STS Updates COVID-19 Document with Phase 3 Guidance
Recently, the First Minister for Scotland provided an update regarding Phase 3 and the changes that were being made to the restrictions in place. The update confirmed that Scotland is progressing well but is not yet ready to move into Phase 4 and therefore Phase 3 is still in force, however some significant changes were introduced that would impact our sport. (Full details of the Scottish Government’s Phase 3 guidance can be found here.)
STS has been working with sportscotland and other sports to clarify and can highlight the following points from the latest announcement:
Indoor ranges are able to open from 31 August, if clubs can comply with Scottish Government guidance and club committees and members feel comfortable re-opening. (Where possible, STS has looked to follow NSRA guidance to ensure advice to clubs is consistent)
From 31 August, dispensation for outdoor coaching has been increased with groups of 30 now being the maximum size of group allowed. Additionally, coaches coaching outside are now permitted to coach within the 2m social distancing area if they have good reason for doing so, thus allowing coaches to once again work with people new to the sport.
The final significant change is that competitions are once again allowed all the way up to national level. In terms of competitions, it should be noted that STS's recent announcement to postpone it's own competitions until January 2021 is down to the fact our winter event programme is entirely based indoors and due to the practical constraints of range sizes and social distancing, combined with a desire to allow time for clubs to adjust to this new way of operating, we felt our energies were best placed supporting clubs to return.
The document, along with a cleaner version for printing and displaying is also available on the home page of the STS website.
Finally, we would like to apologise for the time taken to publish this update. Our staff lead on this area was on leave at the time of the announcement. This, combined with the number of significant changes coming from the announcement, has meant the update has taken a little longer to prepare and sign off.
We hope this update brings some desired clarity and welcome news and will continue to do our best so keep clubs updated with changes as they happen.