COVID-19 ‘Return To Play’ Update
Notice To Players / Coaches / Parents & Guardians
A Chairde,
Firstly, on behalf of the Executive Committee, we hope you and your families are keeping safe and well in these challenging times as we deal with the impact of COVID-19 across all areas of our daily lives. As you will be aware, there has been communication and clarification provided by Croke Park to confirm that GAA activities can recommence under the message of ‘Return To Play’. The purpose of this document is to provide clear guidance for all personnel regarding the requirements on everyone in advance of recommencing GAA activities.
It is a requirement for BOTH elements below to be completed prior to returning to GAA activities. Details as follows:
E-Learning Module
- It is a requirement for all personnel to complete an online e-learning module in advance of returning to GAA activities. For clarification, all personnel mean club officers, officials, coaches, and players (at all age groups).
- For parents / guardians, there is no requirement to complete the e-learning module on behalf of each child in the family; completion of one module will be adequate to cover all members of the family involved in returning to GAA activities.
- When module has been completed online, the individual will get an online certificate to verify they have completed the course. It is the responsibility of each individual / parent / guardian to take a screenshot of the certificate and send this to the nominated COVID-19 Supervisor in each team – further details of COVID-19 Supervisors will be communicated through WhatsApp / Social Media.
- Access to the e-learning module is available via this link: https://learning.gaa.ie/covid19learning
Online Health Questionnaire
- In addition to e-learning module, it is a requirement for EVERY participant to complete a health questionnaire prior to returning to GAA activities.
- NOTE: this is different to e-learning module where one completion will cover each member of the family returning to GAA activities. Parents / guardians MUST complete a health questionnaire for EVERY child returning to participate in games.
- Adult players MUST complete a health questionnaire prior to returning to games.
- There is no exception to this requirement.
- Please assist COVID-19 Supervisors and coaches by ensuring health questionnaires are completed for each child / player. We will have to be stringent in controls, and if the situation arises that a player has not registered as having completed health questionnaire, they will not be permitted to return to playing until questionnaire has been completed.
- It will be the responsibility of Executive Committee and COVID-19 Supervisors to check if questionnaires for players have been completed. This will be tracked online.
- Access to the health questionnaire is available via this link: http://returntoplay.gaa.ie/
- There have been issues being able to load questionnaire due to the volume of users accessing the questionnaire, so please be patient when trying to complete.
Club Information / Other Controls
- As would be expected, there are a lot of additional controls and structures which we are having to put in place as an Executive Committee to ensure the continued safety of everyone as we return to play. Details of controls as follows:
- Additional sanitising points will be provided around club grounds.
- Changing rooms will remain closed until further notice. All players MUST arrive at club grounds in playing gear ready for training.
- Each individual team / age group will have an allocated time slot for training, with a minimum of a 15-minute gap between one team finishing and another team starting. Coordination of training time slots is being managed by members of Executive Committee for all teams (male and female), and times will be communicated to players / parents / guardians through the normal communication methods.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: due to restrictions in place, when training is taking place the only personnel permitted to be in club grounds are players and coaches. Parents / guardians and other members are NOT permitted to be in club grounds (unless previously sanctioned by Chairman / Secretary in exceptional circumstances). The reason for this is facilitate contact tracing should the need arise. Parents / guardians are requested to facilitate a ‘drop and collect’ operation when transporting children to and from training. Please be accommodating and understanding to facilitate this request.
We fully appreciate that there is a significant amount of information to take on board with this update.
However, our utmost responsibility as an Executive Committee is to ensure a safe and controlled environment for returning to play for all players in our club. It is the responsibility of EVERYONE in our club to be responsible for their own actions over the coming weeks and months; it will take time to adjust to these new arrangements, and we urge everyone involved in returning to GAA activities to be patient and accommodating as we embrace a ‘new normal’ over the next few weeks.
If any player, coach, parent / guardian has any concerns or questions relating to this update, please do not hesitate to get in touch with any member of the Executive Committee. We appreciate that there may be individuals who will have their own personal issues or concerns which they may not wish to discuss with coaches or managers. If you wish to discuss any issues in strict confidence, please contact Secretary Pauric Gallagher (mobile 07734 865 961 / email secretary.donaghmorestpatricks.tyrone@gaa.ie).
We look forward to getting back to playing Gaelic Games in a safe and controlled environment and getting players of all ages back on the pitch.
Is mise le meas,
Oliver Rafferty
(Chairman)
Mari McDonnell
(Ladies Chairperson)
