Collingwood’s curling teams will be back on the ice next month if all goes according to plan.
“The good news is, we’re planning to open,” said Bob Riches, president of the Collingwood Curling Club.
Riches said the club has a verbal “go-ahead” from the town and from the region’s health unit. The curling club building is owned by the town, so Riches and the board has been working with the town to come up with protocols and procedures to accommodate COVID-19 control measures.
“We have been preparing protocols and then things change and they change,” said Riches. “That’s what things are.”
Currently, the plan is to put in five curling sheets instead of the usual six, and to cut the seating at the lounge tables down to four people per table instead of eight. The lounge will have the same rules as a restaurant, masks on until you’re eating or drinking. Each table will have cleaning supplies people can use to sanitize as often as they like.
The curling club has also increased its cleaning contract to include more thorough cleaning, and volunteers will help sanitize between draws.
“It’s a volunteer club, so we’re saying you have to take some responsibility for yourselves,” said Riches.
Curlers can wear masks and lower them while they are sweeping and perhaps while delivering a rock. Lockers will not be available.
Some of the changes are coming from health unit recommendations and others are coming from the Ontario Curling Association.
The Ontario Curling Association has recommended no clubs run their junior programs, and Collingwood Curling Club has also suspended its wheelchair curling and school program.
Riches said the Grade 7 and 8 introduction to curling program sees about 300 kids annually.
“Unfortunately we have to suspend that … we can’t manage the cleaning,” he said.
Currently, Riches said the plan is to start putting the ice into the building on Oct. 1 and have it available by Oct. 19 for practice with league play starting Nov. 2. Registration opens for existing members on Sept. 21, and for new members on Sept. 22.
“We had 530 members last year and we’re hoping to get 400 to 500 this year,” said Riches. “A lot of people are in the vulnerable category for COVID … our average age is 68 years old … some are taking the year off.”
Membership fees are increasing by $25 to help cover increased cleaning costs, and the club will be dipping into its contingency fund to cover the rest of the added costs.
“We’re bending over backwards and it’s going to cost money,” said Riches.
The curling club will need at least 350 members to open for the season.
There’s also the unknowns of COVID to contend with this year.
“I’m still worried that we won’t [open],” said Riches, noting things have changed quickly from gatherings of 10 to gatherings of 50 indoors. He’s worried the increase in daily cases reported by the province might prompt a return to Stage 2 of the Ontario reopening plan.
But he and the volunteers are still sliding toward the season with as much optimism as they can muster.
“We’ve had people say things like, ‘we’re not going south this year, what are we going to do?,’” said Riches. “We get a little stir crazy, and this is a chance to get out. We’re making it as safe as we know how to do.”
Existing and new members can register for the season via the curling club’s website at collingwoodcurlingclub.ca starting Sept. 21 (existing members) and Sept. 22 (new members) and ending on Sept. 25. The website also includes further details on COVID-19 safety protocols.
