Author: Don Karges

Schedule Change

Don Karges Announcements

The court schedule has been updated. The changes s are based on how the club facility  has been used over the past few weeks and feedback that we have received from members.  Of course government and health direction,   guide all of our decisions.

The changes that we are implementing are based on the following:

  • Many members remain cautious about returning to inside sport play.   Therefore very few “open play” reservations have taken place.  When they did, there was often only one person reserving for one of the 8 time slots.  In response, we have reduced the number of open play time slots.  We are hoping that with fewer open play options,  the likelihood of multiple members reserving to play might improve.
  • We have increased court reservations to 2 hours.
  • Badminton players are utilizing the courts much more than Pickleball players.  We assume that this is due to two factors.  The first is that many of our members are using the public out door Pickleball facility and secondly that Pickleball singles play is not for everyone. 

The new schedule is posted below and on the WBC web site.

In response to member requests, we are implementing one other change.

Many court reservation time slots are not booked.  Badminton players have asked if they can utilize Pickleball time slots when there are no reservations for that time slot.   In the spirit of utilizing the club as much as possible, we will permit a badminton player to book a Pickleball time slot.  However, if a Pickleball player shows up for that time slot (last minute reservation) , badminton play must stop in favour of Pickleball.  Of course the reverse is true for Pickleball players wanting to reserve a badminton court time slots.  Therefore it is important that you reserve ahead.  

Interim Weekly Group Play Schedule

Don Karges General

The government has relaxed the social distancing rules for Oxford County.  This in turn allows the club to relax its rules as well.

The first relaxation of our WBC phase one rules will take place on Sunday June 14th.

The relaxation will now permit:

  • Scheduled group court play
  • All 4 courts can be used.

All other rules and restrictions remain in place including singles play only.

WBC must still manage the number of players that are using the facility at any given time.  Therefore the reservation application on the web site will continue to be used to reserve courts and now to reserve a player’s spot for open group play.

Since we are only allowing up to 8 players in a given time slot, we have scheduled open group court time more often throughout the week than in normal times.  Bolded time slots are the primary play times each week with the others acting as an overflow. The schedule can be found here.

Reserving a spot for open group time is easy. Go to the WBC web site and select Badminton or Pickleball Group Play, select the date and time slot and then click on “Reserve”.  An email will be sent to confirm your selection.

When reserving the available time slots, the web site displays the number or remaining spots available. Therefore if the site is displaying “6” then you know that two people have signed up for this time slot and there is room for 6 more players.

Members may still reserve court via the reservation menu item web site when open group sessions are not scheduled.

Scheduling rules have been updated as follows:

  • When the club reopens, the club will be open for member play 5 days a week Sunday – Thursday).   (This limitation is driven by the availability of staff to do daily sanitization.)
  • Game play is restricted to 2 persons per court (singles play only). No spectators are allowed. 
  • Only members can reserve a court. Appointments are via the Court Reservation tool on the WBC web site. 
  • An email will be sent to the member reserving a position in group play or a court.  The email will include a link that will enable the reservation to be cancelled.  Please cancel if you are unable utilize your reservation.

WBC Re-opening

Don Karges Announcements, COVID-19

We are opening on June 10th 2020, however it will not be business as usual!

WBC has put processes and guidelines in place for preventing and managing the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) at WBC.   These guidelines are based on input from several sources including Badminton Ontario and the South-West Health Public Health.

The foremost objective of the WBC for re-opening plan is to reduce the chance of COVID-19 spread by social distancing and sanitizing.

WBC Phased Opening

WBC will re-open in a responsible and safe manner.  Thus, we plan to re-open cautiously and over time relax the restrictions in an incremental (phased) approach.  The guidelines and protocols have been distributed members via email.  Based on guidelines from government and health organizations we will relax restrictions to make the club more accessible as we return to normal operations.

Upon re-opening, we will be minimizing the number of persons at the club facility to no more than 5 at a time.  We have incorporated an online booking process for court reservations that is located on the WBC website. Only 2 courts will be available for booking a 75-minute session from 6am to 12 Midnight from Sunday to Thursday (Fridays will be closed for sanitizing and Saturdays available for private lessons). Only singles play will be allowed in this phase.  Members only will be allowed to reserve courts.  Non members will not be allowed as we want to avoid the use of cash in this phase. As government regulations relax and health guidelines change, we want to further open access to the club. 

Relaxation of some limitations and restrictions that are expected shortly.

COVID-19 Update

Don Karges COVID-19

On May14th the Provincial government announced a relaxation of restrictions on recreational activities within the province. The restrictions however do not apply to WBC.   

The announcement permits recreational outside facilities to open.   Facilities with a club house are not yet permitted to open.  The Provincial announcement did also permit some competitive sport activities to open indoors that are conducted by Provincial Sports Organizations with stringent “return to play protocols”.  Again WBC does not qualify under these provisions either.

What is obvious is that when we do first re-open, we will have to do so, under a set “return to play protocols” as well.   Therefore the Board has started looking at procedures being implemented in other organizations that we can potentially adopt for WBC.

The WBC Board of director’s will continue to monitor this situation and communicate to you via email and the web site when we see any changes that will trigger the club reopening.