On Wednesday last week the province announced that sport competition could resume beginning February 14th, as previously shared with all member clubs the MBA will restart the season of February 19th and 20th. The MBA board met February 10th to discuss what the remainder of this season will look like.
Dates of Play
The season will be extended into April, the revised dates of play will be as follows:
U10 Boys and Girls
February 19, 26
March 5, 12, 26
April 2, 9
U12 Boys and Girls
February 19, 26
March 5, 12, 26
April 2, 9
U14 Boys and Girls
February 20, 27
March 6, 13, 27
April 3, 10
U16 Boys and U16/18 Girls
February 20, 27
March 6, 13, 27
April 3, 10, 23*, 24
U18 Boys
February 20, 27
March 6, 13, 27
April 3, 10, 23*, 24
There will be no games played on March 19th and 20th or April 16th and 17th.
*April 23rd is a Saturday and not usually a day U16 and U18 play, these divisions started 2 weeks after the younger divisions, playing on the last Saturday and Sunday will ensure they receive the same number of weeks.
Play-offs
We will not hold play-offs in our traditional format, we do not want a COVID exposure or case within a team to knock them out of three weekends of play. The last day of games will be scheduled as follows 1v2, 3v4, 5v6, etc, etc. This option gives all teams a better chance at playing more games and should ensure their last game of the season ends with a competitive matchup.
Spectators
As most of you would have received yesterday from HRM, all rentals at HRCE facilities will be limited to 60 people total, this includes all players, coaches, scorekeepers and officials. I have attached this document from HRM to this e-mail.
The MBA in working with the guidelines set out by HRCE will allow spectators as follows:
The rules around proof of vaccination still apply. Similar to before the break, each team MUST check proof of vaccination for all spectators in the gym for their team. Games will not begin until the name and phone number for the person checking this information has been recorded on the scoresheet and both coaches publically address their fans reminding them that masks must be worn at all times (if both coaches agree, one coach can do it for both teams).
As long as these guidelines are followed we will review as further restrictions are listed and look forward to welcoming anyone who wants to watch a game to do so. Until such restrictions are lifted this provides the best possibility to have a limited number of spectators and still be able to play games within the current restrictions.