Outdoor Youth Sports Restarting Across Washington State

Todd J. Cook Edmonds LawyerWe are now a little more than a week into June and Washington’s transition from “Stay Home” to “Safe Start” is well under way.  As of today, only 6 of Washington’s counties remain in Phase 1 while 25 counties have moved to Phase 2 and 8 counties have advanced to Phase 3.  While my blog updates on the Stay Home order have primarily focused on the order’s impact on employment outside the home, Phases and 3 also include important step in our kids’ return to normalcy:  the resumption of team sports.

On June 5, 2020, the Governor issued “Professional Sports & Other Sporting Activities Phase 2 and 3 COVID-19 Requirements.”  While the guidance focuses primarily on requirements for employers and professional sports operations, I would like to focus on the last section of the guidance: “Outdoor Youth Team Sports and Outdoor Adult Recreation Team Sports, Excluding School-Connected or Administered Team Sports and Junior Hockey.  First, it appears that the guidance represent a relaxing of the 4-Phase approach announced in the “Safe Start” Plan.  The “Washington’s Phase Approach” chart on page 10 of the Plan first identifies “Outdoor group rec. sports activities” in Phase 3.  But the new guidance allows youth sports teams to begin practicing outdoors in Phase 2.

Youth Sports During Phase 2

In Phase 2, youth (and adult) recreational sports teams can resume team practices if the practices meet the following requirements:

  1. Players are limited to groups of five in separate parts of the field, separated by a buffer zone; and
  2. Practice can follow social distancing of a minimum of five feet between players with no contact.

These two restrictions are notable for several reasons.

First, and most importantly, the social distancing requirement is inconsistent with many sports, such as football, soccer, and basketball.  I coach youth baseball and can envision a baseball practice where the groups’ members maintain social distancing (i.e., fielding practice or batting practice with no catcher and no baserunning).  But the social distancing workarounds seem more difficult for some other sports, particularly football.

Second, the “groups of five” players requirement appears to be designed to meet the Phase 2 limitation of “Outdoor recreation involving 5 or fewer people outside your household.”  When you add a coach to each group of five players, the guidance still appears to be consistent with the Phase 2 limitation to “Gather with no more than 5 people outside your household per week.”  But the “5 people outside your household per week” Phase 2 limitation would appear to mean that players need to stay in the same group during the entire practice because swapping players between groups would result in each player gathering with more than 5 people outside his or her household during the practice.

In addition to the practice limitations, in Phase 2, “[e]ach league, organization, or club must publish and follow a ‘return to play’ safety plan” and parent are prohibited from congregating on the sidelines during practice.

Yesterday, one of my sons attended his first baseball practice since March.  The team structured the practice in groups.  During the first hour, it was just the coach and three players.  Another group of players arrived as our group ended.  While that certainly is not “normal,” the return of baseball practice is a key sign (for our family at least) that Washington is truly moving toward a resumption of normalcy, or perhaps a modified “new normal.”

Youth Sports During Phase 3

Sports teams involved in outdoor sports can start playing games once the county has moved into Phase 3.  Currently, Columbia, Ferry, Garfield, Lincoln, Pend Oreille, Stevens, Wahkiakum and Whitman counties are in Phase 3.

While the guidance is silent on it, presumably the Phase 2 practice limitations will no longer apply in Phase 3 because Phase 3 allows “Outdoor group rec. sports activities” with “50 or fewer people.”  The 50-person limitation should not impact a team practice, but it certainly could come into play during games.  After attending dozens of baseball tournaments at complexes filled with hundreds of players and fans, I have wondered how the state would handle the 50-person limitation during Phase 3.  The guidance answers this question by treating each game/field as a separate “gathering.”

During Phase 3, the “[t]otal gathering at any one game cannot exceed 50 individuals.”  For the youth baseball model, that is about right (possibly a little on the low side) for a game that will usually involve around 25 total players, 4-6 coaches, 2 umpires, and a number of family members in the crowd.  My son plays little league through the Mukilteo Little League.  We have a four-field complex where you can often find 200+ players and family members on a spring evening or weekend.  For this type of multi-field complex, the guidance clarifies that “the 50-individual limit is counted per-field, not a per-complex basis.”

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