that absolves amateur and youth sports organizations from coronavirus liability.
“Sport organizations will play a key role in bringing people back together and in helping us heal from the COVID-19 pandemic,” Lisa Beare, B.C. minister responsible for sports, said last week.
“We know the importance of safely reopening our ice rinks, courts and fields so athletes, families, coaches and volunteers can return to sport.”
It is too late, however, for the Victoria Shamrocks and Nanaimo Timbermen of the Western Lacrosse Association, Victoria HarbourCats of baseball’s West Coast League and University of Victoria Vikes teams in fall sports. Their seasons have been cancelled as a result of the pandemic.
The Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League and the Island Division teams of the B.C. Hockey League had their playoffs cancelled. The BCHL has struck a return-to-play task force looking ahead to 2020-21.
The WHL has not yet announced its path ahead.