We’re happy to be in a great position to open up outdoor volleyball play for our club members, as of the 29th of Match 2021, thanks to the new guidelines from Volleyball England and to our Return to Play Sport England grant award.
Regarding safety and expectations around COVID management, we thought we’d address the latest updates and clarify what rules we are currently following. The below has been consolidated off the back of Volleyball England’s published guidance which can be found in full here.
Relevant takeaways for our club activity, as of 29th of March 2021, following STEP 1B from VE’s return to volleyball roadmap:
As of Monday, 29th March, England will enter Step 1B of the roadmap, allowing volleyball activity that takes place outdoors to return.
- Any volleyball activity that is formally organised by our club, which follows the sport-specific safety plans can be arranged between up to 16 people per court, with a maximum of 32 people participating in the session where mixing takes place.
- Anyone acting in a workforce capacity (for example volunteers, match officials, coaches, and instructors) are exempt from the rules on gathering and are not counted in the social gathering limits. However, they must remain socially distanced from players where possible during play.
- It is important for social distancing to be maintained between people who do not live together when not actively participating and, at this point, no spectators are allowed at any activity. This does not apply to carers for disabled people, or adults needed to supervise U18s in a safeguarding role.
The full “Return to outdoor play” guidance from Volleyball England can be found here.
On top of these updates, we will be looking to enforce our session rules:
- Socially distance when not on court
- Use hand sanitisers and clean the equipment periodically
- Book all sessions in advance, via our online booking system. Members who have not booked in advance cannot join the session.
- We will sanitise break every 15 points or between sets in gameplay or every 30 minutes otherwise.