As with just about everything in this pandemic, the future of minor baseball in 麻豆社国产has been stamped with a question mark.
Bri Oliver, president of the Howe Sound Minor Ball Association, said that the season was cancelled when COVID-19 arrived, and organizers are trying to figure out the next step now that things are opening up again.
鈥淭here would be a lot of pieces of the puzzle that would have to come together all at once,鈥� said Oliver.
Normally, players from about 30 teams in the league would be hitting the fields from May to June.
However, Oliver said that when the decision to cancel was made in April, it was unclear if enough volunteers would be able or willing to offer up their time in the middle of a pandemic.
She said it was a hard decision.
鈥淲e just felt with a short season that it would be fairly hard to make it happen,鈥� said Oliver. 鈥淚t does require a lot of volunteers. And we were worried about getting commitment from volunteers if that was to happen. And then, there鈥檚 no way we could with a two week warning 鈥� there鈥檚 too much stuff that would need to be put in place to get things going.鈥�
As the restrictions begin to ease, the organization is playing with the idea of perhaps holding some competitions later this year.
鈥淚 think baseball is a unique sport where social distancing works to an extent but sharing the baseball, that turns into a thing; sharing bats, that turns into a thing; and there is contact,鈥� said Oliver.
She said they鈥檒l be looking into finding methods that will still hopefully give young athletes the chance to play the sport.
Another possible challenge, she noted, is adhering to the 50-person gathering limit.
For older players, it shouldn鈥檛 be too much of a problem, but for younger kids who start at age five, there will likely have to be parents around, which could make this a challenge, Oliver said.
However, there鈥檚 one concern that鈥檚 at the top of the list.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of things that need to be taken into effect, and probably the biggest one is access to fields,鈥� said Oliver. 鈥淪o we鈥檙e really limited to what the District of 麻豆社国产says or what the government says about field use.鈥�
When the organization decided to cancel the season this year, they didn鈥檛 have access to the fields. They also didn鈥檛 have access to the baseball equipment that was being stored at Brennan Park, as the municipality shut that facility down because of the pandemic.
鈥淭hey all kind of have to fall into place 鈥� things that are out of our control 鈥� before we can start trying to make things work,鈥� she said.
District staff say that its recreation services department will begin discussions with sports associations this week to discuss plans for re-convening play.
