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Advocacy for the return of team sports quickly

Sports federations want the game back as soon as possible and hope that team sport will be part of the next wave of deconfinement.

The associations plead in unison that young people must start moving again. The sports system demonstrated last summer that it is capable of maintaining a safe environment, without outbreaks, recalls Mathieu Chamberland, general manager of Soccer Quebec.

For Hockey Quebec, the situation is particularly urgent. “We are the most affected”, agrees the director of communications, Marie-Joël Desaulniers. The hockey players put their skates away in October, as the season was about to take off. The Federation assures us, however, that “we will not cancel the hockey season. If it lasts a month, it will last a month. ”

All sports combined

The goal, she says, is for young people to return to the rinks, if only for training in small groups.

“We want to be part of the next deconfinement”, says Mme Desaulniers. And the hockey organization has a plan ready for getting the sport back on track.

At Baseball Quebec, we are starting the registration period for the summer. Even if the federation has time ahead of it, its general manager, Maxime Lamarche, believes that “young people must start moving again, regardless of the sport”. Especially for high performance athletes, he argues. Because they have been deprived of training for several months. “Sooner rather than later the players have to go back to training. “

Mathieu Chamberland nods. He said he was “disappointed and worried about young people.” In the next government announcements, “we want sport to be considered.”

Collateral damages

The forced break from sports also has side effects for operators of sports facilities. For Éric Alarie, general manager of the private complex Les 3 Glaces, in Quebec, the interruption of hockey is expensive. The shortfall is a million dollars since October. If the closures continue, it is a loss of $ 1.5 to $ 2 million that he will have to endure, he anticipates.

What hurts right now is the complete ban on indoor sports in the red zone. Thus, the complex is deprived of income from rental of ice for private training or in a family bubble. Everything will be decided in the coming weeks for the hockey season, he believes, because in mid-March, “it starts to be a little late”.

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