In order to comply with the latest 2019 coronavirus epidemic prevention and control measures, some local sports academies have cancelled training activities for unvaccinated children under the age of 12, and refunded the tuition fees of relevant students.
According to the latest announcement by the Singapore Sports Council on the safety management measures for sports activities on the 27th of last month, from February 1st, children under the age of 12 who have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 will participate in indoor sports activities with masks , must be in the same household, and the number of people should not exceed five.
In addition to cancelling classes and refunding tuition fees, sports academies and indoor sports venue operators interviewed by TODAY said they would have to reschedule training arrangements or move classes outdoors.
“Lost 20% of students”
Big Blue Floorball School, which provides floor hockey training, said in an interview that as some students are still waiting for a second dose of the vaccine, he has refunded the tuition fees for these students for missing classes this year to their parents. The hardest hit, though, is for trainees under the age of six, who have yet to be vaccinated, so he has to stop training until the authorities expand the children’s vaccine program to this age group.
“I lost 20 percent of my students because of it,” said school founder Thorbjornsen.
The Cage, which owns indoor and outdoor sports venues, also pointed out that sports schools that leased venues to them canceled venues because of fewer young students. The industry hopes that by the end of this month, more children will be vaccinated and can resume training next month.
Operators make alternative arrangements for unvaccinated pupils
Respondents also made additional arrangements for trainees to comply with safety management measures. SG Basketball is one of them. There are currently 415 students aged 12 and below training at its indoor basketball court in Chai Chee, but many have only received one dose of the vaccine. The school plans to transfer most of the students to Macheng. (Turf City) outdoor basketball courts continue to practice, but this is also limited by the size of the venue.
Under the latest instructions of the Sports Association, for physical education courses conducted outdoors, whether or not they are wearing masks, the maximum number of students is in groups of five, and there can be multiple groups but the total number is limited to 50 people.
The mixed martial arts center Evolve MMA said when asked that it will divide the young students into groups of five, and each group will have only one unvaccinated student.
The parents interviewed believed that the arrangement had little impact. Roanna Fassam, a parent with two children, aged four and six, pointed out that none of her children have been vaccinated, and that venues have implemented safe distancing measures when participating in sports activities and wearing masks during training. In training opponents, dummies are used instead.
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