Basketball Ireland’s ‘Return To Play’ group have announced that teams can return to pre-season training on July 20th, however this is subject to review in accordance with government guidance.
The Return to Play group is working alongside Sport Ireland on a pathway for the sport’s resumption. It also believes that all areas of the game - clubs, schools, colleges, academies, international squads and National Leagues - can target normal start dates as in previous seasons, subject to the availability of their normal playing facilities. All areas of the game will be required to follow the various mandatory protocols, such as sanitising and social distancing, while each club will be required to appoint a Covid-19 Compliance Officer.
Training and guidelines will be provided by Basketball Ireland and Sport Ireland. Basketball Ireland is urging members of the basketball community to avail of assistance currently provided by Sport Ireland, such as posters and courses. The Sport Ireland Covid-19 Return to Sport course can be accessed here.
Basketball Ireland’s Return to Sport have issued the following guidelines:
- General: Clubs, players, coaches, parents and guardians are reminded to adhere to the government guidelines and Basketball Ireland protocols, as failure to do so will negate insurance cover and could lead them to being exposed to serious liability in the event of any adverse consequences of their actions.
- Summer Camps : can only be run in accordance with Government/ Sport Ireland guidelines.
- Training re-start: we envisage that pre-season-training can begin on July 20th but this must be kept under review in the evolving situation and will be changed if Government guidelines change.
- Season Start: we believe that the different areas of the sport – clubs, schools, colleges, academies, international squads and National Leagues can target normal start dates as in previous seasons.
- Facilities: schools and clubs will have to determine the availability of their normal facilities and inform their local leagues or governing bodies as appropriate.
- Covid-19: all areas of the game will have to adopt and enforce sanitising, social distancing protocols as appropriate. Every club will be obliged to appoint a Covid-19 Compliance Officer.
Assistance:
- Basketball Ireland has a comprehensive set of guidelines in final edit at the moment. We will issue this directly to all units within the next week.
- Sport Ireland will train a Basketball Ireland Covid-19 Compliance Officer who will be the point of contact in Basketball Ireland for all queries.
- Basketball Ireland will provide all our units with a short training video for the individual Covid-19 Compliance Officers at unit level which is being produced by Sport Ireland.
- From early next week the Basketball Ireland website will have a dedicated area which will contain all Covid-19 information, along with updates from Basketball Ireland and Sport Ireland/Government. We urge members to use the assistance offered by Sport Ireland in terms of courses and printed posters
Basketball Ireland Board Director and Chair of the Return to Play group, Charles Higgins, said: “We are urging members of the basketball community to fully comply with Government guidelines, as well as those from Basketball Ireland and Sport Ireland as we return to sport. We know you are keen to get back on to a court, but any steps to do so must be taken with due diligence, as we don’t want any member of the basketball community exposed to illness or potential personal liability.”
“The Return to Play group will meet as often as necessary to ensure all stakeholders can plan ahead accordingly in a safe manner. We shall continue to update the basketball community through the Basketball Ireland website and social media channels”.
