Adaptability is not just a virtue, but a necessity for sports organizations in the era of COVID-19.Jean-Gilles Larocque, owner and operator of the Baseball Academy and coach for the Sudbury Voyageurs’ entries in the Premier Baseball League of Ontario, had just put the finishing touches on a revamped regimen to comply with the province’s red-control standards, when word came down last week that Sudbury was headed into the grey-lockdown zone of the provincial framework.
Larocque, his fellow coaches and players immediately vacated their training facility at 1010 Lorne St., which had just re-opened in mid-February, and returned to Zoom sessions, and preparation for the Voyageurs’ 14U, 16U and 18U season openers in May continued unabated.
Such is the state of high-level sport one year into a global pandemic, where Larocque and his colleagues must make changes to training methods almost as quickly as they make adjustments on the field — while constantly considering the mental and physical strain on their athletes.
“Our pitchers were ready to throw around mid-January,” recalled Larocque, who opened his current location for baseball training in November 2019, then added a new section for basketball, volleyball, badminton and Ninja Warrior last November.
“We got shut down December, January to mid-February, then I had to re-vamp up their arms to be ready for May 1, so they’re on, off, on, off and the season start date doesn’t change. You’re just lining yourself up for injuries, so I was happy to keep them throwing so they’re ready. Obviously, things can change, but I’m keeping it in my head that it’s May 1 and that’s when we need to be ready.”
All three Sudbury teams are to compete in the PBLO, against a slew of squads ranging from the southwest to the eastern part of the province.
The Voyageurs previously played in the Elite Baseball League of Ontario, whose teams are mostly clustered around the GTA.
With Brodie Jeffery moving on from the coaching ranks of both the Sudbury Voyageurs and the Laurentian University varsity team to advance his policing career in southern Ontario, Larocque will serve on the staffs of both the 18U team, alongside Dennis Melanson, Greg Johnson and Curtis Johnson, and the 14U outfit, with Matt Butler, Mark Messier and Ryan Faubert.
Coaching the 16U squad will be Shawn Paquette, Joey Moher and Faubert.
They’ll try to build on a string of promising performances last September, when the Voyageurs welcomed teams from Ottawa and Oshawa to Terry Fox Sports Complex for a series of games.