What would you expect coaches/tournament directors to do differently when we return back to play
- Thread starter Gambler Bob
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Even if you agree with those rules, "Phase 1" has language about groups under 10. It's "Phase 2" before you get to a single game being allowed (under 50 people) and "Phase 3" before we talk about tournaments/big groups.
- Jun 8, 2016
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Small detail...
"herding cats" comes to mind.Saw that on Facebook.
Sure, you try to keep a dozen 10 year olds 6 feet apart outside the dugout.
A lot of the fields we play on don't even have fences extending down the lines from the dugout.
#7 will remove half of your umpires.......No tournament can be 100% safe, it will just come down to parents being comfortable enough to let DD play, some will, some wont.
- Oct 14, 2019
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It has been my position all along that softball will return when schools reopen. School is obviously (to most) more important than extracurricular activities. When we find it an acceptable risk for our children to attend school, softball will likely follow.
And the Ivy's are already discussing going strictly to online classes again for the Fall Semester.
Although I agree with you, for some reason I don't foresee the 'money hungry' TB industry foregoing their profits for an entire season. I truly don't know what the answers are but I can make a guess that a lot of organizations may try to have smaller tournaments at larger facilities over a series of weekends. In other words, one weekend may just be 8 teams of 12U at a facility of that has 10 fields. The next weekend 14U. This would allow social distancing and access to relatively uncrowded restrooms. The real question is, are they actually going to be able to field teams to play and umpires to call the games in these?
I'm thinking that a lot of facilities that depend on tournament revenue will be offering big discounts just to recoup some of their losses and stay solvent; even if that means putting portable wash stations at every field. Of course, with all of the "essential" (and I use that term loosely) construction projects going on, they are pretty much non-existent to rent in my area.
I am currently on one of these projects and believe me when I say, the only "essential" part is the customer wants it done. In order to help keep us "safe," they had to purchase clean, 55 gallon oil drums, fill them with water and add a barrel heater and hose bib so we could wash our hands with a small bottle of soap off to the side.
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Will be interesting to see if states that progress to allowing gatherings of 50+ this summer set up and monitor protocols for things like softball tournaments. Guessing not, since budgets will be tight.
My point being, I just don't see the folks running the tourneys, participants and spectators having stringent and effective adherence to sterilizing practices. Have seen too many empty gatorade bottles in dug outs to think otherwise.
I also wonder how many older umpires will say "no thanks" to calling games? I'm 55 and won't call games this summer.
I don't blame you one bit. I've lost 2 of my dear friends to this virus. One was 70 and the other was 56.
