As you may have seen, the Government announced on Friday evening that cricket matches could resume from 11th July. We have yet to see the detailed guidelines regarding this, nor have we had any communication from the Worcestershire Cricket Board about how and when junior league fixtures will resume, but we will work to ensure there are junior games arranged from next weekend onwards. This is likely to be inter-club games during the first week to give us time to arrange fixtures with other clubs.
Plan for junior training
We are keen to start moving back to Friday evening training in a way that is safe and in line with government guidelines. A few key things to note are:
- We are not able to move all age groups back to Fridays at this point.
- Training slots on Friday evenings will be more staggered than usual to reduce the overall number of people on the ground at any time.
- Until guidelines are changed, we are still required to limit training groups to 6 people in line with social distancing requirements
The plan for Friday evenings is therefore as follows:
- Softball section (U5s-U9s / Reception to Year 4) – 5:30pm to 6:30pm
- Under 10s (Year 5) – Group 1 – 5:30pm to 6:30pm
- Under 10s (Year 5) – Group 2 – 6:30pm to 7:30pm
- Under 13s/U14s (Years 8&9) – Group 1 – 6:30pm to 7:30pm
- Under 13s/U14s (Years 8&9) – Group 2 – 7:30pm to 8:30pm
Under 11s (Year 6) and Under 12s (Year 7) will continue to train on a Tuesday evening for the next couple of weeks at least although this will continue to be reviewed.
Please note, training continues to need to be on a booked basis only so that we can maintain numbers in line with the “6 per group” ratio. For U10s and upwards, this will continue to be arranged through the WhatsApp groups already set up and your coaches will be in touch to confirm which group you have been placed with. If you are in these age groups but have not yet returned to training, you will need to get in touch with either myself or your coaches to book a space before returning.
Likewise, if your children are planning to attend softball training, please email me in advance to confirm. We may need to limit numbers in line with the number of coaches available and, if we do so, this will be on a first-come, first-served basis. I can confirm that everyone who has emailed to date has a place booked for this Friday.
We are still happy to welcome new juniors to the club where we have the capacity to fit them in with the number of coaches that are available. If you have friends who would like to join, please ask them to get in touch with myself or your age group coach.
Things to consider on Friday evening
In order to help Friday evenings run smoothly, please can I ask that you abide by the following rules:
- Please do not attend training if your child, or a member of their household, is displaying Covid-19 symptoms or in a period of self-isolation
- Please ask your child and anyone staying on the site to wash their hands thoroughly before attending. The club will provide some hand-gel for use during sessions but it would be helpful for children to bring their own mini bottle if this is possible
- The bar will be open for service and parents are welcome to stay on site and socialise during training. The bar will be operating with different rules during this period so we would ask you to follow these, which will be outlined by signage at the ground. Unfortunately, we will be unable to run our usual BBQ on a Friday evening this year.
- Where possible, please bring your own chair to sit on during training. This reduces the cleaning that we need to do as a club, as we will need to wipe each chair down after use.
- We would ask that, when sitting together in groups, this is done in a way that complies with government guidelines which state that groups should be no more than 6 people from different households or any number of people from two households. This is a government requirement for us to open the bar.
- You and your children are welcome to stay at the ground to socialise after training has finished. Again though, please could we ask that you continue to monitor your children and ensure that if they are playing together, they do so in small groups and away from other children that will be training.
If you have any further questions, please contact our Junior Co-ordinator Paul Athey.
