SOBC has recently released an updated Communicable Disease Plan which has enabled us to consider offering more sports once again. The SOBC Return to Sport Communicable Disease Prevention Plan contains strong safety protocols to deal with the ongoing concerns around COVID-19, as well as enduring principles for everyone’s benefit. The communicable disease prevention approach currently includes:

• Starting September 13, proof of COVID-19 vaccination for all participants and volunteers ages 12 and up;
• Sport training group sizes maximum 50;

• Athletes and coaches can participate in more than sport at a time;
• Continued mask wearing off the fields of play;
• An emphasis on staying home when you are sick;
• Enhanced cleaning, hand washing, and ventilation;
• Maintaining the safety volunteer role for every SOBC program and event

You’ll notice that Special Olympics BC’s safety protocols remain heightened. We are committed to the safety of our community, to following the provincial health requirements, and to meeting the expectations of facilities needed for SOBC programs and events. If you would like to see the full Communicable Disease Plan please visit: https://www.specialolympics.ca/british-columbia/return-sport.

We are once again asking all athletes and volunteers to fill out their registration forms if you haven’t already so that we have your updated information and can keep you updated on program restarts. To help you in this process we have planned to host an in-person registration night on September 28th and the information for that can be found below. To encourage everyone to get their paperwork done, all athletes that are registered by Oct 1st will be entered into a draw for a Vancouver Canucks Jersey!

While we don’t have a finalized calendar of sports for the fall yet, based on previous years and volunteer capacity, here are the programs we’re exploring offering at this time:

Monday: 10-pin Bowling, Basketball
Tuesday: Swimming
Wednesday: Track and Field
Thursday: Swimming
Saturday: 5-pin Bowling

We all know that things are still a little unsettled and as a result, we won’t be collecting registration fees for programs this year. Sport specific fees for programs like bowling, swimming and skating will still be collected once programs are running again though.

We look forward to seeing everyone soon!