Effective 20 March 2020, Easts Volleyball Club has made the difficult decision of suspending all volleyball programs and trainings in response to the restrictions set forth by the Australian Government to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.

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As we are sure everyone is aware, on 19 March the Australian Government announced new measures aimed at containing COVID-19. These measures included new restrictions on non-essential public gatherings including the recommendation that indoor gatherings be limited to no more than 100 people. The Queensland Government has recently passed legislation enabling directives to be made by the Minister for Health, however we anticipate that when these directives are issued they will, at the very least, support those made by the Federal Government.

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Whilst it may be possible for our training sessions to be formatted to meet this recommendation, these recommendations also came with strong recommendations that social distancing practices be applied as strictly as possible. Key practices to reduce the risk of transmission is to maintain 1.5 metres between people, avoiding touching a shared surface and regular handwashing. In the committee’s opinion, the nature of volleyball means that it is impossible to effectively adhere to these principles and, as a consequence, it is not possible for these risks to be managed appropriately at training or during games.

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Therefore Easts has decided to suspend all of our programs and activities until at least 13 April 2020. This follows Volleyball Australia’s recommendation released today (although we are mindful that Volleyball Australia recommends activities be ceased until 30 April). We will continue to monitor the situation and will provide a further update around that time. In particular, we will continue to explore possibilities for reformatting training ensuring that all risks to players related to COVID-19 transmission within the club’s control are mitigated.

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This has been a difficult decision as we do understand that our members would prefer to continue to train and play. However, the club places the health and wellbeing of its members above all other considerations. It also understands that the actions we take in this situation have a wider impact across the communities of which our members are part of and society in general. Therefore we feel that this decision is the most appropriate course that we could take.

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Once further information is known about the future of PVL we will also review the fee position.

If you have any further questions about this, please feel free to contact anyone on the committee.

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We thank you all for your understanding and hope you remain safe during this difficult time.

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Sincerely,

Easts Volleyball Club Committee