The last week or so was tough on the local sports associations.
Even with the governor's office announcement that youth teams can start practice on June 1 with restrictions and the city of Shakopee announcing they will open the city fields and the Shakopee Ice Arena, the associations could not overcome COVID-19.
In just the past week, the Shakopee Youth Lacrosse Association, Shakopee Youth Baseball, and Shakopee Soccer saw all or parts of their season canceled for the summer.
"With the continued uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, at least through June 1, and nearly half the season already missed, the SYBA Board has made the difficult decision to cancel the existing 2020 summer baseball season and return the registration fees to our families at this time," the SYBA said in an email to its members.
The Shakopee Lacrosse Association announced its decision to its members on Friday, May 22.
"As an entire association, we held out hope that our summer season would still take place," SYLA president Ryan Thorman said in an announcement to its members. "Board Members received dozens of messages from parents, sharing their excitement for a season and a desire to play, should a season happen. However, this message is to inform you that the Shakopee Youth Lacrosse Association Board as come to the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 summer lacrosse season, including our home tournament, the River Valley Rumble."
"The hope we held on to was driven by our desire to give our kids some sense of normalcy in a difficult time in our lives. This decision was not taken lightly and it was not made without first consulting with numerous other associations around the Twin Cities metro. As we share some factors that led us down this road, we want to make sure it is known that if things change, orders get lifted, and a modified lacrosse season is made available, we will do our best to be part of that. Also, I am sure that some details will be missed, so I encourage you to reach out with any questions."
Shakopee soccer didn't cancel its season, but the associations that run its leagues, the Twin Cities Soccer Leagues and Minnesota Youth Soccer Association, canceled all summer leagues and events.
While all three sports announced the cancellation of the 2020 season, all three also said they will try to keep the kids involved in the sport this summer either through clinics, camps or even some sort of modified season.
On Thursday morning, the SYBA announced it will offer three options to family for kids in grades 1-12 to play baseball this summer - traveling, in-house, or day camps.
The lacrosse association said it hopes to have some lacrosse this season.
"Although we have decided to cancel our 2020 summer lacrosse season, there are still talks of conducting a modified version of lacrosse," Thorman said."This would include decreased players per team, safety precautions for spectators, and shortened games. A modified season would focus on development, not on competition. If a modified season is not able to take place, but we can meet requirements and guidelines set forth by state and local officials, we may have clinics for our players, which would be held by coaches and other volunteers. Both of these options would have a necessity for a new registration, including modified fees, which would be determined at a later date."
Both soccer leagues offered all clubs or associations to move onto what they are calling Phase 2 of returning to play guidelines which means they can start to hosting modified training sessions that strictly follow Phase 2 guidelines in the plan. These modified trainings are the only in-person activities that are allowed.