Recreational sports resume / Equipment put back in place at city parks

Columbus Parks and Recreation employees James England, left, and Ryan Rutan load a soccer goal on a trailer as they prepare the soccer fields for the return of recreational sports at the Richard Wigh Soccer Complex in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, May 27, 2020. Mike Wolanin | The Republic

As the state of Indiana moved into Stage 3 of Gov. Eric Holcomb’s reopening plan on Friday, Columbus Parks and Recreation began reopening some of its sports facilities.

Basketball rims, soccer goals and tennis nets were put back in place. Youth recreation programs resumed, and Hamilton Community Center and Ice Arena reopened.

“The social distancing is the biggest thing right now,” parks director Mark Jones said. “In our world, all of our buildings, every event we put on is related to a gathering, from normal sports stuff to rentals in a park. It’s just weird times for everybody. It’s changing it seems like daily. We’re just following protocols, and at the end of the day, want to make sure we can give a safe product to our community and our staff.”

School facilities remain closed through June 30 because of COVID-19 concerns. But with equipment returning to most parks, some athletes and non-school teams and organizations once again have a place to train.

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That includes the Columbus Express Soccer Club. CESC, which canceled all training this spring and gave refunds back to families, will resume training on Monday at Richard Wigh Soccer Complex, and tryouts for next year’s teams are June 22-25.

“Now, we are at the point where we are going to start training again,” CESC director of coaching Ty Smith said. “There’s some very specific guidelines with how we can train and what we can do and can’t do. We’ve taken some of the stuff that we’ve gotten from U.S. Youth Soccer, Indiana Soccer and the parks and come up with our own guidelines.”

Those guidelines from Indiana Soccer include recommendations for coaches, clubs, players and parents. They include coaches wearing masks and sanitizing equipment, clubs providing enough time between group sessions so that there is little overlap in traffic, and players bringing and using only their own soccer balls.

Indiana Soccer currently is in a non-contact, social distancing phase and has recommended that players not head the ball until further notice.

“It’s basically creating activities that keep kids at the appropriate social distances, activities that have one player with one ball,” Smith said.

Smith said CESC is looking at adding small-sided leagues and one- or two-day events that kids from around the area can compete in this summer.

Meanwhile, contact sports such as football and lacrosse can’t start competition yet, but conditioning and non-contract drills may take place. Columbus is set to restart adult sports leagues and adult recreation programs in Stage 4, which begins June 14.

Jones said the logistics of reopening in Columbus has been a team effort, working with state and national organizations and talking with other parks departments and listening to Gov. Holcomb. Jones said during this process, he’s been working with the parks board and the city administration to determine the best course of action.

“Hopefully, everyone follows the rules, and we can get through this,” Jones said. “We want to make sure we’re protecting our community.”