Following a great effort from all involved to ensure that we are doing all we can to ensure that the Scottish Government’s and the SRU’s regulations are being followed we are delighted to announce that this Sunday, 23rd August sees the restart of GHK Junior Rugby at Old Anniesland.

Full details have been sent out to all parents/carers of current Junior Rugby (Mini and Midi sections) and are reproduced below. New members are very welcome in all sections from P2 to P7 in Mini Rugby and S1 to S6 (U-18s) in Midi section. All parents of children of current players and those wishing to join should follow the instructions set out below.

We will continue to do all the we can to ensure that Junior rugby at GHK is as a safe and as much fun as possible.

If anyone has any questions, please contact the Mini or Midi section section leaders, lead coaches for the age groups or email us at ghkrfcinfo@gmail.com

GHK Junior Rugby Section Return to Rugby Update

Message to all Parents and Players

This Sunday (23^rd August) marks the start of the new season and a return to training at Old Anniesland for the GHK Junior section.  As we are still in Stage 3 of lockdown, the SRU training rules published on 10^th July (https://www.scottishrugby.org/news/return-to-rugby-stage-3) will still apply so for the time being training will be limited to non-contact activity such as running, passing drills and games of touch rugby with our teams participating in training bubbles of up to 15 players.

In order to comply with Scottish government and SRU Covid-19 guidelines, training slots for the Junior section will be staggered more than usual (i.e. not all Minis age-groups will train at the same time from 10am-12pm and likewise for the Midis in the afternoon) which means that initial training sessions will be shorter than usual (e.g. 60 minutes).

The attached Return to Rugby document contains key details outlining arrangements for training, parking at OA and time slots for each age-group and must be read by all parents and players in advance of the first session.

Important Detail – Player Attendance Register & Health Questionnaire

Please note that the club is required to take a register of all players and coaches who are intending to train at the session (for track-and-trace purposes) and all players and coaches must complete a short health questionnaire before they are allowed to take part in each session.

Player attendance and the health questionnaire will be co-ordinated via the Sports Train App – details on how to download and operate the app are included on page 1 of the Return to Rugby document.    

Lead coaches for each age-group will circulate the relevant GHK age-group code required for registration on the app.

The main points to note are that:

1. parents will need to confirm attendance and fill-out the health questionnaire for each session as coaches are not allowed to send this information to the Junior section players directly;

• attendance should ideally be confirmed 2 or 3 days in advance of each session;

• the health questionnaire can only be filled-out on the morning of training but can be completed in under a minute – the hardest bit will be remembering to log-in to the app on Sunday morning; and

• players and coaches will not be allowed to take part in a session until they have completed the health questionnaire.

Other important points to note in the Return to Rugby document:

• No spectators: for the time being, parents are not encouraged to spectate pitch-side at training but can stay in their cars in the car park for the duration of the session.   
• New starts:  exceptions are being made for P2/3 players and new players as it is important that parents meet the coaching team at the start of the season and get a feel for the club (although only one parent per child should be pitch-side and must respect social distancing guidelines).
• Pavilion/Toilet facilities: will not be available as the Pavilion is currently out-of-bounds for GHK but we hope that with shorter sessions this won’t be a problem.

As always, if you have any questions or are unsure about the arrangements for Return to Rugby at Old Anniesland, please contact your age-group Lead Coach.

And if in doubt, sit it out………. Our overriding priorities are to keep our kids safe, keep our coaches safe and keep you safe.  And keep playing rugby at Old Anniesland.

Finally, a few thoughts from our Director of Rugby at GHK, Peter Laverie.

What we know…

• The virus has not gone away
• It continues to spread through symptomatic and asymptomatic persons, as well as via contact with contaminated surfaces
• Contraction and transmission of infection thrives when people come together and interact physically
• The virus does not linger for an indeterminate period outside of a living organism

What we must do…

• Appearance on the Old Anniesland campus and interacting within the same physical space as others must be based on our key guidelines and safe practices
• Frequency and duration of exposure to above conditions must be minimised as far as is practicable
• We must identify persons who are more susceptible to adverse infection consequences and be more stringent about their protection

The message to everyone…

• Ensuring the health, safety and welfare of everyone affected by our undertakings is key
• Guidance from government, Scottish Rugby and health authorities must be adhered to
• We must remain committed to limiting the creation of an enabling environment for the virus to thrive in our Old Anniesland community

GHK

GHK RFC – Junior Rugby

RETURN TO RUGBY

Introduction

The club has agreed the following plan for a safe return to rugby for junior section players (minis and midis), commencing Sunday 23^rd August 2020. The initial focus will be on short training sessions at Old Anniesland for each age group, with a review following Scottish Government updates on whether local competition is allowed.

Training

Sunday 23^rd August, 30^th August and 6^th September 2020.

Pre-training and booking

All coaches are required to complete Scottish Rugby Return to Rugby E-Learning course, and this is also recommended for parents of minis and midis players. Older midis players should also be encouraged to do the course.

The e-learning course can be found at https://www.scottishrugby.org/clubs-and-schools/return-to-rugby

In order to comply with Scottish Government and Scottish Rugby guidance we have introduced new online protocol for signing up to individual sessions, completing a health questionnaire, and checking in and out of sessions. Players must be booked in to each session via the sports train app.

 All parents should download the ‘sports train’ app which can be accessed on the App store or Google Play. Once downloaded, tap on ‘I have a club code’ and use the code sent to you by your Team lead (each age group has a different code to assign you into the right training group). Please use your child’s name when registering and make a note of your username and password.

In advance of each session, you must sign your child up to attend. Simply go into ‘calendar’ and to the day/time of the session and ‘set attendance’ to indicate if your child is attending. Please also complete the ‘COVID-19 Symptom Checker’ on the morning of the session.

Your team lead will check your child in and out at the session.

If anyone has any issues with the sports train app, please speak with your Team Lead.

Arrival

Players should arrive, no earlier than 5 minutes before each scheduled training session. Parents should only park in the car park pictured below. Please note no cars are allowed beyond the yellow barrier gate.

There are no changing facilities available at this point so players and coaches should be in training kit and any change to footwear, for example, should be made in the car park.

Parents should accompany their child along the path in front of the stand and follow the route round from there ending in front of the Pavilion. Parents are also free to drop-off their child in the car park and return before the end of the session to wait in the car par park if their child is comfortable walking-in on their own.

A club representative will be at this point in front of the Pavilion to remind everyone of protocol and to signpost players to the appropriate pitch and age group team lead. The registration procedure will have involved a health questionnaire but we would like to stress that if your child fulfils any of the criteria below, you should not attend rugby;

• Have any symptoms of coronavirus
• Are self-isolating
• Have returned from any countries that are on the quarantine list in the past 14 days
• Have been in contact with anyone who has Covid

At this point we ask that parents return to their cars in order to best manage safety around the pitches and keep in line with best practice protocols. For new players and the P2/3 age group we understand that returning to rugby or starting at a new club can be daunting, and will be flexible on having parents near the pitch if required. However, in this case all parents must maintain 2 metres distancing and stay out with the playing area.

There is no access at the moment to the Pavilion, meaning that there are no toilet facilities. Please ensure that your child has gone to the toilet in advance of leaving the house.

Hand sanitisation points will be available around the venue and should be used on arrival. Club coaches will go over hygiene protocols at the start of each session with the players.

Individuals should supply their own clearly marked water bottle, which is not for sharing.  They should also bring a small bottle of sanitiser, a pack of tissues and wear clean kit every week.

Training

Training sessions will follow the guidelines published by Scottish Rugby, these are subject to review and update. Players will be organised in training bubbles based on their age groups and allocated a training area when they check-in. They must proceed to this area as directed.

Age groups will train in a staggered manner across Sundays to manage flow on the day.

Balls and cones will be organised in sets for each training area and group of players. These will be sanitised before and immediately after each training session.

Post training

Team Leads will walk players round to the yellow barrier gate by the car park for pick up by parents. Exiting the grounds is shown by the blue dotted line below. All players should sanitise their hands and leave the grounds promptly.

For full reference the site map below identifies car parking, entry and exit routes, hand sanitisation points and pitches.

PLEASE NOTE THERE IS NO PEDESTRIAN ACCESS TO THE GROUNDS FROM CROW ROAD AT THIS TIME. EVERYONE MUST ENTER VIA THE MAIN GATE ON ANNIESLAND ROAD.

Please note that the GHK Covid coordinator Alan Dunipace contact is below

 alan.j.dunipace@ntlworld.com