And as that reality has set in, tough decisions have had to be made.
The Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre (MJFCC) became one of the first overall casualties for sports organizations in the community, as Mosaic Place announced Thursday that they would be shutting down the facility for the season.
For MJFCC curling programmer Rhonda Wenarchuk, given the ongoing high number of cases in the province, it seemed like only a matter of time before the bad news came down. That doesn’t make it any easier, though.
“It’s disappointing,” she said. “For some people, they’re using sports as a way of getting out and keeping active and for their mental stability. It’s tough, but there’s not much we can do about it, we just have to go with the flow.”
The news wasn’t a complete surprise. With the Ministry of Health making their announcement and Curl Sask outright cancelling the playdowns and naming provincial representatives, word had also come out that adults likely wouldn’t be allowed to play until March, at the earliest. That would have eliminated league nights for the MJFCC and had the building keeping ice in for no reason, since the club had opted not to have players under 18 practicing in a mostly empty building.
“So it really doesn’t justify running it the whole time,” Wenarchuk said.
The club is currently issuing refunds for the remainder of the season. Refunds were issued earlier in the year for last March when three weeks were missed at the end of the season, and the MJFCC is working on refunds from the first half of December where as many as four games were missed each league night.
Players who paid for the full season can put their fees toward next season or receive a refund.
“If someone wanted it all back because they weren’t sure, we’ll give it back and just pay for what you played,” Wenarchuk said. “With the way things are going, some people might need that money back just to be able to put groceries on the table.”
The good news is there will be a season next year. Curling will start up again just after Thanksgiving, players will be back on the ice and championships will once again take centre stage.
“We have wheelchair nationals here in February and that’ll bring some excitement and should be a fun event,” Wenarchuk said. “We have Lion’s provincials set for next year, and the South Central (high school) playdowns are in there too. From the middle of February to the beginning of March it’s just wowzers crazy. So we’ll be looking forward to it, it’ll be a lot of fun.”
