While recently released provincial restrictions for COVID-19 have made it more difficult for the Estevan Gymnastics Club to continue to meet, they are still able to hold practice sessions.
The regulations that came into effect on Nov. 27 called for games to be suspended, but allowed for youth sports clubs under the age of 18 to continue to practise, as long as groups were no more than eight people, and as long as participants are separated by three metres and wearing masks.
In the case of the gymnastics club, the coaches aren’t able to be spotters for the gymnasts.
Rebecca Fedyk, the coach of the competitive team, said the gymnasts have made tremendous progress since the season started early in the fall, and so it’s important to keep practising.
“They’re making it work with whatever new regulations have been thrown on us, which seem to be changing almost every class,” said Fedyk.
There are 16 kids in the competitive program. The club also has a pre-competitive and developmental program with another 15 gymnasts, and a recreational program, which includes Active Start, that has the largest number of gymnasts with around 130.
“They are so resilient, those kids. They come in with the best possible attitudes, and they just get what they need to do done, and they don’t usually complain too much, which is so amazing,” said Fedyk.
They have had to cut back on the class times for the gymnasts, so that they have time to get everybody in. Some of them used to come in and train for five hours.
“Getting a kid to wear a mask for five hours while doing extreme activity is quite impossible,” said Fedyk. “So we cut down the classes a little bit to get the girls through the gym, but they’re still finding it hard to do some of their tumbling with wearing a mask because they find it slides up into their eyes when they’re doing certain things,” said Fedyk.
Coaches have had to wear masks since September, so they’re used to it now.
Fedyk is pleased they’re able to remain open and still have practices for the kids. They have enjoyed being able to stay in the gym.
At this point, it doesn’t appear the club will be travelling to meets in the late winter or early spring due to COVID-19 restrictions. There would be quite a few people in a building for a meet.
“They are talking about doing virtual competitions this year, which it’s not quite the same feel, but at least the girls will have some sort of competition season this year,” said Fedyk.
The club has secured some funding through Gymnastics Saskatchewan, Saskatchewan Lotteries and the federal government’s Canada Emergency Benefits Account, which have helped sustain the club.
And they just wrapped up a fundraiser that fetched about $20,000. Another one will occur in January.
