Sport Cheer England update
Update 4th December 2020 1.00pm
New laws and guidance for social distancing (and how it affects Cheerleading), following the UK government announcement this week.
While Cheerleading has not undergone Sport England’s formal recognition process, we are still considered by them to be a sport, and therefore subsequently been advised that Cheerleading should follow the government guidelines and legal framework as it pertains to sport.
HOW DO LOCAL COVID ALERT LEVELS (TIERS) AFFECT TRAINING NOW? Both our training locations are currently placed in tier 2 restrictions, there are exemptions in place for youth sport, disability sport and sport in an educational setting (includes University students), so these athletes may now train up to Level 1 on the SportCheer England Return To Play Road Map.
This means that all our cheerleaders under 18 can return to stunting within training sessions but we will be putting in place rules to ensure that we go back to this as safely as possible to make sure that the health and safety of all our athletes and coaches still comes first.
Athletes aged 18 and over can return to Cheerleading at Level 3 on the SCE Return To Play as classes and organised adult sport can take place for a household or bubble, or in group activities - such as classes - provided there's no mixing between households. This means that we can continue to do socially distanced conditioning, and working on individual skills if we are able to keep separate households a part from each other.
FACE MASKS/COVERINGS - EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY:
In the latest guidance released by the government this week, it states that face masks/coverings are not required to be worn during physical activity. Where your tier allows it, stunting or close contact activity may take place without masks/face coverings so long as the other risk mitigation’s set out in SCE’s Return To Play document are followed.
HELLCATS RULES TO ENSURE SAFE PRACTICE
- Stunting will be capped at 15 minutes per training session (we can block counts etc and mark stunts for longer periods of time as long as social distancing is in place but actual physical contact time will be no more than 15 minutes per session)
- All flyers cheer shoes will be disinfected before and after stunting
- All athletes hands to be sanitised before and after stunting
- When not stunting participants MUST still adhere to the 2m rule (unless blocking routines)
- We will be creating stunt group bubbles so that athletes only come into contact with a small number of other athletes at any given time (up to 6 will form a stunt group bubble)
- If anyone from a stunt group tests positive for covid-19 the whole stunt group bubble will be asked to isolate if they came into contact with them less than 48 hours prior to showing symptoms.
- ALL our coaches whether over 18 or under 18 will wear masks when teaching stunting or coming into close contact for things such as spotting as we want to ensure they are protected and reduce the risk of potentially spreading anything between teams that they coach. Anyone has the right to not allow their child to stunt if they dont want them coming into contact with anyone else at this time. If you do not want to allow your child to stunt at this time could you please let me know so I can ensure all coaches are aware of your decision.
Many Thanks
Rachel x