A young basketball player in the Bend Park & Recreation District program drives toward the hoop last winter.

Many youngsters in Bend recently completed fall soccer and flag football seasons through the Bend Park & Recreation District, getting back on the field after being robbed of sports opportunities during the spring and summer due to COVID-19.

The Bend park district youth basketball programs are scheduled as well this fall and winter — but with some drastic changes.

There will be no organized games, contests, or scrimmages. Instead, teams in kindergarten through eighth grade will take part in once-a-week or twice-a-week skills and drills sessions that focus on development in passing, shooting, rebounding and defense.

Because basketball is classified as a full-contact sport in the Oregon Health Authority statewide reopening guidelines for youth sports, games and scrimmages cannot be held, according to Rich Ekman, sports program coordinator for the Bend park district. Soccer and flag football are classified as minimal-contact sports per the OHA.

“Those basketball leagues that we’ve been running for 30-plus years, with practices twice a week and games on Saturdays, unfortunately we won’t be able to run this season,” Ekman said.

Basketball is one of the Bend park district’s most popular programs, with 850 kids participating in the third- through fifth-grade program last year. Ekman said that age group is limited to 630 kids this winter.

Basketball being an indoor sport also makes holding games and scrimmages potentially more risky during the pandemic.

“Going inside creates a bunch more challenges, and that has a lot to do with it,” Ekman said.

With the skills and drills format, youth basketball players will have more gym space and potentially more attention, Ekman said. During a typical season, teams must share gyms for practice. Under the new format, teams of 15 will have a middle school-sized gym to themselves, with as many as three coaches. Parents, siblings and other guests will not be allowed inside the gym, so parents must drop off and pick up their kids.

“As far as just all-around skill development, facility-wise, it’s going to be a better situation for the kids, I think, as far as getting touches on balls and having space,” Ekman said. “For practice, normally, they’re having to share with another team what is basically a cafeteria with a basketball hoop in it. So you have 20 kids in a cramped, small area with limited hoops. Now there will be a lot of space and a lot of opportunities for kids to develop their basketball skills.”

Kindergarten through second-grade skills and drills basketball runs Saturdays this month through December, as does middle school boys basketball (twice a week). Third- through fifth-grade boys and girls hoops (Saturdays) and middle school girls hoops (twice a week) run January and February. Registration for those is available through Dec. 14 at bendparksandrec.org.

Volunteer coaches will be given advice and options for drills that maintain physical distance.

“That’s a crucial part of this,” Ekman said. “We really want to prepare coaches and provide them with a bunch of stuff and practice plans. They won’t have that luxury of scrimmaging. It’ll be challenging as a coach to keep the kids active for 60 minutes.”

Ekman added that if OHA eventually loosens its guidelines for basketball, then teams could potentially be allowed to scrimmage at some point later in the seasons.

“That’s something to look forward to hopefully,” he said. “The (OHA) guidelines have changed drastically since this all started in March. They are about as tight as they can get right now. The only way they get tighter is if they tell us we can’t have basketball at all. Things may improve and we may be allowed to add more. I doubt that we would have full-on games with stacked grandstands, but we may be able to scrimmage.”

According to a news release, new rules related to COVID-19 for the Bend park district youth basketball programs include the following:

• No games or scrimmages.

• Practice drills will help coaches keep the kids physically distanced while teaching them skills and keeping sessions active and fun.

• Face coverings are required at all times.

• Social distancing emphasized but not guaranteed.

• Groups limited to 15 participants or less.

• No guests, parents or siblings permitted to attend. Drop off/pick up only.

Ekman said he has received lots of positive feedback from parents whose kids played soccer or flag football, and from parents who are happy their kids can participate in some form of basketball.

“I hope everything is going to be easier going forward,” Ekman said. “We’ve been through it now. We’ve just proven that we can run a safe, fun, active program during a global pandemic, so we kind of have a blueprint. Hopefully things will just get better as we continue.”