The NBA isn’t the only sporting entity employing a bubble strategy to combat COVID-19.
Here locally, the Western Mass. Summer Field Hockey League moved forward with its second season last week, beginning a seven-week run that hopes to build off the momentum started with its inaugural campaign in 2019. The league, which operates on the turf field at South Hadley High School, features players from grades 8-12. Several Franklin County towns have teams in this summer’s league, which has grown considerably to about 150 players, according to co-organizer Katie Hopp.
“It took a lot to get this started this summer,” began Hopp, who officiates field hockey and also coaches the Greenfield Middle School team. “We had to wait for the guidance from the state, adjust the guidance. We had to take everything we were told and find a way to make it work.”
Hopp, who helps run the league with South Hadley field hockey coach Tara Cole, said the league has employed its own bubble mentality this summer. Teams were split into a Northern Pool, made up of teams like Greenfield, Frontier and Turners Falls, and a Southern Pool, with the likes of Agawam, Southwick and Westfield, and interactions and games throughout the entire summer will only take place within separate pools.
“The two fields are 35 feet apart so they never get close to each other,” Hopp said. “And officials are bubbled as well. I’m officiating the Northern Pool. The plan is to keep myself and everyone in that one bubble so there’s no extra contact. We record who comes every week for contact tracing purposes. Everyone was very receptive to all our guidelines. If you want to play, this is what you’ve got to do.”
Each pool has a separate entrance to the field. There are six teams in each pool, and the squads play two, 20-minute 7-on-7 games per week. Penalty corners have been taken out of the games to avoid unnecessary close contact. Hopp said every ball and goal cage is wiped down between games, and if a player touches a ball during a game with their hand, that ball is thrown out to be sanitized immediately. Players are required to wear face masks when arriving and when they are not in a game. Officials are also required to wear them.
“I think it’s great practice as far as protocol and procedures go for if we have a fall field hockey season,” Hopp said. “Our hope is to be on the field in the fall, but that also goes with us being able to go back into the schools. We know coaches and officials will have to wear face masks. A lot of people want to be able to play field hockey but it’s just a matter of, can we do it all safely? Hopefully we can come up with a way to keep kids on the field.”
Hopp said the response after two weeks — the league plays every Wednesday through Aug. 29 — has been overwhelmingly positive. After months stuck indoors, she said that players and officials are slowly working themselves back into shape.
“It’s been so fun to see the kids all happy to be there and playing hockey,” she said. “For those 20 minutes, they aren’t dealing with the pandemic. They get to feel like it’s a normal summer in a way, and just go out and have fun with their friends.”