Local Catholic high school student-athletes will not be competing for Ontario championships during the fall sports season.
The Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board’s (SMCDSB) educational leadership council, essentially the education director and superintendents, made the decision Tuesday not to play in Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) championships during the fall term.
“With the COVID numbers and with the fourth wave coming and we’re already experiencing cases in our schools, we just want to make sure that we’re doing everything possible to keep all our students and staff as safe as possible,” said Chris Woodcroft, superintendent of student achievement, who has athletics in his portfolio.
“We’ve gone ahead with athletics, we’re going ahead with GBs (Georgian Bay championships), but we made a decision for the fall season at least to not participate in OFSAA,” said Pauline Stevenson, the board's communications manager. “This is not unique to our board. There are many boards that are making similar decisions around OFSAA.”
“With the cautious approach, our thought is to only compete within our own region, within our own Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit region, to ensure all guidelines are in place and the safety and well-being of our students is first and foremost in all those decisions,” Woodcroft said.
This decision was sent to families through a board-wide communication through the secondary schools Wednesday afternoon, Woodcroft said.
But opposition to the move is already well underway.
Sarah Martin is the mother of three students at St. Joan of Arc Catholic High School in south-end Barrie, and says two are athletes who would have competed at OFSAA.
“This is an outrage for students,” said Martin, who’s also a supply teacher with the public board. “It’s just been heart-breaking for the kids, for sure. Making OFSAA is a really big deal for kids, as part of their identity as who they are as students. It also affects the larger school body, their spirit.
“Athletically, these students have missed a year and a half of sports already,” she added, “so any athlete that just wants to have fun, compete at school in co-curriculor (sports), get to the higher level… that relies on student scholarships, to get into Canadian or American universities, that is really deterring the athletes from getting scholarship money.
“From a mental health standpoint, everyone has given the green light.”
Martin has an online petition asking that Catholic board students be able to participate in OFSAA.
The petition also says the decision goes against public health guidelines from the province, which say that sports and co-curricular activities are essential for student mental health and well-being. And it is contrary to OFSAA itself, the petition says, which says it is time for kids to play and OFSAA says it has proven it can provide safe events and tournaments.
The petition concludes with: "Please speak up, have a voice! Let the students play sports at the highest level. Voice that you are willing to change to a public school with your tax dollars, if they don’t make a change.”
The online petition had more than 1,000 digital signatures at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday and its goal was 1,500.
Woodcroft couldn’t say how many student-athletes the decision would affect.
“We’re providing a wide variety of opportunities through our league play, and that’s where the majority of our student athletes will be participating,” he said. “It’s only the select few teams that win the championships that are able to move on to the regional championships, and then even fewer that will move on to the OFSAA championships, but it does impact student athletes that are competing at the highest level, for sure.”
The decision will affect athletes in fall sports, including cross-country, football, soccer, boys volleyball, girls basketball, golf and tennis.
Woodcroft said a decision on whether to participate in OFSAA for the winter and spring seasons will be made early in the new year.
Martin said she has sent her petition to school board trustees and upper administration.
The petition is available by clicking here.
