Name: Hochman: Should kids play in baseball games this weekend? Hundreds from St. Louis area will.
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Hochman: Should kids play in baseball games this weekend? Hundreds from St. Louis area will.

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Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily.Last chance! Subscribe with this special offer to keep readingLoading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisHochman: Should kids play in baseball games this weekend? Hundreds from St. Louis area will.Share thisThe following statement could end with an exclamation point or a question mark:Play ballThis weekend, hundreds of kids from the St. Louis area will play in baseball games.So, what’s your reaction?There are likely many St. Louisans having the exact same reaction as you right now.And there are likely many St. Louisans having the exact opposite reaction.“We are doing this in a small manner and a responsible manner, but the parents are really mixed,” explained Rob Worstenholm, who owns . “I would say it’s close to 50-50. … I’ve heard everything from, ‘Man, I’m ready to play, like, yesterday,’ to ‘I’m not playing at all this year.’ So it is literally everywhere in between.”Two sets of fields, one in St. Charles County and one in Jefferson County, will serve as petri dishes. Other venues that GameTime normally uses — Affton Athletic and Wiethaupt Fields in St. Louis County, as well as Gordon Moore Park in Alton — cannot be used due to county and state business restrictions related to the pandemic. Some other tournament organizations, like Greater Midwest Baseball and Game 7 Baseball, have canceled their events for this weekend.GameTime will host 54 teams in the Mother’s Day Classic on Saturday and Sunday (six of the 54 are girls softball teams). The players are ages 7-14. While facemasks won’t be required, GameTime has a long list of rules regarding social distancing, which include: Players and coaches are to be six feet apart; Only three social-distanced kids in a dugout at a time, the rest must spread out down the fence lines; No handshakes or fistbumps; Instead of behind the catcher, umpires will be six feet behind the pitcher; And behind the plate, the catcher must set up two feet behind where the catcher normally would be; No leadoffs; All spectators must be in the outfield, behind the fence; The benches will be sanitized between games, the baseballs sanitized between every inning.“Safety of these kids is a high priority,” Worstenholm said. “It’s going to be by those rules. So if you don’t want to play by those rules, then that’s fine, but not with us.”Some might argue that – hey, this is all a nice compromise for playing baseball in a pandemic.Some might argue that the kids should not be out there at all.Some might argue this isn’t even really baseball, with all the weird rules and setups.“About 80 percent of the teams (participating) don’t like my rules,” Worstenholm said, citing that baseball is a “traditional” sport. “But 90 percent of them are fine because they understand why we have them.“For me, I just love these kids, and I want the kids to get to play,” continued Worstenholm, who is a father of three boys. “But they all just had to understand that if we’re going to be playing early in the year this year (compared to other leagues), we’re going have to do it under what the governor says is the correct way of doing it. And that’s what we’re going to do.”Everyone’s opinion is passionate, because it regards the safety and happiness of their children.Worstenholm said that before the coronavirus pandemic, about 160 teams would’ve participated in the tournament. Dozens pulled out. GameTime gave full refunds with no fees. Worstenholm said the most noticeable drop-off was of the percentage of girls softball teams.Because of the nature of baseball, there will likely be physical interactions or even collisions in nearly every game. Any tagging situation. Balls in the gap. Infield pop-ups. Run-downs. While social distancing is preached and prevalent, participants are well aware that some germs will be shared.“The way I would like to explain it would be that if you go into Walmart today, we’re certainly trying to social distance,” Worstenholm said, “but there are going to be times where people reach around you or walk through your little six-foot space. I’ve had people bump into me – I mean, it’s going to happen. But we’re trying, by the rules that we’re playing, to keep that to an absolute minimum. But if I was doing football or soccer? There’s no way.”GameTime plans to host dozens of tournaments each weekend until the fall. Once regulations are loosened in St. Louis County, GameTime will host more tournaments around town, as will many other organizations and leagues. Each week, a new set of teams, players and parents will have to answer tough questions.• Is it still too soon?• Should (or could) the actions of other parents sway a parent to make a rash or rushed decision?• What’s the risk of a kid getting coronavirus?• What’s the risk of having a kid miss out of a whole season of sports development?As for this weekend’s opening tournament, “To me, this is a big responsibility,” Worstenholm said. “And of all my people have been told this is a massive responsibility, because if we go and botch this up, it’s going to be bad. But I can promise you 100 percent that it’s not going to be botched up. I doubled the staff at the park. We’re going to make 100-percent sure that everybody’s not only doing what they’re supposed to do, but just generally speaking, not grouping up, not getting into things.“We want these kids to get to play. And if I botch this up this week, they might not let them play (after this weekend). This is going to be 100 percent by those rules.”Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily.{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

Sign up now to get the most recent coronavirus headlines and other important local and national news sent to your email inbox daily.Last chance! Subscribe with this special offer to keep readingLoading&amp;hellp;{{title}}{{description}}{{banner}}(renews at {{format_dollars}}{{start_price}}{{format_cents}}/month + tax){{tagline}}{{special_title}}{{html}}You are the owner of this article.You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisHochman: Should kids play in baseball games this weekend? Hundreds from St. Louis area will.Share thisThe following statement could end...

Hochman: Should kids play in baseball games this weekend? Hundreds from St. Louis area will.

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