Updates from BMLA President, Dave Hunter.
Hello to all Burlington Minor Lacrosse families,
We hope that this announcement finds everyone safe and making the best of this unbelievable situation. It has been a couple weeks since our last communication, we would like to thank you all of you for your continued patience and understanding. As you know, what we are facing is bigger than lacrosse and sports.
The Board is currently meeting weekly to review plans and develop options for 2020 lacrosse. We are in regular contact with the governing bodies in Ontario (OLA, OMFLL, OWFL and Zone 9) with regards to the ongoing COVID-19 situation and their directions on the return to competitive play. It is everyone’s goal to get back to lacrosse as soon as we are permitted to do so. While the entire lacrosse community remains hopeful that we will have a modified version of our season, we must respect the one “known” in a period filled with uncertainty; whatever plans are made, the virus has the last say.
We understand that these are trying financial times for all, however, we kindly ask our registrants for continued patience before asking for refunds. For now, all leagues (field and box) are on “pause”, not cancelled. We will make every effort to provide safe lacrosse to our members in 2020. The BMLA will make further decisions to start or cancel our leagues based on clear directions from our governing bodies (both sports and Government) which have yet to materialize.
LEAGUE UPDATES
House League
Our strategy (for now) is to offer a modified house league in July & August should the City facilities become available. We continue to plan for the season so that we can respond quickly should the season start up again.
Field Lacrosse
Boys Rep Field - The OMFLL and the OLA believe there is an opportunity to move the boys field season to the end of the summer and beginning of fall. We will gladly participate if the province is in a state that could support the restart of youth lacrosse. We would encourage existing registrants to carry the enthusiasm we had for this season into the summer with the hope we could potentially still have our season.
Girls Rep Field - We will not be able to run the traditional May-August girls field season. The OWFL is exploring a variety of options to overcome circumstances that prohibit running this traditional season. For now we wait until there is further guidance from the OLA and City of Burlington.
House League Field - We will not be starting our house league field program at the end of June. Given the short season and low-overhead we could quickly reschedule and organize this program into the summer or early fall pending a green light from the OLA and City of Burlington.
Rep Box
As of today our governing body - the OLA - has not made any decisions in regards to a potential season for rep box lacrosse. We are taking all the factors into consideration and are monitoring any updates regularly. At this point we are not in a position to make a decision about the future of this season, though we are hopeful that we may be able to offer a condensed schedule this summer. We will continue to work with the OLA and the City of Burlington and will provide further updates as we move through these fluid and unpredictable times.
It is our hope that by "pausing" the lacrosse season we can work together to play an important role in flattening the curve in this pandemic. We appreciate your continued patience!
Kind regards,
David Hunter
President, Burlington Minor Lacrosse