One of the things we’ve missed most during COVID has been live sports. While we managed to see an event here or there, this year has really started to feel like things returning to normal a bit more. April was a real beginning for this - Canadian Women’s National Soccer Team, Rugby 7s and the return of the Whitecaps really cemented it all.

Canadian Women’s Soccer vs. Nigeria

The Canadian Women’s National team was doing a celebration tour following their amazing gold medal success at the Olympics last year. They were playing Nigeria in two legs here in Vancouver and then on Vancouver Island. Justine grabbed us tickets to the game, and we had a great day with Canada winning 2-0. They did a retirement event for Stephanie Labbé, and it might be the last time we had a chance to see Christine Sinclair play.

We had quite the rainbow on the walk to the stadium.

Canada 7s Rugby 7s Tournament

Each year, the Canada 7s Rugby 7s tournament is a highlight of the spring. We’ve been to all but one of the events that have been held in Vancouver, and while COVID cancelled then significantly changed the last couple of years, we were excited to have the event back in it’s “normal” format this year.

The event had originally been scheduled for February (it’s typical timing), but was delayed to April as we had another surge in COVID and they hadn’t shift the rules for events. We suspect this was the main reason for the poor attendance, as being on the Easter weekend made it tough for people to attend. I’m sure COVID had its own impact in keeping people away, but the crows was very much lower than “normal”. Hopefully next year we can get it back to the proper levels of attendance, as it can be one of the most fun events of the year!

Weekend with Etan and Addison

The other sporting events that have returned to Vancouver after a COVID hiatus was minor league baseball and the Vancouver Canadians! Justine and I offer to have Ethan and Addison over for a sleepover and to go to the game.

National Anthems on a surprisingly nice afternoon for baseball!

We got a little bit lucky with the weather. It was a bit cold at the beginning, but the sun came out and after we moved out from under the covered area, we warmed up. The game was lots of fun, even if the home team ended up on the losing end of the score sheet.