Key takeaways:
- Region to meet with a board of K-12 stakeholders this week to confer school sports tournaments’ protection.
- A crowd of kids plays hockey on Serpentine Fen during a time of cold climate in Surrey, British Columbia.
- Youth sports games can go on, on Tuesday after almost a month away due to the spread of COVID-19.
Youth sports matches to restart in BC:
Youth sports matches can restart in B.C. on Tuesday after a month-long break due to the spread of the Omicron variant, but school-based games are still not permitted.
Matches had been revoked since Dec. 21 as part of a broader set of public health rules to restrain the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant.
Regional Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry declared that youth sports would be permitted to go on at a press conference on Jan. 25 as more kids persist in being inoculated against COVID-19.
However, the Ministry of Health later explained that only community-based sports matches would return, with games scheduled by schools still prohibited.
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According to one B.C. parent, the divided judgment was “frustrating” and revealed differences in the region’s regulations.
“Unfortunately, with this current report, regional titles are also in danger,” stated Lucky Toor, a dad of two student-athletes in Delta, B.C., and a high school basketball manager in the region. “Not every high school athlete can afford to play a neighborhood or a club sport … This might be their only chance to play. And now that’s being taken away. ” Source – cbc.ca
Thousands of parents, including Toor, have petitioned the region to even the playing field and let school championships go on.
“The high school basketball games still cause a lot of university coaches coming out watching matches, even if they’re not in person,” Toor stated. Source – cbc.ca
