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Since the first reports of COVID-19, worldwide response to the virus has resulted in strict regulations to help control its spread. While necessary, this has had a massive impact on individuals, adults, children, and families. It has significantly impacted the mental health and physical well being of our communities and our youth.

When the environment changes people begin to feel unsafe and anxious, when outbreaks such as SARS have occurred research has shown spikes in anxiety occur (Usher, Durkin, & Bhullar, 2020). Fear surrounding the uncertainty of contracting the virus, loved ones falling ill, number of cases, the economy, job security and child care raises anxiety in both healthy individuals and those with pre-existing mental health concerns (Usher, Durkin, & Bhullar, 2020). “Individuals, families, and communities experience feelings of hopelessness, despair, grief, bereavement, and profound loss of purpose because of pandemics” (Usher, Durkin, & Bhullar, 2020 pg. 29). According to Usher, Durkin, & Bhullar (2020) recovery from the negative impacts of the pandemic need to include ways to address mental health and the increasing social isolation experienced by community members and particularly our youth.

One way of achieving this is through organized sports. Structured appropriately and with safety measures in place regarding COVID-19, organized sports such as soccer can have strong positive impacts on mental health. Organized sports have been shown in the academic literature to provide strong psychological, physiological and social benefits that can improve mental health, quality of life, and be protective against further mental health concerns (Swann, Telenta, Draper, Liddle, Fogarty, Hurley, & Vella, 2018). Youth who engage in organized team sports show a reduction in social anxiety and an increase in social function, mental health and happiness (Hiremath, 2019).

It is our goal to contribute to the care of our community's mental health as we recognize the need now more than ever. We are working on developing safety protocols for this summer to ensure the safe participation of our youth in outdoor soccer. We want to be able to provide our youth with a space to get out in a safe way. This means we are looking into changing our structure and systems to incorporate pandemic rules such as social distancing. We are also consulting with mental health professionals including KW Mental Health and Wellness to be able to support our youth and their families and design our programs accordingly.