26/03/2021- Clubs

Community Discussion COVID Roadmap Series Continues

On Thursday 25th March, BF hosted its second session in a series of discussions dedicated to updating clubs on the progress of the government’s COVID Roadmap for England. Read the latest details below and find out more about the next planned session.

As part of England’s roadmap BF will look to run a discussion session prior to each expected stage. Please note that specific guidance from the government, including how sport is affected by each stage, will not be confirmed until one week before the restrictions are due to change. With this in mind, and as stage dates may be pushed by the government with limited notice, any community discussion dates in this series could be subject to last minute changes.

Stage 2 expected 12th April

The next session in the series is scheduled for Thursday 8th April. Registration information will be sent out to all registered Club Admins and COVID 19 Officers, ensure your club’s profile is up to date by logging into the membership platform. To assign your COVID-19 Officer follow the instructions here.

We will, as always, keep our website as up to date as possible. It is a good idea to bookmark the following pages for the latest guidance. All these can be found under the COVID-19 section of the main menu;

Key changes for Step 1 – 29th March – Organised Outdoor Sport/Activity allowed to take place.

An Organised Outdoor Fencing activity is one that is delivered by a BF affiliated club or registered coach, delivered to BF members, under BF policies and procedures (including those set out below).

Where an Organised Outdoor Fencing activity is being run for members by affiliated clubs and coaches:

The sparring ‘bubbles’ can be increased to up to 15, time/hit limits must remain in place (see below). If coaches are giving 1:1 lessons or if any official (coach, welfare officer) is sparring, they count as part of the bubble. Please remember the best practice ratio for club fencing of 12 children : 1 coach.
For all activities other than sparring/lessons, participants must remain at least 2m apart. The distance between neighbouring sparring pairs must be 2m at all times.
The total number of people within an outdoor space is limited by the requirement to ensure that all participants can safely stay 2m apart, except when fencing, at which point sparring pairs must be 2m apart from any neighbouring sparring pairs at all times (and the sparring bubble limit of 15 comes into effect). Where multiple sparring bubbles exist, these bubbles must be able to operate independently as two or more separate organised groups.
Face coverings and/or mask liners are no longer required when fencing outside although participants may choose to continue using these.
Fleching within sparring and lessons is permitted subject to a safety risk assessment to be performed by the BF registered coach to ensure that there is sufficient surrounding space around each sparring pair for the move to be executed safely. Corps a corps and any actions that result in body contact are not permitted.
No spectators. This does not apply to carers for disabled people, or adults needed to supervise under-18s in a safeguarding role. Where it is necessary for them to be present, supervising adults should not mix with others from outside their household or support bubble

See full details here.

For more information and to see other community discussions we run click here.

As always, we will continue to update our COVID-19 advice here, with dedicated pages for clubs and coaches.

You can also subscribe to our new weekly summary email – The Fencing Digest – featuring the previous week’s latest news and announcements. Sign up here.