Sports during COVID

STORY AND PHOTOS BY BRITTON LEDINGHAM

In early 2020, the first quarter was shaping up for what was to be a banner year for athletics facilities like Genesis Place.

At that time, Brad Anderson, Genesis Place manager, was optimistic. “We had the most amount of daily visits and pass holders,” he says.

Then from mid-March until June, gyms had to close their doors in a government-mandated effort to stop the spread of COVID-19.

Since Phase 2 of the Alberta government’s relaunch began in June, local recreational facilities owners and managers have been doing everything they can to open up safely to serve as many people as they can within guidelines.

For Anderson, the relaunch has been a challenge.

“We only have around 60 per cent of our pass holders back,” he says. “We’ve had to work extremely hard to revamp a lot of our services and offerings to ensure that [they meet] the provincial guidelines.”

Staff have been doing what they can to make Genesis safe, increasing cleaning protocols by disinfecting areas at least three times a day in rinks, field houses, fitness centres and change rooms.

Anderson notes the hardest restriction is the cap on the number of people who can be in the facilities.

Readers are familiar with the two metres of distance Alberta Health Services suggests we keep from one another in public, and Genesis has facilitated that gap and more between equipment. This has led to a dramatic decrease in capacity, anywhere from 50 to 80 per cent in spin, fitness and swimming classes.

Normal operations in the pool area used to accommodate 250 people, but that is now reduced to 60 people, or 24 per cent. Anderson says this is mostly due to the amount of changing space available.

He recognizes some people are waiting out the pandemic, avoiding public recreation facilities for health concerns, or because of financial considerations. Anderson says approval of Genesis’ relaunch plan from Airdrie City Council in June balances fears of the virus with supporting the physical and mental well-being of residents.

“It’s still very important to have these types of facilities open and available to people,” says Anderson.

Genesis’ cost recovery won’t be what was budgeted, but Anderson says his team is “continuing to be innovative and adaptable to the changing circumstances.”

Individual rental groups are allowed to continue to play sports like soccer and hockey while following cohort rules of no more than 50 athletes.

He notes the Airdrie Minor Hockey Association and the Airdrie & District Soccer Association have plans to operate seasons, while some smaller renters, like adult drop-in games, have opted out.

This decrease in users has led to some space being freed up for new, creative uses, such as physical education programs for students studying online and kids to use toys indoors that would otherwise be parked for the winter.

“Our team is trying to get creative in terms of how we can use our space,” says Anderson. “We know it’s going to be a bit of a struggle for people to find things to keep busy as a household.”

Drop-in times have mostly transitioned to an online reservation system at GenesisPlace.ca where users can create a My Airdrie account and sign up for courses, classes and space rental.

“It just helps us to manage the contact tracing as well as our capacity,” says Anderson.

Airdrie Martial Arts Centre

Anderson’s sentiments are shared by other sports leaders doing what they can to proceed with caution and optimism.

Airdrie Martial Arts Centre’s (AMAC) Luis Cofre says his gym’s COVID guidelines compliance system was put to the test in early September as members of the Airdrie Boxing Club housed within AMAC tested positive for the virus.

Cofre says boxing in the upper quarters of AMAC shut down for 2.5 weeks while the rest of the gym was cleared by a health official to continue with other martial arts training.

“That kind of put everybody in check,” says Cofre. “You can’t mess around with it. We don’t want any more problems, right?

“We need to lead by example.... We need to be the ones ... that are willing to press forward, that are willing to manage the risks ... so that you can get people in there and people training and feeling good about themselves again.”

His gym reopened in June to house cohorts of classes in Muay Thai, Brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing and boxing. He’s familiar with fielding questions about how the gym can operate close-contact sports while staying within AHS guidelines.

Cofre says part of the transition has been aided by a pre-existing routine of cleanliness that’s been multiplied “by five,” and athletes staying home if they’re sick.

“Keeping a gym clean is paramount,” says Cofre, noting before COVID they were already cleaning to avoid outbreaks of staph infections, ringworm and skin diseases like impetigo.

The gym holds a similar online registration program (found at airdriemartialartscentre.ca) to Genesis Place, and no spectators are allowed.

Airdrie Thunder

Gord Ziegler, president of the Airdrie Techmation Thunder Junior B hockey club, says the team has a 23-man roster it will proceed with in a modified Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) season.

The Thunder’s season started Nov. 1, and it will play a fourgame series with another team in the North Division of the league before taking a two-week break and playing another series with a franchise in the eight-team division.

The team made the decision not to host spectators in the stands for home games this season.

“It’s just making sure ... the guidelines have to be set and they have to be followed,” says Ziegler. “There’s no room for error on this stuff.”

No fans means even less revenue for the organization bolstered by volunteers and donations. Officials and other staff at games will be wearing masks, while the players form a cohort of up to 50 with as many as 25 per team.

Ziegler says that as of mid-October the league had a tentative schedule, but playoffs were to be determined and Junior B provincials had been cancelled.

The league’s schedule will be updated at heritagejunior.com.

Schools

Tim Masse, athletic director at George McDougall High School, says this year looks different than his previous 28 years and 100 seasons of coaching sports.

The Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) didn’t begin the 2020-2021 school year having schools compete against each other, but schools are allowed to practice and play within their own organization with cohorts under 50. Masse says this may be revisited with modified, overlapping seasons later in the school year.