Hi everybody,
I sent the following information to the other Club Presidents in BSI (as President of BSI Council) and I thought it would be good to send the same info to all our members.
On Thursday May the 7th, Harry Carruthers (President BowlsBC) invited the Presidents of the 4 regions of BC and BowlsBC board members for an update on the current situation and I thought I would summarize the reopening portion of the meeting.
- Update on the Re-opening of Lawn Bowling in BC- Harry sent out a good summary of the process of re-opening. I have included it as follows and it all still remains relevant:
Bowls BC and the other Provincial Sport Organizations (PSO) had a Webinar session with viaSport on Wednesday. The topic of the Webinar was “Return to Sport”. ViaSport was been given the authority by the provincial government to oversee the return of amateur sports to an ‘active’ status. Becoming ‘active’ to play bowls will happen in three phases, namely:
Phase 1: Athlete Development and training/practice (only for club members, no visitors)
Phase 2: Inter-club competitions (ie normal club operations)
Phase 3: Provincial and National championships.
Each phase, for each sport, must be approved by ViaSport, the Provincial Health Officer (PHO) and the Ministry of Health (MOH), BEFORE any bowling activities can take place. In some municipalities, depending on their own criteria for park use, etc., the procedures will have to be approved by the municipality. It is vitally important that all clubs are aware of the following:
1. NO bowling activities are to take place until Bowls BC has received approval from each of the jurisdictions listed above AND the club has been approved by Bowls BC,
2. Each Phase will have to be approved prior to any activity in that Phase. For example, before any bowler can use the greens for Phase 1 (practice), viaSport, the PHO and the MOH must all approve the submitted guidelines/procedures from Bowls BC for Phase 1,
3. Bowls BC will have to submit and receive approval for any activities in Phase 2 and Phase 3, at a later date when viaSport declares that each PSO can apply for permission to proceed with those Phases.
4. Each club will have to prepare their own procedures based on the approved guidelines/procedures submitted by Bowls BC and no club can initiate any bowling activities until approved by Bowls BC,
5. Any club found to be operating without permission may be shut-down by the Ministry of Health.
The guidelines/procedures for each Phase will be comprehensive and must be designed to prevent ANY contagion from person-to–person (social distancing) or from the touching of objects at the club. The guidelines/procedures must include protection for bowlers, visitors, volunteers, observers, contractors and delivery persons, etc., etc., and will include contact with clubhouse surfaces such as door knobs, washroom facilities, kitchens, bowling equipment (bowls, jacks, delivery marts, score cards and score boards, benches, etc.),
Bowls BC will start preparing the guidelines/procedures in the next few days, however, we do not know how extensive the review process will be or how long the approval process will take. It is safe to say however, that the process will, in all likelihood, not be quick. Unfortunately, at this time, I cannot give you even a rough estimate when we might be able to put bowlers back on the greens.
- On Thursday May 7th, we discussed the current situation. BowlsBC (and Bowls Canada) are preparing policies and procedures for Clubs to restart bowling in Phase 1. We are not privy to these procedures because Viasport has not issued a template of things that need to covered yet. This activity is expected next week. Once BowlsBC have produced these draft policies and procedures, we will get a look at them. Again, they need to be approved by appropriate authorities and then we can start bowling.
- BowlsBC stressed that there is to be no bowling on any of the clubs, lest that club potentially lose their PSO status (provincial sports organization), funding associated with that status, and decertification from BowlsBC.
- BowlsBC is meeting with Viasport on this coming Monday and we should have a better sense of timing after they meet. There is a general intent , I believe, to have us all bowling this summer.
At our Executive meeting on May 5, we discussed the current conditions and agreed we need to wait for more information, and once we get it to be prepared as we can for the re-opening process (once we have this information). So right now we are in the wait and see but ready to go once we get the procedures we must follow. I believe we will have this necessary information in the next couple of weeks.
Ron
Ron Harmer
President Oak Bay Lawn Bowling Club
250-370-1582
