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OAWA February 2021 General Mailing
Greetings from the Ontario Amateur Wrestling Association! This mailing is being sent to all 2020 OAWA registered athletes, officials, coaches and others for a wider distribution to make everyone aware of the items presented.
To all members of the Ontario Wrestling Community, the OAWA hopes you and your families are doing well despite the pandemic. The OAWA is looking forward to a time when our lives will get back to (more) normal.
Return to Training and Competition
The OAWA acknowledges that not being able to host Provincial Championships like the Ontario Junior Championships, the Ontario Cadet and Juvenile Championships and other events that would have normally happened by now take place is hard. These events are important, and we are currently waiting to determine how we will return to competition. Will these events take place at another time and in another form in 2021? This is currently under consideration, and we are planning on your behalf. Right now, there are too many unknowns for us to be able to say what those plans will ultimately look like.
The OAWA continues to take its guidance from the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Culture, and Sport Industries as well as the Ministry of Health. We continue to advise all clubs to take guidance from their local public health units on when they can re-open after lockdown and any limitations such as number of people in a facility.
All clubs must follow OAWA protocols which are available on the OAWA web site. Clubs must apply for permission to return to training and follow guidelines. Clubs training without approval or not following guidelines risk the health of their members, and may be found to be in violation and subject to penalties by their local municipal enforcement agencies. Clubs training without OAWA approval also void their OAWA Member-Club insurance and are subject to Code of Conduct penalties.
Clubs who had applied for and received approval prior to the lockdown may return to training when permitted by Provincial and local public health units following the protocols they submitted to OAWA as part of their return to training applications. Clubs not previously approved can apply for approval by going to the following page on the OAWA web site and following the process:
https://www.oawa.ca/covid-19-resources
There is a list of currently approved clubs on the web site as well.
So, what is OAWA doing about return to competition?
Obviously, OAWA is waiting on guidance/permission from Provincial authorities. In the meantime, we have:
- Participated actively in discussions with other Combative Provincial Sport Organizations (Boxing, Jiu Jitsu, Karate, etc.).
- From these discussions, the group of sports has developed a general framework for return to Competition. This will be step-by-step process for how to return to normal training then competition once contact training and competition is allowed by the Government of Ontario. Note: there is currently an exemption to allow contact training for Olympic stream athletes – clubs should contact their local public health for guidance.
- This framework has been presented to staff at the Ontario Ministry of Heritage, Culture, and Sport Industries for feedback on how and when to present it to the Ministry of Health. We are waiting for a time when the MOH may be ready to accept these.
- From this general framework for Combative Sports, the OAWA will develop a wrestling specific set of guidelines – stages for training, return to full-contact training, when to re-introduce competition, also in stages.
- As the time draws closer to being able to formally make plans, we will consult with clubs and coaches across Ontario.
We know this is difficult, and we appreciate your patience through this. It’s difficult to watch other rogue groups not follow guidelines placing their members at risk of harm and themselves in violation of the law. We will not do that to our members.
We welcome your questions if you have them. Please e-mail pin-covid@oawa.ca if you have questions.
Last Call for Applicants – OAWA Diversity and Inclusion Committee
As a follow up to both the 2021-2026 OAWA Strategic Plan and the new by-Laws passed in September, the OAWA is working on developing more Committees to give members more chance to contribute to Ontario Wrestling. Watch for future calls for applicants for these committees on the OAWA web site. The first new Committee being staffed is the Diversity and Inclusion Committee.
OAWA is asking for applicants for this committee. Please apply by February 15, 2021. For more information, including Committee Terms of Reference and how to apply, please visit the Call for Applicants on the OAWA Web site at:
CALL FOR APPLICANTS – DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION COMMITTEE
Note: Applicants are not required to be currently registered with the OAWA. Applicants chosen to form the committee will be asked to join OAWA.
Membership Renewal:
The OAWA Board of Directors on Saturday January 9, 2021 voted unanimously to endorse the following measures for the 2021 Membership Year. Due to the pandemic and the resulting shutdown, we appreciate that 2020 registered participants did not get an opportunity to gain a full year of OAWA member benefits.
Clubs, Coaches and athletes are encouraged to renew their membership for 2021 to ensure they continue to receive membership benefits, continue their OAWA insurance coverage, and to ensure they don't lapse on some qualification requirements such as Safe Sport requirements and so on.
In addition, it is important to understand that to continue to be eligible to participate in any Club programs, including on-line training, return to training once government COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease or be lifted, and to participate in any full-on training or competition later in the year once return to competition is allowed, ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST BE REGISTERED WITH THE OAWA FOR 2021!
As a thank you to our members for your continued membership and support, the OAWA will do the following:
- All Coaches registered in 2020 may renew their membership for 2021 FREE of charge. Coaches not registered in 2020 who wish to register for 2021 will pay $25.00.
- All Officials registered in 2020 may renew their membership for 2021 FREE of charge. Officials not registered in 2020 who wish to register for 2021 will pay $25.00.
- All other participants including athletes and supporters registering for 2021 will pay $25.00.
IMPORTANT NOTE: In order to receive these discounted rates, and to continue your membership benefits, coverage, and qualifications, ALL PARTICIPANTS MUST COMPLETE THE 2021 OAWA MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION FORM.
To Register, go to the OAWA Membership Registration page by clicking HERE
2022 Ontario Cadet and Juvenile Championships – CALL FOR HOST CLUBS
At the 2020 OAWA AGM, the member-clubs attending directed the Board of Directors of the OAWA to look into hosting for the 2022 Ontario Cadet/Juvenile Championships.
The OAWA has secured the Markham Pan Am Centre as the host location for the event. We are very excited about hosting our Provincials in this great facility.
We are calling for interest from clubs to act as the host club for this event, handling the logistics of hosting of the event (venue set up, volunteers, etc.).
Interested clubs should e-mail Tim MaGarrey at admin@oawa.ca by March 15, 2021 to express interest in hosting or to ask questions.
Again, the OAWA thanks you for your continued support through these tough times. Like you, we look forward to a time when we can return to Wrestling.
We invite you to check in regularly at www.oawa.ca for updates and wrestling news!
Stay safe.
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