Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

COVID-19

Recreational athletes across Kamloops awaiting season start amid COVID-19 concerns

Apr 22, 2020 | 5:13 PM

KAMLOOPS — Lush green grass, and freshly trimmed ivy. Ideal conditions for softball down at Charles Anderson Stadium. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the thousands of ballplayers in town can get out and take advantage of the fields.

“It’s crushing. It’s crushing to a lot of people,” Oakley Muchow says. “Whether you take ball super seriously or you’re out to go and play a game of mixed slo-pitch, a lot of people depend on this for their fun and their social gatherings.”

Muchow helps organize the Westsyde Mixed Slo-Pitch League, an organization that now boasts 52 teams, which equates to close to 800 players. Other league organizers across the city are feeling the same pain.

“We won’t even be thinking about getting back until a), the city decides to open fields, and moreover, BC Soccer because they’re our governing body,” Dave Harestad, Kamloops Soccer League Registrar and Treasurer says.

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“We were supposed to start league play this week,” Gary Simson says. “Of course, it’s cancelled, so I essentially sent all the cheques back to all the teams.”

“We were supposed to start league play this week,” Gary Simson, who runs the South Shore Mixed Slo-Pitch League, says. “Of course, it’s cancelled, so I essentially went every cheque back to all the teams.”

Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian held a media conference Wednesday morning to address a number of questions. He says the city is taking its lead from the Provincial Health Officer and the Minister of Health.

“They have suggested that [returning to] normal won’t be what normal was last year,” Christian says. “Yet, we are Canada’s Tournament Capital. We built this city on the love of the sport. We have the facilities, and we have the infrastructure, and we have the volunteer networks, and they’re itching to get back to regular play.”

While local leagues are living with the uncertainty of when they’ll start their seasons, local businesses are also feeling the impact of a sports-free spring.

“We estimate our spend, in terms of recreational activities to be around $140 per person, per day in Kamloops,” Christian explains. “If you multiply that from a softball tournament, a curling bonspiel, any of those kinds of minor hockey events, soccer, the Slurpee Cup, those kinds of things – it’s huge.”

For now, the leagues are all taking a wait-and-see approach. They’re paying close attention to the daily news briefings from the province while remaining optimistic they can get back at before summer gets underway.