To our Valued Members,
This past week Skate Ontario made the first steps to roll out their plan for a return to the ice. Stage 1 allows for high performance athletes to resume on-ice training in groups of 4 skaters and 1 coach while following their Return-to-Play protocol. You can view the full protocol for stage 1 here: https://skateontario.org/skate-ontario-return-to-play-protocols-stage-1/
To summarize a few of the key aspects of Stage 1:
- High Performance Skaters are being permitted to resume on-ice training at this time.
- High performance skaters include: Novice, Junior and Senior competitors for singles, pairs and ice dance and Junior and Senior competitors for synchronized skating.
- Skaters follow social gathering guidelines and therefore right now 4 skaters may train at any given time with 1 coach present.
- Athletes and coaches must follow social distancing guidelines and therefore must maintain 6 feet apart at all times. (This also applies for pair/dance teams and sys skaters – even if the skaters are from the same household).
At this time, only high performance athletes have been permitted to return to skating as outlined above and in the Skate Ontario Return-to-Play protocol. Only these athletes are permitted to resume on-ice training while following Skate Ontario’s return to play policy.
While municipal facilities including Cassie Campbell Community Centre remain closed, some private facilities across the GTA have begun opening their doors for figure skating clubs. At this time, Skate Canada and SCBC insurance will only cover high performance athletes and their coaches. Athletes at other levels are not permitted to resume on ice training even if their coach or parent chooses to book ice at a private facility.
We are eagerly awaiting the return to the ice for the rest of our athletes and hope that by closely following the Provincial COVID-19 guidelines this day will come sooner rather than later. We will continue to keep our members up to date as further information is shared from Skate Ontario.
If you have any questions regarding the Skate Ontario Return to Play policy please feel free to reach out to Operations Coordinator Andrea Nesbitt at [email protected].
SCBC will continue to update members on any changes to the situation and plans to move forward. We encourage you to follow our social media channels @SkateSCBC on Instagram and Facebook. You can also visit the Skate Ontario website and the City of Brampton website for up to date information on how they are handling the situation.
The SCBC Office remains closed through the duration of the facility closure and we will continue to monitor emails during this time. If you have any other questions please contact SCBC Vice-President Dan Wilkinson at [email protected].
Thank you for your patience and understanding at this time.
SCBC Staff and Board