COVID 19 Return to Sport Guidelines & Information

Wednesday 16 March 2022

In consultation with all WABL Associations, Basketball WA has made the difficult decision to cancel this weekend’s WABL Grading to be held at Bendat Basketball Centre (19 – 20 March 2022)

Our Under 16 & 18 Boys and Girls were due to hit the court; however, multiple teams across multiple Associations have had to withdraw due to ongoing covid cases impacting their clubs.

Basketball WA and Associations will always aim to ensure the integrity of the competition is maintained. With this in mind, if grading were to go ahead with limited teams, the integrity of the results would be impacted. We also recognise that the State Government is predicting for Western Australia to potentially hit the peak of the spread of COVID within the community this coming weekend/week and understand the impact this will have on our teams, as well as considering the health and wellbeing of the basketball community.

This week, Basketball WA will liaise with WABL Administrators regarding the replacement grading process.

We continue to look forward to a big year for WABL in 2022, and as always, the health and safety of our basketball community remain our number one priority.

If you have any specific questions regarding your WABL team, please contact your local Association.

COVID UPDATE 3 MARCH 2022 MEDIA RELEASE 

Basketball WA wanted to update you on the current COVID situation relating to basketball now that the Directions for the Level 2 Restrictions have been published. We apologise for the lateness of this communication, however the Directions were not available until 10pm last night and it is our experience that it is important we understand this information and receive advice from the WA Police before jumping the gun.

Our experience in the past couple of weeks is it is difficult for our Associations to enforce government regulations and directions in regard to close contacts, but we can play a positive role in supporting the health of our community throughout the coming months in the following way:

1. Asking our community to work with us to support each other; and
2. Working with our basketball community to advise them when they may be at risk and how they can approach it

As Covid-19 case numbers inevitably increase clubs, associations and SSA’s can play an important role in notifying people who may be at risk. To date the Department of Health have played the sole role of contact tracing in the instance there is a Covid case, however as we move into a new phase of the pandemic management the focus of WA Health will be on high-risk settings, e.g. Residential Aged Care Facilities, remote Aboriginal communities, etc and the expectation is that businesses, facilities, sporting organisations and service providers be required to play a more involved role in managing communications.

The State Government definition of a close contact is:

• You are a household member or intimate partner of a person with COVID-19 and have had contact with them during their infectious period;
• You have had close personal interaction with a person with COVID-19 during their infectious period. This includes if you have:

* had at least 15 minutes face-to-face contact where a mask was not worn by both you and the person with COVID-19;
*greater than two hours within a small room or classroom environment with a case during their infectious period, where masks have been removed for this period;

• You have been advised by WA Health that you are a close contact.

Based on these definitions it is highly unlikely that there would be a close contact within a sporting game or event as the relevant thresholds would not be met. To maintain this we ask that you encourage the following for all games and trainings for community basketball:

• • Everyone must wear a mask at all times indoors unless they are actively playing/training, refereeing or coaching on court.
  • Note that this now includes children in Year 3 to 6 as well as everybody aged 12 and over
  • Training times are limited to no more than 90 minutes per session
  • People come in and out of indoor settings for their games and training and do not linger within the stadium before and after their training or game

It is more likely that close contacts would come into play in settings off the sporting arena – for example; change rooms or eating with teammates following a game etc and you should encourage people to play their game or train and then leave the stadium where possible. However, if you do train or play together for more than 2 hours in an indoor space you could be deemed a close contact if a known positive case arises.

The Department of Health have stressed the application of the above definitions even in the ‘contact’ sport setting. So, despite the level of contact within a sport, if participants do not meet the above definitions, they are not deemed close contacts.

Please also note that the Level 2 State Government Directions were released last night and state there is a maximum capacity for indoor community sport. This will be subject to the 2sqm rule and capped at 150 people PER undivided indoor space. This includes players/officials but not stadium staff. As such to allow WABL Grading to proceed this weekend, BWA will be enforcing a one spectator per player rule.  

We recommend the following for our Associations:

1.  You put an update out on social media/webpage utilising content similar to the below:

As you know, WA has entered what is considered to be a ‘high caseload phase’ of the COVID epidemic. COVID is present in the community and we understand that many families have a high level of anxiety and concern.

The health department has indicated it does not have the capacity to contract trace all cases during this phase. They are asking all of us to take this seriously and follow the advice.

Practical actions we can all take to keep each other safe

• IF YOU ARE UNWELL, PLEASE STAY HOME
• If you are displaying symptoms of COVID-19 get tested
• If you test positive to a RAT test you MUST report this to the Department of Health
• If you test positive and are comfortable with doing so, advise the Association/Competition you played/trained in within the previous 48 hours, which will assist us to keep our broader community informed.
• Wear a face mask when required which is at all times in basketball stadiums unless you are playing or training – this is for all people in Year 3 and above
• Practise physical distancing (keep at least 1.5 metres or two arms lengths from each other)
• Practise good personal hygiene (wash hands often with soap and water, or hand sanitiser and cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue or use your elbow)
• Use the ServiceWA app or SafeWA app to check in at all venues

If you are notified that you are close contact we ask that you follow the advice of government to protect the safety of those around you.

As a part of the Level 2 State Government Directions there is a maximum capacity for indoor community sport. This will be subject to the 2sqm rule and capped at 150 people PER undivided indoor space. This includes players and officiasl but does not include staff. We will be need to enforce a one spectator per player rule during this time to meet these restrictions.  

We ask that you please only enter the stadium 10 minutes prior to your game starting and that you leave the stadium immediately after finishing your game. We are hopeful that these restrictions will only be in place for a short period of time, but it is important that all of us understand that playing and training in as safe a manner as possible is our priority for the basketball community.

2.     If as an Association you are made aware of a positive case playing/refereeing/coaching etc while at the stadium we have drafted the following communication for you:

In the interest of the health and safety of our broader basketball community, we wanted to advise you that a positive Covid-19 case has been identifiedby a player/coach/referee in the xxxcompetition. This positive case played/particpated at venueon the date, the game commencing in the XXXtimeslot (and court if known).

According to the State Government Definitions of a close contact we do not believe you have reached the required thresholds; however we strongly encourage you to monitor for symptoms and follow all State Government Guidelines.

For more information please visit – www.healthywa.wa.gov.au and see the BELOW flow charts.

Thank you for continuing to advise us of positive cases in our basketball community, so in turn we can continue to keep our community up to date.

3.  Implement appropriate strategies to ensure you only allow 150 people per separable portion within your Stadium.

Thank you all for the huge amount of work we know that you are all putting in at this time to both keep people on the court playing, and for the safety of our broader basketball community.