P-05-1149 Resume team sports for children in line with England on March 29th 2021, Correspondence – Petitioner to Committee, 02.03.21

Dear Petitions, 

related to the petition I started in the subject of this message and in response to the letter from the Deputy Minister for Culture, Sport and Tourism I would like to make the following comments :

1. When will the government allow team sports to resume in Wales? England have announced outdoor organised sports will resume from March 29th - why are Wales not following suit?

2. If the government can not give a specific clear date to resume team sports for children, then please can they create a roadmap indicating what they hope to happen and when if of course certain targets are met with coronavirus cases, NHS and vaccinations roll out. Transparency from government is really important so the people of Wales can understand what is going to happen and when. People need information and are hoping as we move out of this lockdown that normal life can resume in a safe way as soon as possible.

3. Under 18s are the future sports talent of Wales and their growth and development is being severely hampered by being locked down. Sport needs to reopen outdoors in a covid safe way as soon as possible. It is simply not right that children are being stopped from developing in their chosen sports and they have missed so much development already over the last 12 months.

4. If schools are able to open securely then surely outdoor sports should open too? even if this is done gradually like Kirsty Williams is suggesting with secondary schools. Please provide evidence to prove why outdoor sports can not open at the same time as school's face to face learning.

5. Many children have to travel to play sports in Wales and are members of clubs that are more than 5 miles from their home. Again if the stay at home rule changes to stay local, please could the government try and move past the stay local rule as swiftly as possible so children can participate with their clubs should they be further than 5 miles from their home. If this isn’t possible then please can you provide evidence why tourism may be potentially opening for Easter? Is this going to allow English residents to cross the border and travel into Wales / are Welsh residents able to take a ‘holiday’ but otherwise have to stay local? It doesn’t seem to marry up I’m afraid.

Thank you very much. Those are my only comments for now.

I hope sincerely that the government will consider the mental and physical health of children and allow them to resume team sports asap.

Kind regards,