Sports leagues and fitness facilities pumped, but cautious, for restart plan

Fitness facilities and sports leagues are gearing up to resume some activities as B.C. moves ahead with Step 1 of its restart plan, but many are going forward with trepidation after months of start-and-stop activity as a result of COVID-19 caseloads.

Under Step 1, indoor low intensity group exercise such as yoga and barre classes are allowed with limited capacity, and outdoor games and practices for both adults and youth groups and teams are permitted, however spectators are banned.

The province's circuit-breaker restrictions, which began on March 30, expired on May 25 at 12 a.m. PT, allowing some businesses to reopen.

At F45 Training gym in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighbourhood, senior trainer Patch May said the facility was able to pivot what it offered depending on the restrictions at the time.

"So we've gone from basically being a full, high-intensity training circuit where people are moving around a studio to an open-gym concept where people stay exactly where they are for 45 minutes," said May.

He said masks are required at the moment, but he is excited to get back to normal in the coming months.

When May was asked whether the gym will require customers to be vaccinated against COVID-19, he said staff are doing temperature checks but not putting any rules in place.

"Obviously we want people to get vaccinated because that gives us a bit of a, you know, a buffer in terms of protection for ourselves. But as a studio, we're making sure we put our own protocols in place like we have done since we reopened from the pandemic originally last June 2020," said May.

Rita Fraser, manager and instructor at The Barre Method, said the West Vancouver studio resumed classes Tuesday morning, although class participants are still required to wear masks as a precaution.

"Because of the close-open situation that we've been faced with in the fitness industry, I think people are a little bit more hesitant," said Fraser.

She is reassuring people that the classes are now back on, but realizes it will take time before the message gets through to customers.

"The classes aren't quite full yet. We're happy to have more people. So classes are open and and we expect to stay open."

Urban recreation leagues to restart next week

The founder of Urban Rec, a sport and social organization that facilitates adult recreational co-ed sports leagues, said he is waiting for more details from the province in the next day or two so the return to play can happen safely.

Chris McNally said Urban Rec, which operates in Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Okanagan and Victoria, offers beach volleyball, flag football, pitch softball, and soccer. All are outdoor sports that should be able to get underway shortly.

"Because all of our offerings are outdoors, we feel really confident that we'll be able to return everyone who's registered with us to play essentially as quick as possible, which we think is next week."

He said previous guidelines restricted the number of participants in cohorts specific to a sport and is expecting the same type of cohort model during Step 1.

Provincial guidelines for amateur sports to be announced

ViaSport, which sets out rules for sports organizations to operate under during the COVID-19 pandemic, says it will be releasing revised guidelines soon.  

B.C. Soccer executive director Jason Elligott said the organization is still seeking clarity on rules from ViaSport "especially as it relates to the definition of 'local' and how other Provincial Health Orders may or may not impact the go forward plan."

Provincial health officials said people are to stay within their health authority zone during Step 1 of the restart plan. The B.C. government has divided the province into three zones and is not yet allowing non-essential travel between them.

B.C. Soccer said in a letter posted on its website that outdoor soccer practice and game play is being allowed for youth and adults, however it must not involve travel between health regions.

Indoor soccer for adults (22 years and older) is still suspended but indoor soccer for youth (21 years and younger) can resume with similar restrictions as outdoor soccer.

Under the restart plan, no spectators for either indoor or outdoor soccer activities are permitted.