As restrictions lift on community youth sports tournaments in B.C., some parents, coaches and kids are asking the provincial government to do the same for school teams.
An online petition urges the province’s ministry of education to allow school teams to compete in local, regional and provincial tournaments, now that youth club competition has resumed. It had more than 12,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve followed all the rules, we just want the kids to be able to play and finish their high school careers with their provincials, with their zone championships, the way that the community is,” said Sarah Mouritzen, head coach of the senior girls basketball program at G. W. Graham Secondary School in Chilliwack.
“The players want to play, they want to play in front of their family, they want to play in front of their school and they want to play at a provincial championship.”
Last month, Dr. Bonnie Henry revised provincial health orders to allow sports tournaments for children and youth to resume on Feb. 1, as long as masks are worn when athletes are idle and spectator attendance is limited to 50 per cent of venue capacity.
In a Tuesday interview, B.C. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside said the department understands “the importance of sports” for children and youth, but is taking the “necessary time” to work with districts and school staff to determine whether school-based tournaments can be conducted without compromising school safety and operations.
Extra due diligence is required, she added, when school-based tournaments take place in community venues.
“As everybody knows, the current circumstances with Omicron have been very challenging for our communities, our schools and our health-care system,” she explained.
“We’ve just finished the third week of the return to school, so now we’re going to take some time to make sure the safety plans we need to have in place to ensure school sports can continue safely — that we’ve done that work and collaboration.”
Whiteside acknowledged the “lag” between decisions on community-based sports tournaments and school-based ones, but said it’s a reflection of the short time that school has been back in session, and the department’s focus on ensuring classroom safety and continuity in learning.
Mouritzen said her club team and her school-based team will continue to follow public health orders, and supports COVID-19 safety restrictions, but she would like to see some consistency in rules between the two.
“If they’re in the Grizzlies GW Graham Uniform, they’re not allowed to play tournaments.”
Taylor Adams, a Grade 11 student at GW Graham and shooting guard on the boy’s basketball team, said the disparity in treatment between community and school sports tournaments limits their opportunities to perform for college coaches.
It also affects their energy and school spirit, he added.
“It makes a big difference in the pride we have for our school,” he explained. “I would like to have more clarity on why we can’t play tournaments with our school teams, but we can with our club teams.”
Teammate Bailor Goertzen, also in Grade 11, called the restrictions “frustrating.”
“We had lots of big tournaments scheduled, lots of games. We were going to play the top teams,” he told Global News.
“The more games you play, the more opportunity you have to play good. The better you play against better teams, the better you can make yourself look for those future opportunities.”
Whiteside said the province’s K to 12 steering committee will meet Thursday to review recommendations on the topic of school sports tournaments, and said she hopes an announcement will made in the coming days.
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