SASKATOON -- Jesse Korte says he is disappointed in how the province handled last Thursday’s announcement regarding summer sports.
The government had sent out premature information that the season could start – but then rescinded the announcement.
“Of course, we started to kind of panic a bit, we had to organized here, but then the following day, everything was shut down again,” said Korte, executive director of Baseball Saskatoon.
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The province released the official start date of Phase Four of its reopening plan on Tuesday. It allows practicing, training, and evaluations as of June 22.
Those placement sessions need to be completed before the games can start. Games are not allowed to take place until at least July 1.
Korte says there are many challenges in trying to navigate all the changes and still have some semblance of a season this year, but the real threat is losing players because of it.
“We are most concerned about keeping our kids and families interested in baseball. We don’t want to lose a season and lose our members to another sport or lose them for the year and they decide to quit. We need to be retaining those kids and making sure they’re having fun playing ball.”
Only 30 people will be allowed on a field at a time, which will likely mean parents and spectators cannot watch the games. There will no spitting allowed and the action of licking the fingers by pitchers to gain grip will not be allowed.
Korte says the biggest challenge that he sees once games commence is making sure parents and players are on board with the changes and comply.
