Minor league soccer returns to Calgary after pandemic layoff
Minor league soccer is starting again in Calgary today, with enhanced health and safety measures. The Calgary Minor Soccer Association’s 530 teams have not played a game in over 15 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The regular outdoor season will run from June 15 to July 29. Teams for children ages nine and older will have the option of participating in a fall season beginning Aug. 28. For younger children, there will be a biweekly program that focuses on fun and skills building.
As a part of the league’s COVID-19 health and safety efforts, “physical distancing will be required when participants are not actively on the field of play,” said Jennifer Rowett, the Calgary Minor Soccer Association's league coordintor. A post-game hand shake between the two competing teams will also be replaced by a socially distanced walk by.
During practices, coaches may briefly break the two metre distance to correct or teach a skill, but must be wearing a mask to do so. If they are maintaining two metres from the athletes, coaches do not need to wear a mask.
Spectators must be three metres from the players and coaches, while also staying two metres from those in different households. Off the field, “masks will be required when two metres distancing cannot be maintained,” Rowett added.
This season, the league has focused on keeping games within the teams’ respective communities to minimize COVID-19 spread. The under 10 and under 12 teams will only play once every seven days. The league “has taken this downtime to restructure our league and bring soccer closer to families while working to reduce accessibility barriers to our sport," said Jordan Stewart, r the Calgary Minor Soccer Association technical leader.
The schedule for games beginning today until the end of the month are posted on the Calgary Minor Soccer website.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
Fewer medical students going into family medicine contributing to doctor shortage
As some family doctors are retiring and others are moving away from family medicine, there are fewer medical students to take their place.
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
Competition bureau finds 'substantial' anti-competitive effects with proposed Bunge-Viterra merger
The proposed merger of agricultural giants Viterra and Bunge is raising competition concerns from the federal government.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.