Irish Field Archery Federation

The home of Field Archery in Ireland

Procedures for the easing of covid-19 restrictions

covid-19
Procedures for returning to archery

Latest Update: 09-Jul-21

General

To assist archers during the Covid-19 pandemic, IFAF has produced this guide for its members and clubs in respect of participating in archery.

NOTICE: There is no cover on IFAF’s Insurance policy for someone catches COVID-19. This is the same for other policies as, in the majority of cases, no one knows where they have contracted the virus.

  1. Duration of our recommendations: Until end of calendar year 2021, with a possibility to extend for as long as Covid-19 restrictions remain in place.
  2. All our existing safety rules and regulations continue to apply. Our COVID-19 regulations are in addition.
  3. All Government rules/recommendations to apply for your location (ROI and NI). Our recommendations are in addition to official guidelines. If our recommendations are in conflict with Government/Public Health rules/regulations official guidance over-rules our recommendations.
  4. Do not travel to a venue or event if you do not feel well, or if you know that you were in contact with a Covid-19 infected person in the last 14 days.
  5. Maximum group size: 4 archers, unless all of them are living in the same household. Minimum group of archers: 2
  6. Archers should bring a portable disinfectant hand wash with them in their quiver.
    1. If for any reason it is necessary to touch another archers equipment it is important to wash your hands before and immediately after.
  7. Always maintain social distancing of a minimum of 2 meters between archers
  8. Anyone found to act in an unsafe manner, including Government/Public Health regulations, our standard safety procedures and/or COVID-19 regulations can be ordered by the local safety officer or their deputy to leave the venue immediately. Any fees etc. paid will not be refunded.

Travel to venues

  1. Only members of the same household should be travelling in the same car.
  2. Adhere to minimum distancing rules if travelling by public transport.
  3. Anyone planning to attend an archery event must take responsibility for confirming their accommodation adheres to Covid-19 regulations.
  4. All attendees must adhere to the health advice including travel distances stipulated by government health advice for their area.

Training

Outdoors

Summary of Do’s and Don’ts

  1. Mass congregation should be limited during practice sessions (e.g. meet-up, lunch stop or wrap-up)
  2. Food/drinks can be provided where there is space for people to maintain social distance
  3. Communal facilities such as chairs, tables, refreshments area, W/C must be cleaned before and after each use
  4. Reduce the risk of community transmission by:
    1. following Public Health Advice to prevent the spread of Covid-19
    1. creating pods who practice together on a go-forward basis (i.e. limit groups to 2-6 archers)
    1. pulling only your arrows and not touching other people’s equipment
    1. using your hip/knee/shoulder instead of your hand to brace a target when pulling arrows

Procedure for Outdoor Practice

  1. Individual training pods should remain separate of each other at all times.
  2. The total number of people in any location, at any one time, must not exceed the maximum number allowed in a Pod as per the Sports Training guidelines in the framework.

EXAMPLE: LEVEL 2-4 of the National Framework for living with Covid-19

At base-camp a Club Admin is on duty plus two training pods are present; one pod is a group of 6 the other is a group of 4. The total number of people in that location is 11.

Another pod of 5 arrives for their scheduled training. The third pod cannot enter base-camp until at least one pod, ideally both pods, vacate the area (i.e. be mindful of Point #1)

  • Archers and Club Admins should work together to:
    • manage pod sizes based on the framework level applicable to the venues’ area/region (ROI and NI)

LEVEL 1: Normal training with protective measures (e.g. follow public health guidelines)

LEVEL 2-4: Train with your designated pod to minimise your number of close contacts

LEVEL 5: Individual training only (continue to follow public health guidelines)

Indoors

Indoor activities, including training and competitions, are heavily restricted during the pandemic. Refer to the Government rules/recommendations for your location (ROI and NI) to determine what is and is not allowed.

NOTICE: There is no cover on IFAF’s Insurance policy for someone catches COVID-19. This is the same for other policies as, in the majority of cases, no one knows where they have contracted the virus.

Summary of Do’s and Don’ts

  1. Mass congregation should be limited practice sessions (e.g. meet-up, breaks or wrap-up)
  2. Food/drinks can be provided where there is space for people to maintain social distance
  3. Communal facilities such as chairs, tables, refreshments area, W/C must be cleaned before and after each use
  4. Reduce the risk of community transmission by:
    1. following Public Health Advice to prevent the spread of Covid-19
    1. creating pods who practice together on a go-forward basis (i.e. limit groups to 2-6 archers)
    1. not touching people’s equipment
    1. using your hip/knee/shoulder instead of your hand to brace a target when pulling arrows
    1. complying with all venue specific Health and Safety protocols

Procedure for Indoor Practice

  1. Individual training pods should remain separate of each other at all times.
  2. Wear face coverings inside the venue and on the line until it is time to shoot. For safety, face coverings can be removed whilst shooting but should be put back on immediately after finishing shooting
  3. Archers and Club Admins should work together to:
    1. form pods based on the framework level applicable to the venues’ area/region

LEVEL 1: Normal training with protective measures (e.g. follow public health guidelines)

LEVEL 2: Train in pods of 6 people, maximum

LEVEL 3-4: Individual training (1 person) only (continue to follow public health guidelines)

LEVEL 5: Indoor training is not allowed

  • Scheduling training sessions / pods present must adhere to the Sports Training guidelines in the framework.

EXAMPLE – PLANNING INDOOR TRAINING UNDER LEVEL 2

The indoor facility has capacity for 12 bosses/24 archers under normal circumstances.

It is preferable to have 1 archer per boss. However, a pod of 6 can be assigned the use of 3 bosses, 2 archers per boss, providing there is a 2m space between their pod and the next pod and their bosses.

EXAMPLE – SCHEDULING INDOOR TRAINING UNDER LEVEL 2

OPTION #1 – DESIGNATED TRAINING SESSIONS

The venue operates 3 training sessions during the week. Pods books a specific day to train.

OPTION #2 – DESIGNATED TRAINING TIMES

Divide the training session into time slots. Each pod books a slot. Have breaks between the end and start of each session to allow time for cleaning of targets and facilities and also to prevent pods co-mingling between sessions

  • At practice sessions, ARCHERS must:
    • arrive and exit the venue on time as per their allotted training session time slot
    • have their equipment ready and on their person (i.e. quiver with arrows on, bow in hand)

Competition

Summary of Do’s and Don’ts

  1. Mass congregation should be limited during the event (e.g. maintain social distance and/or stick to your pod at ‘shot-gun’ start, lunch stop or awards)
  2. Food/drinks can be provided where there is space for people to maintain social distance
  3. Communal facilities such as chairs, tables, refreshments area, W/C must be cleaned before and after each use
  4. Reduce the risk of community transmission by:
    1. following Public Health Advice to prevent the spread of Covid-19
    1. pulling only your arrows and not touching other people’s equipment
    1. using your hip/knee/shoulder instead of your hand to brace a target when pulling arrows
    1. signing scorecards singly (i.e. scorer A and scorer B sign their cards only, multiple signatures from the other scorer and the archer not needed)

Official Links

All activities held under the auspices of IFAF will be subject to local, regional and national Government guidelines.

For full details of Government.ie guidelines go to:

For full details of NIDirect.gov.uk guidelines go to: