Sports slowly return in the COVID era, but with a whole new set of rules

Under mostly sunny skies on Monday, soccer returned to the pitch in New Brunswick. 

"Everybody was happy. They were super-excited to come back," said Younes Bouida, the executive director of Soccer New Brunswick. 

"They know that things will be a little bit different ... I think they're going to enjoy themselves today. We have beautiful weather and it's time for soccer."

Low-contact sports like soccer got the go-ahead to proceed in the yellow phase and, like a lot of sports, soccer will be slowly phased in, explained Bouida. 

On Monday, Soccer New Brunswick's elite clubs were back in action around the province. Bouida said his organization will monitor the situation to ensure it's safe to move on to the next phase of re-opening. 

All sports are being encouraged to start off slowly and modify their games to ensure players are protected as much as possible from the spread of COVID-19. 

The decision to "return to play" rests with each sport, said Robert Duguay, director of communications for the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. 

"As organizations consider return to play, it is essential for all to bear in mind that this is not a return to normal."

In an emailed response, Duguay said individual sports are responsible for making sure it's safe to play and to adapt to the new public health guidelines that centre around physical distancing whenever possible — and modifying how the game is played, if necessary.

"Every organization, club and facility owner must have a COVID-19 operational plan in place.   The plan must address (but not be limited to) physical distancing; cleaning and disinfecting; hand and respiratory hygiene and pre-screening for symptoms," said Duguay.

All sports will be encouraged to use a phased-in approach, structured around a three- to four-week incubation period for COVID-19, and not move on to the next phase until it's safe to do so. 

"Regarding school sports, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development is currently exploring options for sports teams in the 2020-21 school year, in conjunction with districts, based on the advice of public health," said Duguay. 

Under the current yellow phase, rinks and indoor recreational facilities will be open, but they're limited to 50 people and subject to physical distancing, which means some venues will have a lower capacity than 50. 

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The New Brunswick government's website said organizations should "limit the number and intensity of close contacts during play. Even low-contact sports have some form of contact and that risk cannot be eliminated entirely."

It also says that all "reasonable attempts shall be made to respect physical distancing measures as much as possible except brief contacts on or off the field, arenas, gyms, rinks, etc. Avoiding contact should also be ensured at the end of a game (e.g. replace handshake with alternative at the end of a game)."

The province has also asked all youth leagues to limit spectators to one accompanying adult per child.

Soccer

Soccer New Brunswick has come up with a number of modifications to ensure the safety of its players, said Bouida. 

First of all, there will be no games for a while, he said. Instead, coaches will focus on individual development and skills. 

Teams will be smaller, depending on the age of players — younger players will be limited to groups of 10, while older divisions will be limited to 10 and 20 players. 

When games do resume, they will look a bit different, said Bouida. There will be no throw-ins, no shoulder-to-shoulder walls, no headers, no slide tackles, no corners. 

Hockey 

Hockey will resume soon with a phased-in approach tentatively scheduled to begin on Aug. 1 with the AAA league, said Nic Jansen, the executive director of Hockey New Brunswick. 

Jansen said those AAA players will be on the ice as early as July 7 to begin training, but they will not be allowed to use the dressing rooms for now. 

As long as the province doesn't slide back into orange, the plan is to go ahead with the 2020-21 minor hockey season as scheduled, he said. 

Exactly what it will look like is still being discussed by working groups, said Jansen. 

"So we'll start with development sessions that slowly start to reintroduce modified games, with the hopes that at some point in the 2020-21 season we'll be able to play a normal hockey game," he said. 

Jansen said there's a lot on the table, including having fewer players on the ice, eliminating checking and not using dressing rooms. 

He doesn't think full plastic face masks will be mandatory since "there could potentially be a supply issue with that as well."

Baseball

Baseball has already begun, but it, too, has been modified to comply with provincial guidelines, said Nick Boudreau, the executive director of Baseball New Brunswick. 

For one, players will not be allowed to gather in the dugouts, he said. Instead, they will be physically distanced along the fence lines in outfields. And the umpire won't be behind the catcher; he'll be positioned behind the pitcher. 

Every player will be required to bring their own helmet, bats will be cleaned between players, and balls will be cleaned when possible, he said. 

One iconic baseball move has survived the cut — the tag. 

"So the guidance we received from the provincial government is to take any reasonable means to limit the amount of contact within sport. In certain sports, that can't be completely eliminated without losing the integrity of the competition," explained Boudreau. 

"So if there's a brief contact on a tag play, and then the players can kind of get up and separate real quickly, then we should be able to operate under those rules."

In the initial stage, teams will focus on skills and not play any games.

"So you actually won't see any type of competition until, at the earliest, the first week of July," said Boudreau. 

In some locations, parents will be asked to stay in the vehicle and families may be limited to one adult per player, in order to keep gatherings under 50, he said. 

With a little 'patience, cooperation, creativity and flexibility," Boudreau says players will have "as close to a normal baseball season as possible."

Rugby

It's unlikely that traditional rugby will be played in 2020, says Yves Pellerin, the past president of Rugby New Brunswick. 

Pellerin said clubs will soon start training together in small groups before moving on to training as "a unit." Eventually, teams will move on to playing modified games, as long as the conditions allows. 

He says that will likely be "a variation" of touch rugby or flag rugby. 

"But we don't see contact, like tackling, in 2020," he said. 

"For us in New Brunswick, a good goal that's a bit more realistic, we think, would be that the teams will be allowed to train in various capacities. They'll be allowed to have inter-club touch games, which is a totally modified version of rugby where there's no contact at all. And that's what we probably see happening for this calendar year."

Based on a survey of members, Pellerin expects about 70 per cent of players will return for a modified 2020 season that will likely begin in early- to mid-July.