Walsall FC Community Programme are pleased announce a staged return to activities will begin week commencing Monday 3rd August.
The following sessions will resume at the start of next month:
- Player Development Centres (from Monday 3rd August)
- Soccer Schools (from Tuesday 4th August)
- Walking Football sessions (from Friday 7th August)
- Saturday Club (from Saturday 8th August)
The community scheme has remained closed since March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Walsall FCCP will be following government and FA guidelines for all sessions, and are also working to new operating procedures to ensure activities are Covid-19 compliant. Included in the new guidelines are measures such as:
- Temperature checks for all participants. Anyone with a temperature over 37.8°C will be refused entry to the session and sent home.
- One-way system in place from car parking to entering the playing area, and around the artificial pitch.
- Sanitisation stations installed on site including on the artificial pitch, as well as in the Community Room and Office. Key contact points and sports equipment will also be sanitised on a regular basis (footballs, goals, cones etc)
- Face coverings to be worn by all community staff when 1m+ social distancing cannot be observed, for example when tending to an injury.
- Encouraging digital or remote payment and booking forms where possible.
- Staggered break times during activities to allow for social distancing.
- All sessions will take place at the Banks’s Stadium, with no sessions at external venues at this time.
Community Director, Adam Davy, is relieved that we are now able to plan to resume work.
He said: "After a frustrating 4 months, or so, it is great to be planning for a definite start date. We will be working hard to make sure that our plans meet Government and FA guidelines and sessions will be Covid compliant.
"I know that our staff have been waiting for the green light to return to work because our job revolves heavily around practical delivery sessions and being around groups of people. Equally, I am sure that participants across all of our programmes are just as excited for the return."
"Health and Safety will be our top priority and plenty of measures will be in place without creating too many barriers for people to access the sessions. We are staggering a return and won't be delivering everything from day one. However, the challenge of staging sessions towards a full return is one that all of the staff are relishing. I can't wait to see people everyone at work and participants enjoying their sports activities with us."
Please head online to www.walsallfccp.com, or follow Walsall FC Community Programme on Twitter or Facebook for further updates and information.