Rec sports hoping to bounce back

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This article was published 02/11/2020 (1801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Organizing a recreational sports league is a ton of work at the best of times, never mind during a global pandemic.

In addition to collecting payment from players, booking facilities and creating game schedules, league convenors in 2020 have had to meet return-to-play protocols and ensure they’re making their sport as safe as possible for everyone involved.

But for at least the next two weeks, the only game on the schedule is the waiting game. As of Monday, all sports leagues were forced to shut down as the Winnipeg metropolitan region has entered code red status.

Local athletes of all levels are anxiously waiting for the green light to return to the field of play, but there’s even more at stake for many of the people behind the scenes who make these leagues happen.

The Free Press chatted with three recreational sports leagues in town to find out how code red effects them.

Beach Volleyball Centre

Even in the middle of a Manitoba winter, the Beach Volleyball Centre gives people a reason to keep their flip flops handy. But Daryl Didyk, one of the owners of the indoor beach volleyball facility in East St. Paul, said if the sports lockdown extends much past the next two weeks, local volleyball players won’t be playing in the sand this winter.

“It’s devastating to our facility. We’ve done everything we can in terms of following procedures: masks, sanitizing, training staff, spending money after hours cleaning, which we’ll continue to do,” Didyk said.

“We hope to get back into business and contain the virus and we’re doing everything we can to be as safe as we can, but truth be told, if there are no programs put in place from the government to help not only leagues but other organizations, including our own, as we’re privately owned, we’ve got one month, two months tops and we’re out of business.”

Before code red, the facility was hosting leagues five days a week in addition to training sessions. The leagues were not sanctioned by Volleyball Manitoba, but they did take the necessary precautions to get the approval to play, such as requiring all players to wear masks except when on the court, cleaning volleyballs after each match, closing locker rooms and showers, and not allowing spectators.

Didyk said they didn’t run into any problems and Friday’s announcement of the region’s move to code red caught him and his partners off guard. They were hopeful that the next step would be making masks mandatory when playing.

“A total shutdown for us means zero revenue, which is a really tough thing,” Didyk said.

“But again, I do want to emphasize that the virus is No. 1 and we do want to take care of that. It’s more about what is the government going to hopefully do to help organizations like ourselves, restaurants and bars.”

PIT Football

Even with Winnipeg’s COVID numbers skyrocketing, the desire to play touch and flag football was still there for many.

The PIT Football league kicked off in 2008 and has grown into Canada’s largest recreational football organization, offering indoor leagues in the spring, winter and fall as well as outdoor play in the summer. This year’s fall season had 120 teams registered, which was only six off of their fall record of 126 that was set in 2019.

But instead of waiting out code red and pushing back the start of the fall campaign, league president and founder Jonathon Franklin said they decided to play it safe and pull the plug entirely.

“We didn’t have to cancel the fall league. We could’ve waited the two weeks and saw what happened and then resumed our league and maybe just pushed it a little further along,” said Franklin, who when not throwing TD passes works as the chairman of the sociology department at the University of Winnipeg.

“But in terms of cancelling the season, I think to a person, we had a lot of people that were very appreciative that we were looking out for people’s safety and not necessarily just about their registration dollars. So, we’re hoping that the goodwill that we’ve kind of fostered with ensuring that we are putting player safety first will in the long run help us gain back the registrations that we had about a year ago.”

It’s already been a long year with not a whole lot of football for Franklin and his crew. The spring season was cancelled and they had to settle for an abbreviated summer session when team registrations dropped by a third.

On the field, the game looked a bit different as well to ensure physical distancing. Players had to be spread out by six feet in the huddle and on the sidelines, defenders weren’t allowed to play press coverage and teams were given a penalty for close contact celebrations. While the summer session is played at numerous fields across the city, the indoor games are played at the Winnipeg Soccer Federation’s north and south complexes.

The league won’t get back the money they spent on things such as hand sanitizer or player insurance, but overall the financial hit won’t be too bad as they won’t be charged for their field times. The biggest blow to the PIT is the halt to their momentum. The interest in their co-ed divisions has grown significantly in recent years and so has their partnership with the Winnipeg High School Football League, as PIT was getting set to have three high school flag football divisions in 2020.

“That’s kind of where we’re at now, is trying to figure out how do we get back to where we were a year ago as opposed to pushing forward and trying to grow the league even more,” Franklin said.

Soccerland Coed League

Miguel Caceres had to get creative to find a way to pay the bills this summer. If the Soccerland Coed League and its 57 teams can’t have a season this year, Caceres will have to get creative once again.

“We survived this summer because we started another business and that business saved us,” Caceres said. “Like many people, we had to go in another direction and it really worked. We started selling artificial grass. Everybody wanted their yard to look nice because they stayed home, so that really helped.”

Caceres, who also owns a store on Regent Avenue named Soccerland that specializes in selling uniforms and equipment, was hoping to get back to his traditional business this fall. His store re-opened a month ago and the league, which he’s been running since 2007 and is now based out of the Axworthy Health & RecPlex at the University of Winnipeg, was set to begin last Sunday. He anticipates players will have the patience to wait a month or two, but if the sports shutdown goes longer than that, there will be teams demanding refunds.

Caceres also feels bad for code red’s impact on the RecPlex, because if his league gets axed, the RecPlex would lose 800 hours in renting fees, which amounts to more than $100,000 in lost revenue. If it wasn’t for the pandemic, Caceres estimates they would have had 100 teams registered this year.

“We’re all working together and trying to help and understand each other: the players, U of W, and (the league). Even though it’s not an easy situation, it is what it is,” Caceres said.

“We just have to find a way to pass through this season, this winter, and when a vaccine comes, everything will go back to normal, hopefully.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31