Junior field hockey team stranded in South Africa due to Omicron variant
Canadians in southern Africa are scrambling to find flights home amid growing global concerns over the Omicron variant, the newest strain of the COVID-19 virus.
Team Canada’s junior women’s field hockey team is in South Africa for a major tournament. This weekend, they got word the tournament was postponed and most commercial flights home were cancelled. As of Monday afternoon, they have no firm plan on how they will be returning to Canada.
Jenna Berger plays on the team. “I just broke down, seeing the disappointment in my other teammates,” she says.
Twenty players and five support staff are in Potchefstroom, South Africa preparing for the Junior World Cup, which was scheduled to take place Dec. 5-16.
Berger says, “We just want to get home, see our families and spend time with them and be home safe, instead of here with all the unknown and uncertainty.”
Nancy Mollenhauer is coaching, and is part of the support staff. She says the team is doing their best to stay safe.
“We are in our own little bubble,” Mollenhauer says. “We have all been impressed with how the girls have handled the disappointment. I think you can always find silver linings in disappointment. And it has brought them closer together, I think, as a team.”
Mollenhauer says the team remains in good spirits and hopeful they will find a way home soon.
The team says they are working with officials back in Canada to help them get home safely. The team wants players to travel home in groups because some players are 18 years old.
Berger says this has not dampened her love of the sport.
“It fuels you a little more, when you get the opportunity to play again, to push a little harder because you don’t know when it is going to be taken away from you. You have to take every practise like it is your last because you don’t know what is going to happen the next day.”
Canada has banned flights from seven southern African countries. Canadians and permanent residents can return but must take a COVID-19 test and quarantine upon arrival.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Work stoppage possible as WestJet issues lockout notice to maintenance engineers' union
A lockout notice issued by WestJet to a union representing aircraft maintenance engineers could result in a work stoppage next week.
'I just can't believe that it took so long': Body found in wreckage 3 months after deadly fire
A man accused of arson in a January Old Strathcona apartment fire is expected to be charged with manslaughter after a body was discovered in the burned building late last month.
No proof man lied to brother about number of kittens born in litter, B.C. tribunal rules
A man was denied a $5,000 payout from his brother after a B.C. tribunal dismissed his claim disputing how many kittens were born in a litter.
Bodies recovered in Mexico likely 2 Australians, 1 American who went missing: officials
Three bodies recovered in an area of Baja California are likely to be those of the two Australians and an American who went missing last weekend during a camping and surfing trip, the state prosecutor’s office said Saturday.
BREAKING London Drugs begins 'gradual reopening' on 7th day after cyberattack
Almost a week after all London Drugs stores across Western Canada abruptly closed amid a cyberattack, they began a "gradual reopening" on Saturday.
Quebec police hand out hundreds of tickets to Hells Angels and other bikers before 'first run' meeting
Quebec provincial police handed out hundreds of fines to Hells Angels members and other supporting motorcycle clubs who met for their 'first run' in a small town near Sherbrooke, Que.
Auston Matthews skates ahead of Game 7, status unclear with season on the line
Auston Matthews was back on the ice with his teammates Saturday.
Russia puts Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on its wanted list
Russia has put Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on its wanted list, Russian state media reported Saturday, citing the interior ministry’s database.
Snakes almost on a plane: U.S. TSA discovers a bag with small snakes in passenger's pants
According to an X post by the Transportation Security Administration, officers at the Miami International Airport found the small bag of snakes hidden in a passenger's trousers on April 26 at a checkpoint.