Irish Squash is not the only indoor sport NGB to identify the challenges facing our community in providing clear guidance for juniors who wish to play squash under current public health Covid restrictions.
Kieran Shannon’s article in the Irish Examiner today articulates many of the glaring inconsistencies in guidelines across various different sectors (schools, indoor hospitality, indoor sport) as they apply to U12 and U18 age groups –
Article Here
We understand and acknowledge the outrage and confusion amongst our members due to lack of clarity about what we can and cannot do for our juniors at present.
As an NGB, we do not have the authority to unilaterally decide how to apply public health Covid restrictions in our sport. Throughout the pandemic, we have worked constantly and closely with Sport Ireland and their Expert Group in order to advocate on behalf of squash and to provide appropriate guidance to our members regarding Covid restrictions.
We continue to engage with Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport so that we can enable a safe and sustainable return to competitive play for as many of our members as possible. We are especially keen to welcome our juniors back on court.
Sport Ireland have made a submission to the Department of Sport recommending that restrictions should not apply to U18 players so that all may participate in competitions, whether vaccinated or not.
A response from the Department of Sport is expected by Nov 4th at the latest and will impact on how we can run our junior competitions (& apply our team selection criteria) for the remainder of this season.
Irish Squash will provide an update to our members on this as soon as possible.
Rosie Barry
President Irish Squash
