School sports plan in the works, provincial tournaments in doubt

There was little mention of sportsin the province's return-to-school plan released earlier this week, but the director of School Sports Newfoundland and Labrador says as they gear up for a range of possible scenarios, some athletic events might be off the table.

SSNLexecutive director KarenRichard said plans for the upcoming school year were already made when coronavirus took hold of the world. They still have those plans in case of the slim chancethings return to normal, but they're also working on a few backups.

"I think there can be some modifications. I don't think it's an all-or-none for us," Richard told TheSt. John's Morning Show.

The province's back-to-school plan does state that "sports and physical education should be encouraged and continue according to current available public health protocols." It also says high-contact sports should be postponed or modified.

Inthe likely event restrictions are still in place, some things will be rendered impossible, and Richard said the first thing to go might be provincial tournaments.

SSNL holds tournaments in 16 sports, where students from around the province travel to different schools and spend a weekend playing for a provincial title. Students are usually grouped together and stay with host families.

Those arrangementsare now nearly impossiblewith restrictions from COVID-19.

Richard said instead of hosting provincial tournaments, schools might still be able to hold regional tournaments where there is no need to stay overnight.

Most sports can be modified, Richard said, but indoor sports like basketball and ball hockey might be considered higher risk due to contact between players and are beingquestioned.

Shifting schedules a possibility

One thing that works in SSNL's favour is its schedule for fall, with softball, soccer and cross-country running first on the calendar.

"It actually bodes well for us at the start of the year, anyway," Richardsaid. "The first three sports of our year are outdoor sports."

Those come with less risk than indoor sports, contain little contact and are already being played this summer.

SSNL will be able to lean on provincial sports organizations for guidelines on how theyadjusted rules and regulations to fit with public health measures.

After that, it's possible SSNL could push its schedule later into the school year in hopes that the province will be in a better position to loosen restrictions and allow more sports to continue as normal.

"We will look at shifting the calendar around to give more time to get those things worked out and hopefully be further along in this whole pandemic crisis so hopefully we'll be closer to a solution," Richard said.

In the meantime, she said,SSNL is waiting for more information from the Department of Education and the school districts on restrictions over curriculum, class sizes and sanitation before making any firm decisions.

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