Respective sport seasons in the province are still on delay and can’t have league play, but organizations are staying positive and hoping there will be some sort of season (with game-play) later this spring and summer.
Outdoor spring sports usually start late April, or early May, but with the current public health orders and measures still in place until April 26, and maybe longer after a review, those respective leagues might have to wait before playing other teams.
Area sports organizations like the Twin City Angels, Sask Five Baseball Association, Valley Soccer Association, Valley United Soccer Club and Martensville Maddogs are all itching to get back to playing their respective sport.
Teams in those respective organizations can still train in groups of eight.
Some of the softball and baseball teams have been having training sessions at the Legends Centre, but with all the snow melted from the ball diamonds they can start training outside soon.
For spring football action, Saskatoon Minor Football (SMF) stated, in a memo posted on its website on April 16, that flag football and six-a-side programs are planned to be underway by early to mid May.
If game play is allowed by then, the 5-on-5 flag football season is scheduled to start May 8, while the six-a-side season is slated for a May 13 start.
The Maddogs play in that league and, again, the season start dates can change if game-play is still not allowed.
According to Maddogs president, Som Houmphanh, the Maddogs won’t start practising until they get a clear answer on when the season will start.
SMF is hoping teams in the six-a-side-league can start practising May 3 if the season can go on as scheduled.
However, if COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines do not allow for games and competition this spring, SMF will cancel the season by June 7 according to the memo it sent out on April 16.
SMF handles the registration and scheduling for spring football and when the Maddogs organization receives who is all registered then they will put the teams together.
The Twin City Angels play in the Saskatoon Minor Softball League (SMSL) and that league is hoping to get the season started on May 3. Schedules have already been posted on the SMSL website.
That current schedule is subject to change if game play is still not allowed by the proposed start.
The Valley United Soccer Club (VUSC) has six teams registered to compete in the Saskatoon Youth Soccer Inc (SYSI) outdoor season.
SYSI is planning for teams to start preseason training on May 3 and for league play to get underway May 17. But again, that is all dependent on if league play is allowed, and if not, then teams can still train in groups of eight.
VUSC is expecting to field one team each in the U7, U9, U13 and U19 divisions, while there will be two U11 teams.
Randy Halisky, the president of VUSC, said there was a lot of work that went into planning for this spring season, which very well could be pushed back to later in the spring, depending on the decision the provincial government makes when it reviews the current public health measures on April 26.
It was a risk for people who registered for spring sports because it’s still unclear if the those respective seasons will start on the scheduled dates. Youth signed up hoping to play games this year and they could end up just only having training sessions, like what happened with winter sports.