There will be no baseball teams from Newfoundland and Labrador representing the province in national competition this summer after Baseball Canada announced this week it has cancelled its 2020 national championships due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of those tournaments is the Under-13 National Atlantic championships Sept. 17-20 in St. John’s.
The decision affects 11 national tournaments, from minor to the men’s championship Aug. 27-30 in Sydney, N.S.
“After extensive discussions and careful consideration among our executive committee and board of directors, we arrived at the decision to cancel all of our 2020 national championships,” Baseball Canada president Jason Dickson said in a news release. “Although this decision will be disappointing to many across the Canadian baseball community, we felt it was the best decision to make given that the health and welfare of our members is paramount in these uncertain times.”
Softball Canada has set a target deadline of June 1 to determine if its national championships will even proceed this summer.
“Softball Canada will continue to monitor the current COVID-19 situation, and will be reviewing the full lineup of the 12 Canadian championships that are scheduled for 2020,” the national sports governing body said in a news release. “Further evaluations and decisions will be forthcoming in the next few weeks.”
There will also be no participation on the hardwood this summer as Canada Basketball announced earlier this month the 2020 national 15U/17U men’s and women’s nationals, scheduled for Aug. 2-9, have been officially cancelled due the pandemic.
Kingston, Ont. was scheduled to play host to the 2020 Canada Basketball 15U/17U men’s nationals, with Charlottetown, P.E.I. staging the 15U/17U women’s nationals.
Canada Soccer announced last month it has suspended all sanctioned soccer activities with immediate effect after consultation with the Canada Soccer Sport Medicine Committee, public health authorities and the provincial and Territorial member associations.
The Canada Soccer decision impacts all domestic soccer activity as well as national teams across all age groups with the decision crucial to ensure the safety of our players, coaches, officials, staff and fans.
“Given the extraordinary nature of the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation and after close dialogue with our membership and public health authorities, Canada Soccer has taken the necessary decision to suspend all domestic soccer activity as well as National Team programming to ensure the well being of all involved,” said Steven Reed, Canada Soccer president.
