The BC Junior A Lacrosse League is putting off training camps and practices until at least March 29.
That’s when the league’s executive and board of governors will meet to discuss a directive issued Sunday by the Canadian Lacrosse Association to suspend all activity until April 5 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, BCJALL president Karl Christiansen said in a statement.
The league was scheduled to being regular season play on April 25.
Meanwhile, the Western Lacrosse Association says it’s business as usual — for now.
But with the start of the regular season still more than two months away, the league is monitoring the ever-evolving novel coronavirus outbreak, commissioner Paul Dal Monte said. He added none of the teams are currently practising.
Many of the league’s players who are part of teams in the professional National Lacrosse League are already idle as that circuit suspended its season last Thursday. The professional outdoor Major Lacrosse League that begins play at the end of May has yet to announce its intentions, although the sport’s governing body in the United States has also postponed all events until at least April 5 as well as cancelled two national women’s tournaments scheduled in May.
Minor lacrosse in the Tri-Cities is also on hold.
In a statement posted to its website Sunday, the president of Port Coquitlam Minor Lacrosse Association said coaches, players, parents and officials have been instructed to suspend all sanctioned activities, including tryouts, scrimmages, practices, training sessions, games and even meetings, until at least April 5. The Port Moody Lacrosse Association is following the same protocol.
Garrett Ungaro, the president of the Coquitlam Minor Minor Lacrosse Association, said his league is following the edicts of the sport's provincial and national governing organizations and suspending league activity until April 5. He added no tryouts or exhibition games are scheduled for the next two weeks anyway, because of Spring Break, but some teams have been practising. He said while those haven't been shut down by the BC Lacrosse Association as yet, that could change at a moment's notice, or facilities could get shut down.
