Covid-19 Update#4

Dear Members of the Qld Water Polo Community,

I have seen many things in my time as a sports administrator but never in my time could I have imagined a situation quite like what we are currently facing with Covid-19.

Covid-19 has created a horrible situation for everyone. Many members of our water polo community in Queensland have already been impacted through changes to employment, social isolation, families and friends taken ill with the virus and widespread financial hardship. Our hearts and thoughts go out to everyone as we navigate one of the most challenging times in our recent history. It is during these tough times we must come together as a sporting community and support one another as best we can through this crisis. With increased social distancing regulations and a directive to stay home we must continue to stay active, engaged and connected in other ways. Please make an effort to check in regularly with family, friends and work mates via phone, facetime, social media, sms, email and mechanisms such as Skype, Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

STAY ACTIVE, ENGAGED & CONNECTED

Although all water polo competitions, training programs, events and activities have been suspended and most if not all pools are closed, there are still plenty of things we can do to stay engaged and connected to water polo and more importantly stay safe, healthy and active, particularly during the Easter and School holiday break.

We have been directed to stay at home, however, we can still stay physically, mentally and socially active but must do so whilst adhering to social distancing, hygiene measures and limiting our interactions with others to two people. With this in mind, Water Polo Australia in conjunction with the National athletes from the KAP7 Aussie Sharks and Aussie Stingers have been working hard on a series of 'at home' workouts, pool skills and cooking tips for the water polo community. With Australia in lockdown, it's important we all stay up-to-date, healthy and connected, and our National athletes have put their hand up to be at the forefront of this movement.

So get cool, and creative - whether it's in your own pool, the backyard or living room we'd love to see it. Make sure you tag @WaterPoloAus and #waterpoloathome. Please click on the link below to access the ‘Water polo at Home’ page on the WPA website.

https://www.waterpoloaustralia.com.au/get-involved/waterpoloathome/

COACHES, REFEREES & VOLUNTEERS

We have also developed opportunities for our Coaches, Referees and Volunteers to stay connected and engaged through the WPA Coach and Referee corner. So click on the link below to access some Coach and Referee videos, resources and updates.

WPA Coach and Referee Corner: https://www.facebook.com/groups/WPcoachandrefcorner/

Water Polo Queensland see it important to continue to connect with our members and volunteers, offering innovative ways to stay engaged in this wonderful sport. Water Polo Queensland would like to utilise this downtime from the sport effectively and see this as an opportune time to provide capacity building activities for Coaches and Referees. We also appreciate that there will be tough financial times ahead for many families and would like to offer anyone who would like to become an accredited coach or referee, or wish to upgrade to a higher level, the opportunity to do this at a discounted rate until end of June, 2020. For more information or to access these discount codes please click on the link below:

WPQ Coach and Referee Course Discount Offer https://www.waterpoloqld.com.au/news/wpq-coach-and-referee-discount-offer/

ASSOCIATION & CLUB SUPPORT

WPQ Staff are available during this period and continue to provide support to all Members, Associations and Clubs. Our skilled and experienced Staff are available to support your Association or Club in any way whether it be with accreditation development, planning, Revolutionise Sport Database or general support with any aspects of your organisations development.

WPQ would also like the convene a teleconference/remote meeting of all Association and Club representatives in the coming weeks. The purpose of this meeting will be to understand some of the biggest challenges you are facing and how WPQ may be able to assist. It will also be an opportunity to turn our focus to how and when we can resume community water polo across Qld. WPQ would like to understand how we can best assist Associations, Clubs and Members and what resources and support is required when we are able to jump back in the pool. As a sport we need to develop a recommencement strategy and it is important we do this in the most collaborative and consultative way, keeping in mind we may have different strategies for different areas across Qld. More information will be shared with you in the coming weeks.

Active Queensland Industry Alliance are offering eligible Clubs and organisations free confidential consultation with a qualified HR or Legal adviser, to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on your organisation. Know where you stand on contracts, hirings, payments and more. Please click on the following links for further information on how to access this free advice:

• Staffing and Employment Advice: https://www.aqia.org.au/hr/
• Legal Advice: https://www.aqia.org.au/legal/
• JobKeeper funding: https://treasury.gov.au/coronavirus/resources

Yesterday Sport & Recreation Services Queensland (SRSQ) held a teleconference and provided an outline of the 3 phase support package for sport that they intend to roll out over the course of the next weeks/months:

1. Phase One: Keeping Queenslanders Physically and Mentally Active – through digital platforms via Health and Wellbeing Qld. This content is designed to engage and re-engage people in physical activity. They plan to use leveraging tools and expertise from State Sporting Organisation’s (SSOs) and the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) to deliver content as well as use the ‘Stars’ from each sport. This initiative is designed to assist the capacity of SSOs to engage and re-engage with members.
2. Phase Two: Effective Short Term Measures to Support SSOs and Grassroots Sport – Designed to enable SSOs to be ready to re-engage after restrictions are lifted. SRSQ are working with Local Governments to review water, electricity and lease costs for local Clubs/Groups. They will look to continue capital works programs previously funded to complete projects ready for when sport resumes. Active Clubs funding recently allocated may be able to be re-purposed. These projects are designed to build organisational capacity and resilience.
3. Phase Three: Return to Play – post Covid-19 to support re-engagement through activations, events and working collaboratively with industry to plan and deliver programs, activities, competitions and events to get community sport back up and running.

WPQ STAFF & OFFICE

All WPQ Staff are currently operating from home and are working very hard to support the organisation and continue to engage with our key stakeholders including Members, Associations and Clubs, WPA, State Government, QAS, QSport and other State and Territory Associations.

Our sport like many other walks of life is not immune to Covid-19. It is very likely that in the coming week/s that we may need to scale down our operations to ensure we remain viable and sustainable and can bounce back when Covid-19 passes. We will continue to work with you and provide regular updates to as they come to hand.

Rest assured that WPQ continues to work on critical items, none more important than our financial position and business continuity. The WPQ Staff, Board and Finance, Audit, Risk and Management Committee are all working hard to plan and safeguard the future of water polo in Queensland and need your support as we work through some of the most challenging decisions in the organisations history.

In closing, we cannot underestimate the value and importance of sport in Queensland. Below is a great article that outlines the value and survival of sport and provides some interesting and valuable suggestions about how sport is adapting to Covid-19. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-survival-sport-imperative-society-mitigating-impact-watkins

On behalf of the Board and Staff of WPQ, we extend our best wishes to you and your families for an enjoyable Easter weekend. We will get through this so try to stay positive, active and connected. Please stay safe and healthy at home this Easter and School Holiday break.

Kind Regards,

Mel