Frustration mounts for athletic community

Windsor, Ont. -

Windsor Spitfires’ head coach Marc Savard made a plea on Twitter Sunday night for COVID to stop and go away.

“Just tired. I think everyone’s tired. It seems like we don’t know what’s going on. The rules are here and there,” the tweet read.

Savard says his itineraries have been scattered as well with a lot of ripped paper.

“It’s been crazy,” he says. “Practices we’ve changed. It’s been a long haul.”

Scavard feels for the players whose development has been most affected but Savard and the Spits continue to adjust on the fly.

Two of their games were postponed last week because of COVID protocols. One of those games was rescheduled for Wednesday in Guelph.

The Spits practiced Tuesday afternoon and as far as Savard is concerned his team is packed and ready to play the Storm tomorrow night at the Sleeman Centre.

“That’s our itinerary and hopefully it works out,” he says.

Savard expects to practice in Guelph Thursday before heading to the Soo for a pair of games this weekend unless told otherwise.

“You don’t know what to expect at any given time,” he says. “Something can happen so you gotta just try and enjoy each moment for what it is right now.”

Enjoying the moments is something amateur athletes have to forfeit for another three weeks.

The Windsor Lancers men’s basketball team was going to resume practicing this week.

Team captain Thomas Kennedy was excited to build off his strong first semester and take a run a playoffs and league MVP honours. That is now on hold.

University athletics was already paused until Jan. 24 but now all athletes are being shut down until the 26th, even though participants must be vaccinated.

“We all got it because it was the promise of being able to play our sport for the whole year. To have something like this happen, kinda hurts”, said Kennedy.

Under Ontario’s revised Step 2 plan OUA and OCAA athletics are not considered elite sports leagues.

Kennedy, who is one of eight OUA hoopsters to play professionally last summer in the CEBL, disagrees.

“Follow an OUA athlete around for a week and at the end of that week try and tell us we’re not an elite athlete after you watch all the work we put in to take care of our body and honing our skills,” he says.

The Essex 73'S host the final in-person game before the pause. After that indoor recreational amenities around the region shut down. Outdoor recreation amenities will remain open.

They City of Windsor is preparing to open the outdoor rink at Charles Clark Square. Municipality leaders say virtual programming has or will likely return.

Cynthia Cakebread, manager of recreation and culture in Essex says the municipality will flip back to in-person activities when possible and extend virtual programming beyond the return date.

“We did do some virtual programming in transition during the last shutdown so we anticipate some people may feel more comfortable doing that and we’ll continue to provide that opportunity as well,” she says.