As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association hasn’t held a provincial championship of any kind since curling and wrestling competitions in March 2020.
That will change this weekend as the SHSAA will hold their provincial golf championships on Friday and Saturday at the Valley Regional Park Golf Course in Rosthern.
“We’re well-aware of the COVID-19 situation currently in our province, but we made the decision to continue with the provincial golf championship as we feel that we can offer it safely,” SHSAA executive director Jeff Kitts said on Thursday.
“We feel like we almost deserve it to our student-athletes in Saskatchewan, especially those who missed a year or are in their Grade 12 year. We’re definitely excited to have the chance to get this going this weekend.”
During the last few months, the SHSAA has been getting in touch with teachers, coaches, students and officials for their return to school sport surveys, which were done in collaboration with the University of Saskatchewan.
“One of the big things that we found was the recognition from the athletes of how disengaged they were at times in school and just how much school sports matters to them,” Kitts said.
“It’s a big deal for our kids, our families and even our teachers-coaches, as they also found a bit of a loss last year of not having that way to engage with their students like they normally would.”
Due to the ongoing pandemic, this weekend’s golf championships will have a different look to it.
“We’ve eliminated some of the bells and whistles that we would normally have,” Kitts said. “We had our coaches meeting online, there will be no opening ceremonies and there won’t be a mass awards ceremony like we would normally have at the end of the tournament.
“We weighed a lot of options in terms of how we would approach this weekend, but we found that there wasn’t a lot of transmission on the courses during the many golf tournaments that have been held in our province and it’s one activity that can be continued to offer safely.”
Carlton and St. Mary will each have a golfer taking part in the event, as Max McDougall will represent the Crusaders in the male competition and Neaeh Campbell will compete for the Marauders in the female tournament.
Weyburn’s Darien Herlick and Hunter Kutcher of Regina Riffel were the joint low qualifiers in the male district tournaments, while reigning Golf Saskatchewan women’s amateur champion Ella Kozak of Yorkton Sacred Heart is the low qualifier for the female event.
In terms of other SHSAA provincials that are slated for this school year, the Carlton Crusaders girls’ team is slated to host the 5A provincials at Prime Ministers Park from Oct. 29 and 30.
The Hoopla basketball tournament, which was originally slated to be held in Prince Albert in 2021, has been pushed back until March 2023 so that Regina can host the event this year.
The provincial capital was to have had the event in 2020, but it was cancelled due to an impasse in negotiations with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation and the Provincial Government, though the playoffs would have been affected by the response to COVID-19.
