CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – With the continued concerns surrounding COVID-19, local youth sports have now been impacted. There are many baseball, softball and soccer associations that have had their spring seasons suspended or cancelled due to the potential spreading of the virus.
Montgomery County Soccer Association president Jim England believes the decision to ultimately forgo this season was in the organization’s best interest.
“As a league we’ve been on the phone probably every other day,” England said. “March 14 was our initial start date and by March 10 we decided to put out a mass email identifying that were going to continue to play. A day or two later, Tennessee State Soccer put a halt on games and we were impacted by them because they have our insurance. I then put out a new email letting people know we were going to suspend the season for two weeks until we could reassess the situation.”
The next day, Parks and Recreation put out a statement that the mayor was closing all parks until the 29th.
“Those two suppliers of ours were generating our decisions on what we have to do versus what we wanted to do which honestly in the end I think was the best call,” England said.
Despite the roadblocks, they tried to find a careful solution to save the season.
“We did the math and figured we could still fit in an entire year if we started up by April 11. The whole month of March we’ve just been trying to constantly communicate as a board. With Parks and Rec pushing their date back to May 10 that pretty much solidified our feeling that we were not going to have this season,” England said. “What we’re going to try and do is encourage people to take the money that they paid for this season and roll it over to the fall season. We also know that a lot of people may need that money, so we are going to be offering refunds for those who do. It’s unfortunate, because I’m sure the kids wanted some normalcy and a level of connection with friends through activities, but we have to do what’s best for our players and their families.”
England couldn’t recall MCSA ever having to deal with a similar situation in all of its history.
“We’ve had shortened seasons due to rain and storms, but nothing to this degree where we’ve lost the entire season and we’ve been in business for 38 years now,” England said. “I think this is a once in a lifetime challenge that we’re up against. For us, because we have a hard stop and can’t go into the summer like a lot of baseball leagues can, it was a decision we felt like was inevitable.”
Clarksville National Little League president Ben Moore and his fellow board members have weighed all options when it comes to pleasing all of the parties involved.
“After receiving an email from Little League International, the suspension has been pushed back to May 11,” Moore said. “Currently, we are scheduled to resume activities on that date as we stand today. Our board has met over teleconference three times since the initial suspension was made. We have discussed everything from resuming on May 11 to cancelling the season to having a recreational league not associated with Little League International. We’ve covered everything under the sea in our discussions. Right now, as far as our league is concerned, we are going to start back up on May 11 and go from there.”
Moore trusts the postponement of their spring season may actually cast a positive light by allowing more players the opportunity to see the field.
“To be frank it’s going to impact the league as a whole in having more games,” Moore said. “Normally the kids have to play a minimum of 12 games in the regular season and then there’s an all-star season where here, it looks like all indications are there’s not going to be any all-stars for this year. That would allow us to go into the June and July months and have a longer regular season than we normally have. That’s our hope anyway.”
Montgomery County Little League president Phillip Swaw believes the safety of their players and volunteers is of the utmost importance.
“We as a board made the decision on April 1 to postpone our season until May 4,” Swaw said. “The decision was made based on the recommendations from Little League International and Montgomery County. We want the players, coaches and parents to know that we are committed to providing everyone with a great season once it is safe for us to continue.”
Northwest Little League president Chris Grier understands the anxiousness surrounding the start of the year, but wants their players to remain patient while continuing to work on their game at home.
“Little League International has asked all local little leagues across the nation to postpone the ball season until May 11,” Grier said. “We are adhering to the advice of LLI and Montgomery County to keep our park closed until then. We pray that everyone stays safe and in good health that are anxiously awaiting to be able to return to playing ball. We know this is a hard time for everyone and hope that this gives everyone something to look forward to. We miss our ball family and can’t wait to see everyone out doing what they love to do.”
St. Bethlehem Little League shared a message to coaches, parents and players on its Facebook page addressing the postponement of their spring season.