Recently, the Saskatoon Public School Division cancelled all extra-curricular activities for their students this year; this includes football.
There is no word yet about the fate of football in our local area, although the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association (SHSAA) has provided guidance for what a possible season would require for the high school football programs in the province.
Coach Tyler Metz of the Esterhazy Warriors mentioned, “We’ve got really good direction from all our governing partners, SHSAA, Football Sask., GSSD and all the schools we work with. Everybody’s been very communicative. The leadership has been there and the direction has been there. We’re very happy with that and they are all great people and organizations to work with.”
Information is flowing, but uncertainty is still abundant. There is no example that football programs can look at to know what route their plans should take in a pandemic; they are embarking on a path of unknowns.
Once Good Spirit School Division gives guidance on extra-curricular activities, more clarity will be available. If football is given a green-light, the next task would be ensuring the interest level is high enough to field a team.
Coach Metz said, “This is so unprecedented, and everyone is doing their best. It’s hard to know what to do when nobody really knows what will happen. How do you say, ‘this is exactly how this will go down’, when you have no idea.” He mentioned that nobody can plan for what will happen next in a pandemic.
As of now, SHSAA has extended the start of football season to September 14th. The Warrior Football Program will wait until then to start their registration. The program administrators went out to find the interest in the athletes playing football this year, and the feedback was mixed.
It’s hard to get motivated to play football when there is so much uncertainty. It’s not that nobody is telling the football clubs about the updated plans, it’s that nobody knows the exact answers as there is no beaten path to follow
A main priority for schools is to educate students and get them learning. In addition to the learning, sport helps produce healthy young people. It is hard to put a priority on football when school divisions are focused on planning for education within the schools at the moment.
Metz said, “At this point, we’re being as optimistic as possible. We would love to see football.”
Football is a very administrative-driven sport. There is a lot of administrative work and management that goes in before a team even hits the field. Tyler mentioned that list has been at least doubled with the COVID-19 precautions. He said, “I understand why, but the extra will require more resources. It will add a lot to our season, we are concerned about the health of our kids and student-athletes. If we are spending a lot of time on Covid protocols, are we then spending the time coaching properly? That’s a big concern of ours.”
“My overall concern is the health of our program, the health of our league and the health of football should the season not go forward or be altered (there is a suggestion of having practices only). There are so many unforseens,” he explained.
“I feel we have such a positive program going forward, each year it keeps getting better and better, but I have never seen anything like this. Since I started sixteen years ago, there are new requirements and regulations, and we understand all that as we are trying to be as proactive as possible for the students so they are safe and they play the game properly. This is a lot at once, it’s hard not to get concerned about it.”
The Warriors are such a multi-community team that brings the area together. Speaking about the program, Coach Metz said, “It’s such a positive thing we’ve built together and it’s not one person’s initiative.”
The team is looking for feedback from players and families to gauge interest in playing this year if a season is possible.
The team is waiting to hear from the school division to see what will be allowed. After the school division passes on information to the team, the player and parents will be involved to see if the season is a possibility. There has not been any negative feedback to this point from families, but concerns have been shared.
Metz left off by saying, “There’s nothing more I would like to see than football on the field and to have all the athletes out there from the different communities, but it has to be done right.”