The late start to summer begins

BY JESSICA ROE STAFF WRITER

The sun is out, temperatures are in the 80s, pools are finally ready to open, sports teams can return to the fields, and gyms are about to reopen their doors. Summer is finally here! “It’s about time! My kids need some sunshine and space to burn their energy after nearly three months pent up inside our home,” said Erin Zahradka. “Personally, I need to get rid of the weight I’ve gained during the pandemic!” It’s been a long wait for parents around the metro area who abided by the Stay at Home and then the Safer at Home public health orders. “Normally our summer is filled with baseball practices and baseball tournaments every weekend. Instead, our son has taken to his bed to play endless video games,” said Julie Seibert, MD. Until this week, team sports of any kind have been prohibited. The entire spring high school sports season was cancelled. Both recreational and competitive club teams barely got started before having to cancel their seasons, too. In some cases, parents received refunds or were allowed to carry-over those funds to next season. In other cases, parents paid for an entire season that never happened, and they never received a refund or even a partial credit. Many of those clubs are making it up to parents and players by now offering training in the normal “off season” over the summer. They had been prohibited from conducting practices during the pandemic, until this week. On Monday, the State of Colorado circulated draft rules regarding parks, sports, and outdoor pools to stakeholders, allowing them to provide feedback on the regulations. Their feedback was due back to the Governor’s office by Wednesday at noon. For organized sports, the proposed rules allowed leagues to now meet in groups up to 25 people outside, or 10 inside. Spectators are discouraged, unless they are strictly six feet apart. “As a neurologist, I am in the hospital with direct exposure to COVID-19 positive patients,” said Dr. Seibert. “It is hard to know how to factor that into my kids desire to have some summer fun.” Dr. Siebert has walked the fine line of advocating for her student athlete to get outside and away from the screen, while also keeping him safe. “While Coloradans have made tremendous sacrifices in suppressing the virus in practicing social distancing, good hygiene, and wearing a mask in public, we are still not out of the woods,” said Dr. Jill Hunsaker Ryan, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), earlier this week. Athletes of all ages should be back on the fields soon as recreational and competitive clubs get parents and athletes up-to-speed on the new parameters. “I miss seeing them play and yelling their names with pride and hugging them at the end of the game win or lose!” said Kennetha Julien, mother of two elementary age baseball players. “I love baseball, but I love my boys more. It is sad to see and experience the loss of an entire season but I am happy to see our coaches and organization being cautious to protect all of the boys and girls of the league.” For many parents, this summer has been an opportunity to introduce their kids to the ‘old fashioned’ days of summer. The Villager Newspaper found several children and teens wading in creeks, fishing in rivers, biking on the High Line Canal, and even riding in carriages behind Clydesdale horses. “Honestly, I have been so grateful for the fact that we are not traveling or practicing or having games with sports and that our kids’ friends are not doing that either,” said AnnMarie Anderson. “The kids are free to go wade in the creek, find rope swings, fish, play driveway basketball, corn hole, ghost in the graveyard, mow lawns for others, and a whole host of normal living.” According to the new proposed rules, playgrounds will no longer be prohibited, however only 10 individuals at a time will be able to use the equipment. Outdoor sports facilities, such as tennis, basketball and pickleball courts, will be limited to 10 people at a time. Indoor gyms will soon reopen to their members. Group training is permitted but limited to 10 people at a time, however they must maintain six feet of distance. The use of shared equipment is discouraged. The Villager Newspaper surveyed several national and local gyms, all of which have varying timeframes. Most gym spokespeople said they expect to begin opening this coming weekend or early next week. Most pool operators we spoke to expect to open by Saturday or Sunday. The guidance for pools called for no more than 50 people or 50% capacity - whichever is fewer - per pool. Of all the guidelines originally proposed, this seemed to be the most debated, given some outdoor pools are Olympic size and can normally hold several hundred people. Watch for that figure in the final draft. The state also instructed pool operators to monitor individuals and require that inside the perimeter of the pool property, visitors stay six feet away from each other, unless they are from the same household. The state also recommended a reservation system be set up by operators of pools, courts, and group classes at gyms. No specific details were provided, however, on how to best comply with such regulations. “Along with making online tee times and dining reservations, our members will be making pool and gym reservations,” said Teri Kubik, Membership and Marketing Director at Glenmoor Country Club. For more information on the state’s final guidelines, visit covid19.colorado.gov.

The High Line Canal has seen a regular pace of foot, bicycle and equine traffic throughout the pandemic.