Bryce Elliott, recreational director, spotting athletes as they welcomed back limited athletes back in the gym in June. (submitted photo/Prince Albert Aerials Gymnastics Club)

By Ian Gustafson

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Prince Albert Aerials Gymnastics Club welcomes back athletes with limited capacity

Sep 1, 2020 | 3:00 PM

The Prince Albert Aerials Gymnastics Club is back open after closing its doors in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to a media release, after the Government of Saskatchewan announced phase three of its re-opening plan, the club reopened its doors in June.

Executive director of the gymnastics club, Michael Amouri told paNOW they took things very gradually starting with a small group of the competitive children because he explained they tend to be older and more experienced.

“We were able to really use them as a test group for all the new policies, procedures and protocols that we had as a staff and board of directors decided to implement,” Amouri explained.

As the summer continued, club members slowly increased the number of athletes allowed into the building while continuing to see how their policies work.

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The club announced it will go ahead this season with an adjusted recreational session and a reduction of competitive programs.

“Our competitive program is usually approximately just under 100 kids and our recreational program is usually somewhere around 400 kids,” he explained. “We’ve limited that. We’ve actually decreased it significantly to 150 in order to keep things very safe and a lot easier to manage with respect to social distancing.”

He added recreational registration has been open since last week and they’re already at 70 per cent capacity of the number of athletes allowed in the facility. He said the amount is much lower than what 70 per cent would normally look like.

The protocols they have put in place include:

• Daily health check screenings for all participants and staff

• Social distancing markings and separate entrances and exits

• Monitoring of total people present in the building with a reduced capacity

• New guidelines for spectators

• New drop off and pick up policies

• Increased cleaning of the lobby and all bathroom facilities

• No public drinking fountains or change rooms

• Increased sanitation between athletes and equipment in the gym

• Frequent required hand washing or sanitizing

• Masks for all staff and participants if they cannot maintain social distancing

“We are a safe place to send your kids we are taking this seriously and you can trust us,” Amouri explained.

He added during the months they were closed they were updating the gym and taking on projects they never had time to do prior to the pandemic. They updated equipment and painted.

“We miss the kids. We really miss coaching. Most coaches we do love the administrative side of our job but our bread and butter is definitely dealing with the kids and working with the kids,” he said. “The minute we had kids back in the building we were all just elated.”

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Ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca