‘It defies logic:’ B.C.’s school-based sports tournaments won’t be allowed Feb. 1

In a decision that came as a shock to student-athletes, coaches, and families — school-based sports tournaments will not be allowed to resume in B.C. next week when restrictions on youth tournaments expire.

Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry announced this week that the order prohibiting youth sports tournaments will be lifted on Feb. 1 But according to Jordan Abney, executive director of BC School Sports, the province’s Ministry of Education decided Friday that school-based contests will remain on pause.

“This is a decision that they have made specifically for school sports. To justify that a basketball tournament is safe for kids in club environment, and not in a high school environment — that sort of leaves a lot of people scratching their heads. It kind of defies logic without a lot of really good explanation being provided,” he says.

“It’s not really defensible that you can have one happening but not the other. We heard a lot of frustration and anger from our members, coaches, and student-athletes about that, not really understanding how one can be safe but the other can’t be.”

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Education has decided make no changes to their K-12 Addendum, meaning school sports tournaments are prohibited moving forward, despite club/community tournaments starting on Feb 1. #bced

Full Memo to Membership here: https://t.co/hx7lOB7jgQ

— BC School Sports (@BCSchoolSports) January 28, 2022

But beyond that Abney says allowing club or community-based sports tournaments to proceed when those based in public schools can not is an equity issue.

“Something we talk about all the time when we’re talking about school sport is, it’s the lowest barrier form of organized sport for most kids.
Not to say that club and community-based sport isn’t great. But more and more it’s becoming pay to play, and not just pay to play but pay quite a bit to play. It puts up a lot of barriers for a lot of families,” he explains.

“Certainly, the concern here is that those that can pay to access club programming and that sort of development aspect can now have those events, and kids who play school sports can’t.”

While Abney says the decision will be reviewed on a weekly basis, the lack of information about when tournaments will be allowed to start up again is frustrating given that major, provincial events were scheduled to start as early as Feb. 24.

“We’re not exactly sure what to expect. This could change as early as next week or this could be many, many weeks down the road still.”

Planning these tournaments requires time and money. Venues need to be booked, travel needs to be arranged, accommodation needs to be booked, officials need to be hired. Abney says proper planning can take as long as a year.

“We’re working with the zones to have contingency plans for their events, but with that comes an additional cost to families, additional costs to schools, more school time missed, and eventually some events might just be cancelled,” he says.

“We’re likely only seven to 14 days away from really having to make critical decisions.”

The cancellation of the events also could also come at a cost to student-athletes.

“We focus mostly on just trying to get an amazing experience for as many kids as we can. But it is still competitive sport. There are some kids that use those opportunities, those big featured events to become noticed. There’s lots of eyeballs on them, including coaches at the collegiate and university level and often their performance at these events can lead to scholarship offers or other interests. A lot of those opportunities are in jeopardy. And that’s just a terrible place to be and really unfortunate.”

Adult tournaments also won’t be able to proceed on Feb. 1.

When asked why kids will be allowed to participate in such tournaments but not adults, Henry said the decision was made after weighing out risks and benefits.

“Adult tournaments at this time of the year tend to be a very important social event. That is, of course, a riskier situation,” she said.

“We know that sports have a different place for youth, in terms of growth and development and future opportunities. We have always prioritized making sure that young people are able to access … these important aspects in their lives, particularly at that age.”

Abney says school-based sports have the same benefits, and are just as important for kids and youth.

“School sport is an extension of the education system and the learning environment. It’s tied into the development of young people into adults for our communities and leaders for our communities — whether it be dealing with adversity, commitment, communication, teamwork, winning with class, and losing with dignity — all those things are essential to developing quality citizens for our community,” he says.

“We have thousands of fantastic coaches across the province. It’s tough not to see them doing what they normally do and developing those kids in the way that they’re hoping to.”