Screenshot from the It’s Safe to Play video. PHOTO/SUPPLIED
YOUTH SPORTS
CHRIS COGDALE
[email protected]
Four Wairarapa sports bodies are assuring parents that it is safe for their children to take to the fields or courts when their respective seasons start.
As well as updating their health and safety plans, the organising bodies of netball, rugby, football, and hockey say they are following government guidelines for hygiene and sanitisation and will have contact tracing in place.
Junior football kicked off last weekend, with rugby, hockey and netball set to start in the school term three, from July 20.
Rugby, football, and hockey require all participants and parents to use the web-based contact tracing application iDMe, which allows contact tracing free of charge to regional sports organisations.
To use iDMe, there’s no need to download an app.
A player’s details are instead entered on a web-based form that generates their QR code. Alternatively, they can sign-in using a unique venue code.
“A lot of work has been going on behind the scenes to ensure participant safety,” said Jessica Collins of Hockey Wairarapa.
“We ask three simple things – keep track of your movements, wash your hands regularly and stay home if you are sick.”
Wairarapa Netball have developed their health and safety plan outlining the steps required for players to maintain hygiene during games.
“We will have sanitiser bottles at the side of each court, so when players come on the court, they will need to sanitise their hands and do the same when they come off,” Wairarapa Netball general manager Scott Cottier said.
“The balls are put in a bucket filled with disinfectant at the end of each game and the new teams coming on will need to grab and use the same ball,” he said.
Sport Wellington-Wairarapa regional manager Dayle Clarkson hoped that people will feel reassured that the sporting organisations have done a lot of hard work towards a safe return to play.
“Participating in sport and active recreation is good for people’s mental and physical well-being, especially during these difficult times,” she said. “But also, our clubs need people to participate for them to be able to continue to operate.”
The four organisations have worked together and created a video to showcase the safety measures put in place to reassure children and parents that “It’s safe to play”.
The video can be viewed on the sport organisations’ Facebook pages and will be on the Sport Wellington website www.sportwellington.org.nz
