Hockey & Covid

I can’t believe I am wiring these words “Hockey & Covid”. When I stated my blog and writing articles a little over a year ago I never in my wildest dreams would think I would have to write about a deadly disease sweeping the globe. But, the truthful reality (and, yes, it is truthful, and yes, it is reality), is that I am writing about it. So how, do we move on with a Global Pandemic and keeping our kids involved? How do you keep the love of the game going? And, most importantly how do we keep our children safe? The questions really are endless……

I am the Team Manager of my daughter’s team (OWHA), I can tell you there has been an abundance of Q&A’s, zoom calls, emails, working with the town, the organization all while following the Provincial guidelines. We thankfully live in Ontario, Canada, and are very thankful that we have kept Covid somewhat under control and can slowly begin getting the kids involved again. While it is amazing to bring the girls back, there is a lot to learn and accept with the “new norm”, these include the following:

• Getting dressed in full gear outside at your car (my daughter is a goalie; you can imagine how this goes)
• The above includes skates – skates are even being put on outside and then guarded by the skate guard to walk
• Completing a Covid health screening form
• No spectators
• Entrance in 1 building door, and exit through a different door
• A rink employee coming outside to “collect the team”
• Enter the building together, exit the building together
• No hockey bags etc allowed in the building, just the fully dressed player and their own water bottle
• No games

Both of my children are part of the representative / competitive world. We / they are used to plenty of travel, their pre-game team rituals, their dryland training, their team functions and team events, and most importantly their tournaments. So far, it appears that all the mentioned is off the table. This is devastating. The kids deserved better. We all deserve to not be living this nightmare. Hockey for us, and for many others across the world is a release from everyday life, it provides immense joy, entertainment and helps our children grow as people. As a family we will miss everything involved in our “usual” hockey world, yet at the same time be thankful that at least they will still be developing on the ice at least.

To all my hockey family near and far, we will get through this. Our hockey loving kids are about to show us just how resilient they truly are. Our coaches are going to show us patience and kindness all while learning and navigating through these times themselves, and our managers are going to show us even more than ever just how much work they put into the team. I can tell you firsthand, these Covid forms are not fun. To my fellow goalie moms and even hockey moms in general, I wish you good luck in whatever the 2020/21 season looks like, and one thing is for sure, no matter what the season looks like we will still be their number 1 fan!

Stay safe – wishing you all a healthy remainder of the year.

“Kindness is realizing that we are all in this together”

Writers Note: I realize this is not every organization, this article is based on my own experience with my children based on where we reside.