STAGE 3 OF THE PROVINCE OF ONTARIO'S REOPENING FRAMEWORK - WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR TUC?

On Monday, July 13th, 2020, Premier Doug Ford announced that regions of Ontario would begin to enter Stage 3 as of Friday, July 17th, 2020 of the Province of Ontario's Reopening Framework. Further to that, Premier Ford, on Monday, July 20th, 2020, announced that all regions except Toronto, Peel and Windsor-Essex would enter Stage 3 on Friday, July 24th, 2020.  

While Toronto remains in Stage 2, we anticipate that we will enter Stage 3 in the coming week(s), and we wanted to share what that means for the Toronto Ultimate Club.

Over the last few weeks, TUC leadership and staff have:

• Worked and liaised with other Sports Organizations (Ultimate Canada, Ontario Ultimate, OCUA, UGM, and other provincial and local sports organizations) on Return to Play Rule Modifications for Stage 3.
• Drafted TUC's COVID-19 Return to Play Rule Modifications. You can read the full document here.   
• Published TUC's Safe Return to Play - COVID-19 Guidelines. You can access the working document here.  

When we enter Stage 3 and permits are approved, all TUC events (training, clinics, games, etc.) must follow the approved Safe Return to Play guidelines.

Some Key Updates from the Province’s Stage 2 to Stage 3 Reopening Framework’s Guidelines:

• Amateur and recreational sports leagues may resume so long as they do not allow prolonged or deliberate physical contact between players or if they have modifications to avoid physical contact between players.
• Leagues must contain no more than 50 participants in total. If the number of participants exceeds 50, the league can divide into smaller groups (cohorts/pods) of no more than 50 people.
• Additionally, players are not permitted to play against players outside of their league or group of 50.
• Spectators are permitted and are subject to the mass gathering limits, maintain 2 metres (6 feet) physical distancing from other spectators and the participants.  

With the above considerations, TUC's goal is to have a 4-week season commencing in August, with potentially an exhibition game before season start (dependent on when Toronto enters Stage 3, and when permits are issued). 

To ensure we adhere to cohorts/groups of 50 participants or less:

• For our Adult leagues, TUC will be creating divisions of 4 teams, and teams will have a maximum roster size of 12.  
• For our Junior leagues (leagues with gameplay), athlete numbers will be limited to 45 athletes.
• For our development (clinics/junior instructional) program, athlete numbers will be capped at 20 to 30 athletes.

Adult Summer League Registrations are open for both teams and individuals. Check out our 2020 Summer League Page for more information and to register.  

Once TUC gets the go-ahead from our permit providers and the appropriate municipal authorities, we will communicate out the start dates of our Summer Leagues and Programs to you, our members!