Racquetball Manitoba Update – June

June 15, 2020

Hello racquetball players!

With the province’s recent announcement regarding the second phase pandemic protocols, Diana and I thought it would be useful, once again, to share some information about what we know regarding the status of playing racquetball in Manitoba. Unfortunately, there are still few details but there does seem to be a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

As before, we’ll break this information up by facility:

U of M Frank Kennedy Centre / Active Living Centre
Not much change from before regarding UM. As of today, the courts will still be closed through to June 30, 2020, with a potential return after the July 1 holiday. Simon Wang, the director of facilities at UM, indicated that the University is in the midst of preparing plans to reopen. He added that this process will present longer timelines for re-opening than the province’s second phase initiative and indicated that checking the Sport and Rec Facilities website for COVID-19 updates might be helpful. There is also no update on the layoffs of the University’s Recreation Services Team with no determined return-to-work day. As we stated before, RM had been working on the development of fall programs with the Team.

U of W, Duckworth Centre
Dean Melvie from UW tells us the University doesn’t have any immediate plans to open their athletic facilities. Dean thinks the courts will re-open when plans are in place for a re-opening of the campus as a whole. He and many others at UW are waiting on direction from administration.

Brandon Sportsplex
Paul Ziesmann from the Sportsplex tells us facility staff are currently working through the regulations and procedures facing them when the Sportsplex opens. Paul indicated he would keep us informed of any happenings when they become available.

In other related news, Racquetball Canada has released some new guidelines for a return to play and created a dedicated webpage for COVID-19 information.There is a lot of great information and resources on the site. Of note it would be useful for all active players to review the return to play protocols, as they are fairly austere. All facilities are aware of these guidelines for each sport and will be enforcing them as per Provincial Government requirements.

Again, if any breaking news can be shared regarding the facilities or tournaments, we’ll immediately send out a release when that happens. As before, this letter will appear on the RM website. Look for it in our “Latest News” feed on the homepage if for any reason you’ve been missed or if you’d just like to re-read a particular message.

Stay safe and stay well.

Yours sincerely,

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Jen Saunders
Executive Director
Racquetball Manitoba

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Diana Bradbury
President
Racquetball Manitoba