COVID-19 impacts on school sports events: an alternative through E-sports

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many sectors of society, including sports. Measuring the effects of an ongoing pandemic poses a complex task, given the incipiency of government actions and studies addressing the impacts on sports. In view of this, the purpose of this commentary is to explore how COVID-19 impacted school sports policies. To this end, we analyze how the government of the State of Paraná, Brazil, has responded to the effects of the pandemic in school sports policies, as well as identifying which solutions have been outlined. Although professional sports managed to implement complex and rigorous safety protocols, these are economically unviable in school and non-profit multi-sport competitions. We found that school sports competitions have been widely affected and unable to resume due to inconsistencies and difficulties in the implementation of safety protocols appropriate to this new scenario. Another finding was the development of immediate remote alternatives (E-sports competitions), which may impact school sports and affect the reconfiguration of the sports system. In conclusion, this commentary highlighted the impacts of the pandemic on school sports as well as the actions outlined to tackle them, in particular E-sports initiatives by the government of Paraná.