Collingwood sports scene looking a little more normal under Step 2 of reopening

Jul 07, 2021 by Cheryl Browne Collingwood Connection

Wash your hands and pass the ball.

The rules of the game may have morphed into something more COVID-19 acceptable, but the nod of approval given by the Ontario government allowing sports teams to play has been met with a round of hand-sanitized applause.

“It was awesome. Just to see kids out running and laughing felt really great,” said Sean Rennie, president of the Georgian Bay Titans rugby club.

Kids aged five and up tossed the ball around and raced between pylons during their first practice of the year, while their physically distanced parents beamed from the Harbourview Park sidelines. Parents had to fill out pandemic surveys online and show proof of completion before their child could take to the field.

“It gives them some sense of normalcy. It’s just been so great to see them so excited,” Beth MacDonald said as nine-year-old daughter Brook-Lynn practised.

All outdoor sports amenities, including tennis and basketball courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields and skate parks, are open for the public and sports teams to enjoy.

There are caveats to the reopening, and Dr. Steven Rebellato of the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit called the early days a “test run.”

“We just figured out Step 1,” he said. “It takes some time to understand the subtleties of it and, by the time the step is done and you have it all figured out, you get a new one.”

For outdoor recreation, it’s fairly self-explanatory, he said, although there are wrinkles.

“You can have outdoor yoga classes where you have to be three metres apart, as opposed to two metres for spectators watching a soccer game,” he said. “Same thing goes for personal training. Some additional distances like a metre or three feet for those types of activities (is mandated), because the science behind it is, when you’re exercising, you’re breathing a lot more heavily and that’s a good way of being able to transmit this virus.”

While outdoor sports fields are open, games have limited contact. Boat launches, playgrounds, dog parks and public trails are open, but indoor arenas and swimming pools are not.

Open-water sessions will be available to the Collingwood Clippers Swim Club, said head coach Shane Downey, and they are expecting to dive back into the Centennial Aquatic Centre pool in
August.

During the closure, Downey said, the team hosted dry-land Zoom workouts and played online games with the swimmers to help keep them entertained.

“They’ve been off since March," he said. "Come September, it will be regular — knock on wood — if the COVID-19 numbers are coming down.”

With virus modifications, the Collingwood Tennis Club is now open for registration. Collingwood Minor Baseball’s practices will begin the second week of July and run until the end of August.

For more information, visit the health unit’s website at tinyurl.com/dsn9eskj.