National federations and governments have to find solutions for the upcoming basketball season
It is very likely that Coronavirus won’t stop anytime soon. Even if in many countries the number of cases decreased a lot, the reality showed us that it can appear again and again.
A month ago, for example, Montenegro was declared the First Free-COVID country in Europe and some people were ready to organize there a basketball summer camp. Now they have again new cases. Not many, but Montenegro is a small country. In Spain, the number of cases has risen again, in Romania and Serbia too and it seems that the situation cannot be controlled.
The virus doesn’t care about borders, it’s something that I said for the first time when Turkey and Russia thought they can continue to play their season because at that moment, months ago, they had only a dozen of cases in the whole country. Now they are between the most affected areas in the world.
So, it is clear that we will have to live with the Coronavirus for months or years till a real solution will be found. Terraces, restaurants, outside basketball courts and beaches are already open. The economy has to go further because it is offering jobs for the people. Like all the other fields, basketball is an industry with many people involved.
This industry has the same right to go on like any other. Coaches, scouts, players, sports equipment business have to work. That’s why the national federations have to cooperate with governments to see how it will be possible to start in proper conditions the new season. And with spectators. Maybe not so many as before, of course, all of them wearing masks, but I don’t see why we can fly in the same plane, we can share the same metro, supermarkets, restaurants and so on and not the same basketball arena. Hygiene measures have to be taken, social distance have to be respected, agree, but we cannot stop a whole industry, while all the others are back.
Image: cromaconceptovisual from Pixabay
Gratian Cormos
