Following on from Sunday 18th October, where Daniel Andrews, the Victorian Premier, made a series of comments in reference to the easing of COVID-19 restrictions including the Premier flagging the recommencement of community sport in metropolitan Melbourne as part of the ‘Third Step’ to take effect at 11.59pm on 1st November. Little Athletics Victoria today provided an update to Metro Centres on the Premiers Comments.
LAVic provided the following advice
- LAVic have advised metropolitan centres to take these comments into account and to start preparation to commence the seasons.
- It’s expected that the protocols for the conduct of community sport will be finalised by the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS), and Sport & Recreation Victoria (SRV), to be adapted for practical application to Little Athletics by LAVic, in coming days.
- For Centre planning purposes, the protocols currently set out for regional Victorian Centres will provide a useful guide for what metro Centres are expected to comply with.
- Metro Centres are advised to finalise their affiliation arrangements well in advance of 2nd November.
- Centres are strongly encouraged to reach out to their member families to advise them that the commencement of Little Athletics season 20/21 may not be far away.
The above is positive news and provides some clarity that a season start may not be far away. If you want further information on the LAVic covid protocols you can go here https://lavic.com.au/covid-19/
What has Knox LAC been doing?
We have been busy over the past few weeks preparing for the season. We have drafted our covid safety protocols in line with above advice, noting that changes may be made in the coming days; we have been through the affiliation process with LAVic and supplied all necessary documentation for us to get up and running for training and competition as soon as we permitted to do so.
There will be further information over the coming weeks on our Covid 19 protocols and what it means for Little Aths at Knox for the season start. Be prepared that Little Aths is going to be different, from how enter the venue to how competition is run and it will take some time to get used to it.
We have also been liaising with Council to ensure that our protocols to train and compete are acceptable and meet councils requirements as a tenant. This has been the same for other tenants a the venue.
A Knox LAC competition calendar is being drafted which will help us plan what the season will look like prior to and after Christmas and how we will fit our competition in with regional and state events on from January to March. We will release the draft calendar dates soon so people can start to prepare.
New equipment has arrived, including the recently purchased handheld radios for centre communications that was funded by the recently received Coles Grant. New competition equipment has also been purchased and has arrived to replace some ageing equipment we have.
Track Access for Exercise
Following the announcement on Sunday that exercise at outdoor facilities can start, there has been a number of calls about access to the track. It must be stressed that we do not yet have access to the track to train nor is the public permitted at the track at this point in time. It is a council operated facility and we do not have control on access. Please be patient.
Council are still working through the requirements they need to have in place to allow people to use the track safely in accordance with the government guidelines. The track this point in time is still locked. We will advise everyone once council have given the go ahead and unlocked the track for general exercise. Please do not jump the fence to gain access if the track is locked.
There is also some track maintenance to be undertaken prior to the start of the season so track access may also be limited while this occurs.
Please be assured we are working closely with everyone to get our season underway when we are permitted to do so.
