Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19):2020-03-17 Tues 11:00

Posted on: Thu, 12/03/2020 - 21:53 By: admin

UPDATE: 2020 03 17 Tues 11:00

In light of the Prime Minister’s statement yesterday on curtailing non-essential social contact, with immediate effect, all basketball training will be suspended until further notice.


2020-03-16 Mon 19:36 - basketballscotland

We have been communicating with clubs during the last few weeks with regards to COVID-19. The Senior Management Team and Board at basketballscotland wanted to reach out to all members directly and advise that we have now created a specific webpage on this topic. Here you will find all the latest updates on our programmes and we will begin to formulate a frequently asked questions (FAQs) section. 
 
Obviously coronavirus is extremely serious and none of us have experienced such a devastating health issue before. Please look after yourself, your families and your communities and remain safe and well in these unprecedented times.  
 
The link to our webpage is: 
 
 
Take care
 
basketballscotland Staff Team

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2020-03-14 Sat 16:10 Summary

Please find below the latest information and advice supplied by BasketballScotland regarding the coronavirus.

In short - training will continue until further notice, but, with immediate effect, we require all players, coaches and parents visiting our training facilities to wash their hands immediately upon arrive and before leaving our training facilities.

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2020-03-14 Sat 16:10 - Attack Basketball Academy statement

Yesterday, Basketball Scotland suspended regional and national competition to help reduce the spread of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 nationally.  Today they have announced the suspension of all BBS programmes, including the Regional Academies and national squad training.

As a club we intend to continue training, bearing in mind recommendations from BBS and government, as long as schools and facilities stay open.

With the safety of our members and their families paramount, we will review the situation on a daily basis, and update members immediately should there be any change in circumstances.  Given the current situation, there is an increasing likelihood that we will have to suspend training in the very near future, possibly even next week.  Should this prove necessary, we will communicate this via email, WhatsApp and Facebook, as well as on the website.

Latest information, including the BBS communication today, is posted on our website at the following link, which should be your first port of call:

https://www.attackbasketball.info/coronavirus

In order to faciliate continuation of training until any suspension is necessary, it is now MANDATORY for all our coaches, players, and visiting parents to adhere to the following:

If you, your child or a sibling is feeling unwell, particularly if they have a cough or fever, your child should NOT attend training. Please follow NHS guidelines.

When you attend training, please be aware that with immediate effect and until further notice it is now MANDATORY that every person, child and adult alike, immediately washes their hands on entering and before leaving any training facility.

We advise that parents do not wait in any waiting area to avoid large groups of people.

We are aware that this may be disruptive but it is essential to ensure the safety of our players, coaches and parents, and allow training to continue for the immediate future.  We thank you in advance for your patience and cooperation.

The ABA Team

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2020-03-14 Sat 15:08 - basketballscotland

To Club Secretaries

 

basketballscotland and Guidance for Clubs 

 

We want to take some time to outline our current position, explain more fully yesterday’s decision to cancel all competitions, and look at what might happen over the coming weeks.

 

Firstly, it should go without saying that we love basketball. We believe that our sport is important for a number of reasons - including physical and mental wellbeing. We think it’s important and we always do our best not to cancel games. But that said, we care about the people that play our sport and we have a responsibility to do what’s best to protect the community, particularly the most vulnerable and at risk.

 

Postponement of all competitions

Yesterday’s decision to postpone our competitions was a difficult one to make.  At the beginning of the day, we were confident that with the government guidance in place, we could continue to go ahead with this weekend’s fixtures, with an understanding that changes were coming and future weeks of competition would be at risk. Our view was to carry on as normal for as long as possible, with sensible and practical safeguards in place.

 

However, as the day went on, we began to hear increasing concerns from clubs, players and parents – these concerns escalated as other sports took their own decisions to postpone all levels of sport. It became clear that, while it would be possible to deliver the competitions, the value of those games (with several teams and many players considering opting out either due to self-isolation or not wishing to take the risk of exposure), weighed up against the perceived risk, the right thing to do was to take a leadership decision to suspend competitions. We hope we communicated this effectively and that no-one travelled unnecessarily.

 

Our decision yesterday was to postpone all basketballscotland competitions, this is initially for a period of two weeks, but the reality is that this is likely to be extended.  We will continue to review this situation and advise as things develop.  The playoff finals event will be postponed, and we will take decisions when things are clearer about if and when the playoff event will be concluded. We will need more time and information to be able to act appropriately.

 

We hope you will appreciate that with so much uncertainty around how the virus will develop, definitive answers about the way forward are not possible at this time.

 

Other basketballscotland Programmes

 

With regard to other basketballscotland programmes, we are today putting them on hold with immediate effect. This includes national squad, regional and national academy, schools of basketball and coach and official education programmes.

 

Additionally, we have taken the decision to move all staff into remote working. Staff should be contactable by email and mobile phone and will be proactive at getting back to priority calls and emails as quickly as possible. Please bear with us as we get up to speed with this new way of working.

 

Club Guidance


At this moment, we are not advising clubs to shut down all activity, although that is likely to be the next step. In difficult times, bringing people together in a safe environment can be a positive thing to do, and some clubs may wish to continue to do this.

 

However, the reality of the situation is that individuals showing any symptoms should self isolate and many more people are taking their own personal decisions to reduce risk by not attending sessions. This will impact on both the ability of clubs to facilitate sessions and also attendance at sessions.

 

It is also likely that at some point in the coming weeks, schools and facilities will be shut.

 

With this in mind, our practical guidance to clubs is to put in place a plan to close down activities for a period of time at the right time for the club to do this. We would advise clubs to be ready to suspend activity at some point in the coming week if you have not already begun to do so. We would emphasise the important role of safeguarding that we all have towards our players, staff and communities, and be mindful of the greater impact of our actions beyond just the basketball community. However, from the feedback we’ve received, we already know how important this is to so many of you, if not all.

 

If you believe the right decision is to close down activity immediately, we will fully support that and we suspect that you will get a favourable response from your members.

 

We will be communicating more fully on Monday with all partners and will be available to support and advise clubs as much as possible.

 

If you have questions, please get in touch.

 

Please look after yourselves and those around you.

 

Yours in basketball

 

Kevin

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2020-03-13 Fri 16:03 - basketballscotland

COVID-19 Coronavirus Update / 13 March 2020 #2 - POSTPONEMENT OF ALL BASKETBALLSCOTLAND COMPETITIONS

POSTPONEMENT OF ALL BASKETBALLSCOTLAND COMPETITIONS

Dear Club Secretary,

Further to our earlier statement, things have moved significantly today and, following feedback from a number of clubs and a number of self-isolations being highlighted across various clubs, basketballscotland are postponing all basketball with immediate effect.  The health and safety of all our players, coaches, officials and spectators is of paramount importance.

Please take the steps to inform those affected the decision as quickly as possible, particularly those due to participate this evening.

This has been a really challenging decision to take and we appreciate the impact it may have on clubs ahead of the weekend.  We remain available to support clubs as much as possible.       

basketballscotland will continue to monitor the current situation and will inform of any updates.

We wanted to communicate this as quickly and clearly as possible.

There will be more information to follow.

Please keep safe.

Kevin 

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2020-03-13 Fri 12:59 - basketballscotland

Dear Club Secretary             

As we indicated last night, we have been working with partners to develop a short self-screening form.

This form will allow individuals to quickly determine if they should be attending basketball (or any other events) and is in line with government advice.

The form is here and we would encourage clubs to use this in ways detailed below that are appropriate.

We will have this displayed at our events this weekend and will ask all players, coaches, officials and spectators to self-review.

We appreciate this is a really challenging time – combining the issue of Coronavirus and important end of season fixtures which players will want to play in and spectators will want to watch.  We need to work together to encourage everyone to follow the guidelines in order to protect the basketball (and wider) community.

Clubs should consider the following:

  • Sending the form to all coaches, players, officials and parents and asking them to consider this before attending any events and to stay away if required
  • Having copies of this available at club sessions, games, events etc to raise awareness and consistently be asking participants and spectators to review against the questions
  • Displaying in venues and facilities you use regularly

As with all previous guidance, this may change quickly and we will work to reissue this in a timely manner should the advice change.

Finally, to confirm the position we outlined last night remains consistent for now, in line with government guidance, there is no current cancellation or postponement of fixtures for this weekend.  We continue to monitor the situation and will advise of any changes in this position.

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2020-03-12 Thurs 20:08 - basketballscotland

Dear Club Secretary

Following the advice issued by both the Scottish and British Government this afternoon, we want to provide an update to clubs on basketballscotland’s current position in relation to competitions and events.

To note again, this is a complex landscape and is changing regularly and it is likely that both the Government advice and basketballscotland decisions will change over the coming days and weeks.  We will endeavour to respond quickly and communicate effectively through this challenging period.

The current position, based on Government advice is:

  • It is our intention that scheduled matches, competitions and events should go ahead as planned at this time.  This includes this weekend’s Youth Division 1 Play Off Semi Finals (Dundee), Youth Division 2 and NDL Play-offs (Grangemouth) and Senior Play Off Semi Finals (club venues).
  • We want to give due consideration to the wellbeing of all participants and as such we are asking for the support of clubs and players to take as much precaution as practically possible to limit the spread of the COVID-19 virus.  These steps include:
    • Self-Isolation:
      • Any participant (including spectators) with symptoms which could indicate Coronavirus should not attend events, games, training or club events
      • We are working up a screening protocol with partners which we hope to provide tomorrow to assist with this
      • Where a club is impacted by multiple players having to self-isolate, these players will be considered unavailable to play and we will consider these cases in line with the regulations on game cancellation.  Please speak to us at the earliest opportunity should this be a possibility. 
    • At risk / underlying conditions:
      • We want to assure anyone who feels they are high risk or who has an underlying medical condition that there is no pressure to participate
    • Game protocol: 
      • All players attending games should be requested to wash hands thoroughly pre-game, at half time and after the game.
      • Players attending games should be encouraged to bring hand sanitiser if they have it available and use it during matches
      • While basketballscotland would ideally provide hand sanitiser for all clubs at central venue events, the reality of the current situation is that this will not be able for us to procure in the quantities required, if at all.
      • Pre- and post-match handshakes will not be required part of game protocol
        • Where players/teams wish to show respect to opposition, an “elbow bump” can be used at agreement of both teams

Future steps:

  • At this time we are not ruling out any future steps or actions and will continue to monitor and respond to the situation and the advice we receive.
  • Future steps may include:
    • Full cancellation of all basketball for a period of time
    • Cancellation of specific events or programmes
    • Games or events played behind closed doors
  • We would ask clubs to be ready to act quickly should the advice change, to communicate with their members and to act in the best interests of the game and the participants.
  • On our part, we will work to communicate advice as early and as clearly as possible

If you have questions please get in touch and we will endeavour to answer them to the best of our ability.

Please take care.

Kevin

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2020-03-12 Thurs 10:28 - basketballscotland

Dear Club Secretary

It’s likely that you will be getting questions from your members (and probably have your own questions) about COVID-19 and if basketball sessions/games should be going ahead.

We wanted to provide the most up to date advice we have from Scottish Government (received yesterday) but also to ask you to be prepared for the advice to change quickly - as there will developments on a daily (if not hourly) basis and we will need to be reactive to those.

You are probably aware that there is a government emergency meeting today, so we will update you following the outcome of that meeting.

The current advice can be summarised as:

  • There is presently no reason people should stop doing their daily sport and physical activities as they normally would
  • For those hosting sporting events, whatever their size, attendees and participants should stay up to date on the government’s latest advice on how to avoid catching or spreading the virus, which is here: http://tempURL
  • For those who offer community and leisure services, such as running a club; hand hygiene should be strongly promoted and encouraged and equipment and facilities should be thoroughly cleaned/wiped down as usual following use

We expect to be providing you with regular updates over the coming days.

If you have any further questions, we will try to answer as best we can.

Kind regards

Kevin

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2020-03-05 Thurs 11:58 - basketballscotland

Dear Clubs

You will have noticed there is much news about the spread of Coronavirus, which the World Health Organisation has named COVID-19.  The virus has now arrived in Scotland, with 6 diagnosed cases as of 5 March 2020.  

If you have questions, the following advice is produced by the NHS:

https://www.nhsinform.scot/illnesses-and-conditions/infections-and-poisoning/

NHS Inform update their advice as the situation develops. 

Further helpful information can be obtained from Health Protection Scotland: 

https://www.hps.scot.nhs.uk/a-to-z-of-topics/covid-19/

Here you will find specific advice related to Educational Settings, it would be useful for club volunteers, coaches and officials to be aware of this information. 

There is no need to panic, just be aware and if you have concerns, refer to the advice.  

The best deterrent is to encourage regular hand washing with hot water and soap.  Coughs and sneezes should be caught in tissues, disposed of, then wash your hands.

If you have a trip abroad planned, please refer to the Government guidelines above, now and in the period leading up to the trip in case the advice changes.

Kind regards

The basketballscotland team