B.C. School Sports officially suspended all school sporting activities on Tuesday in a memorandum to school athletic directors.
School districts are on a one- or two-week spring break, however, the provincial overseer for school sports made the early decision to curb the spread of COVID-19 as some teams train and travel to tournaments during the break.
The suspension of spring sports also comes ahead of the awaited provincial decision on schools returning from spring break, noted Jordan Abney, executive director of B.C. School Sports who signed the memo on behalf of the BCSS board of directors.
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The spring season is a big one for athletes who specialize in track and field, women’s soccer, rugby, badminton, golf, and tennis, among others.
“… In the interest of student-athlete safety, [BCSS] has suspended all school sport-related activities including training, practices, jamborees, scrimmages, matches and similar inter and intra school sport activities,” reads the memo.
“Due to the speed at which things are changing, we will evaluate the situation moving forward, and determine the ability to safely offer a spring season of play at a later date.”
While there might be some concern that the cancellation will affect the recruitment process of an athlete a university or college Oak Bay athletic director Rich Fast said that most athletes have been heavily recruited by this point.
There is some optimism as the BCSS board is hoping to retain some dates for June though all future decisions await approval from the provincial health authorities.
