The Toronto Blue Jays are off to a hot start. NHL, OHL and NBA playoffs are in full swing.

And for those who prefer their sports at a more recreational level, game time must seem a long time away.

Last weekend’s ice storm and subsequent snowfall left local sports fields buried under yet another cover of white.

With many spring sports seasons only weeks away from starting, it’s enough to have one wonder if the fields will be ready to go on-time.

Waterloo Minor Baseball Association president Mark Schram is optimistic that the baseball diamonds his organization uses will be in service when the season starts on May 7.

“I think we’ll still be OK. Baseball diamonds don’t require a crazy amount of work to prepare,” he says.

“At worst, it’ll cost us a week.”

Schram does think the long-lasting winter has affected the Waterloo Minor Baseball Association in another way. Registrations have been slow to come in this year, which Schram chalks up to the weather making parents think baseball season is further away than it really is.

Officials with the City of Waterloo say it’s unlikely every sports field in the city will be ready to go by its usual starting date, but impossible to say until the snow and ice melts and the fields can be tended to.

Low registration is also on the mind of Dave Kelly, who runs rec leagues in sports like dodgeball, disc golf and beach volleyball in Guelph under the umbrella of Perpetual Motion Sports and Entertainment.

Kelly held his annual registration event on Wednesday. Normally, about half of his 4,000 aspiring athletes have signed up by the end of the event.

With Guelph’s parks showing little green, the event was sparsely attended and left Kelly well behind his usual registration levels.

“It’s pretty hard to get excited about beach volleyball when you’ve got snow on the ground,” he says.

Even if a full registration load does come in, Kelly says he may end up delaying some sports’ season by one week, or finding alternate accommodations indoors, if fields aren’t ready in time.

With reporting by Heather Senoran