NWCU Clubs ready to start training

Following the release of Cricket Ireland ‘Return to Cricket’ protocols, NWCU clubs have been busy this week preparing to resume training.

With the help of their assigned NWCU Covid-19 Support Officer, many clubs have undergone online training, completed the necessary risk assessments and implemented new booking systems for training. Training will start with 1-2-1 sessions before hopefully moving onto larger training groups later in the month.

Brian Allen, NWCU Club & Partnerships Officer, was delighted with the progress this week:

“We hope to have some of our clubs ready to go and their compliance protocols all in place by Monday with the remaining clubs being approved throughout the week. The effort from clubs and volunteers has been brilliant and it’s really encouraging to see how many clubs are keen to start training.

Last night we had almost 30 club coaches attend our Coaching Webinar ‘Return to Cricket’ as we try to best prepare everyone for next week. It was great having Ian McGregor giving coaches some practical tips on the protocols after his first few days with our Irish players.

We are well placed for clubs to start next week and in the coming days we will start our on-site support visits to clubs along with the delivery of hygiene packs and Covid-19 Safety signage. “

Elaine Nolan, Participation Director at Cricket Ireland, said:

“This week we have released an online Club Toolkit resource with checklists and templates available for download, and facilitated the delivery of COVID-19 Club Safety Officer certified training courses.

Cricket Ireland has additionally provided appropriate COVID-19 awareness signage for display at club grounds, and is supporting clubs through subsidising infection control & hygiene starter packs for clubs, which have started to be distributed over the last few days.

This has been a challenging time for the sport, but the enthusiasm to return to activity whilst ensuring a safe and healthy environment for players, coaches and volunteers has been great to see.”