Just For The Fun Of It

We are pleased to let you know about two significant donations made to our basketball league recently. The first is from the family of the late Estelle Rutherford to thank John and Colleen Sutton for helping at her house, and the second is from the Crothers – Rutherford family for all the fun we gave their kids long ago. We want to thank John and Colleen Sutton for asking that a donation be made to our program, and to Estelle Rutherford’s family, Gord Crothers and Liz Rutherford for believing in what we do to help the children in our community. Your donation is very much appreciated and we want you to know you all have made a difference in the lives of our league families.

Below you will find a press release issued October 4 by the KFL&A Health Unit. Let me summarize as it pertains to our program, if and when we resume play.

ALL coaches , volunteers and officials MUST be fully vaccinated against COVID 19 and MUST show proof of their vaccination status prior to participating.

In addition to this requirement, we will be requiring that anyone entering the places where we play. or participating in league activities, must also be fully vaccinated and show proof of such. For players, at this point in time it will apply to all those 12 years of age or older. If vaccination is available for the balance of our age groups in the coming months, proof of vaccination for them will also be required.

As with the Health Unit requirements, we have made this decision in the best interests of the public and our league families. Once we know return to play status we will share with you additional information about our safety plan. RB

Here is the Press Release

“Kingston – Today, Dr. Hugh Guan, Acting Medical Officer of Health at KFL&A Public Health issued a Letter of Instruction pursuant to Section 2 (2.1) of Schedule 1 of Ontario Regulation 364/20: Rules for Areas at Step 3 and at the Roadmap Exit Stepto enforce required proof of vaccination for volunteers, coaches, and officials participating or associated with indoor organized sports and recreation activities, effective 12:01 a.m. on October 5, 2021. Organized sports are defined as sports and recreation activities including, but not limited to, sports leagues, organized pick-up sports, dance classes, gymnastics, martial arts, and swimming classes, or as otherwise described in the Ministry of Health’s proof of vaccination guidance for businesses and organizations under the Reopening Ontario Act, 2020.
“Indoor sports and recreation activities have the potential to increase COVID-19 transmission especially when participants remove their mask during activity,” said Dr. Hugh Guan. “This letter of instruction adds another layer of protection to decrease any exposure to COVID-19 for volunteers, coaches, and officials who are in close and prolonged contact with participants.”

Indoor sports and recreation activities may facilitate all five risk factors for COVID-19 transmission which include: close contact, closed spaces, crowded places, prolonged exposure, and forceful exhalation. The new provincial proof of vaccination requirements have exempted certain participants of organized sports, including volunteers, coaches and officials. Given that these individuals are necessary for the operation of organized sport and will have close and prolonged contact with participants, these instructions for proof of vaccination requirement will protect them and decrease risk of COVID-19 exposures in our community.

The Letter of Instruction is effective as of 12:01 a.m. on October 5, 2021 and will remain in effect until such time as the Medical Officer of Health determines it is no longer required. Individuals who do not comply with this Letter of Instruction may be liable for a fine up to a maximum of $100,000.

To learn more about COVID-19, how you can protect yourself and what to do if you suspect you may be at risk, visit kflaph.ca/Coronavirus or Ontario’s website to learn more about how the province continues to protect Ontarians from COVID-19.”

We have received several inquiries in the recent days about registration for the season and when we will start play. Nothing has changed since our last update. Currently the school board is not allowing any Community Use of Schools and we fully respect that decision. They have said that this decision will be reviewed later in the fall. We will advise everyone of our plans once that decision is made, whichever way the decision falls. There will be no registration until we know we can play.

Until then, get vaccinated if you have not yet done so, mask up, wash your hands frequently and socially distance. The best way to get back on the court is to stop the spread.

In order to ensure the safety of students, staff, and members of the community, the Algonquin and Lakeshore Catholic District School Board has made the decision to temporarily postpone Community Use of Schools bookings, and will reassess their position later this fall. As a result, we will defer the start of our league activity until such time that Community Use of Schools is allowed again. We fully understand and support the decision made by the board leadership, and we will continue to work with them to ensure a safe environment for the schools, our players, and their families in the future. We will post updates as they become available and we remain committed to getting players back on the court as soon as we can.

We have been asked to post the following announcement from the family of Don Petersen. Congratulations Ben!

“Congratulations Ben Sagriff, this years recipient of the 2021 Don “Pete” Peterson Spirit Memorial Award😊
Faith, family, and friends have always been the backbone of Ben’s life, a positive influence to all who surround him. Pete would be so proud!
Ben’s future finds him ready and willing to take on his next adventure in the Fitness and Health Promotion Program in Kingston at St. Lawrence College in the fall. Good luck with your endeavour… continue to work hard and enjoy life’s precious moments!”

Last week the family of Hilda Walker asked that donations in her memory could be made to St. John’s Church, or to our basketball league. We want to thank the Walker family for believing in what we do for the children in the community in keeping the dream of Hilda’s brother Don Petersen alive. While we will respect the privacy of the donors by not disclosing the amount of the individual donations, we will, in the days ahead, post the names of all those that made donations in Hilda’s memory to the league, and a total dollar amount received. Until then, we want to thank all of the donors as well for believing in us and our program.

Yesterday we received a very generous donation to the league from the Bergeron / Clifford law office in memory of Bruce Sheen. Bruce’s wife Shelley works at the office. We want to thank them all for believing in what we do for the children in our community. Please know that we remain committed to helping children learn the joy of playing the game that Bruce loved so much. The smiles he always had will live on in the smiles of the children in our league.

We have been getting a number of inquiries recently about the status of the upcoming season, so we have decided to let you know facts as we know them over the next few weeks.

We have submitted requests to the ALCDSB for gym time at the schools where we play for the upcoming season. At this point no decision has yet been made regarding Community Use of Schools for the upcoming school year.

Registration is planned for Saturday September 11, but that of course is dependant on all of the other factors listed here and could well need to be pushed out. Details of divisions and ages can be found on our web site (www.justforthefunofit.ca) under the EVENTS tab.

Ontario Basketball is currently in Phase 2 of their Return To Play Guidelines which state:
*Outdoor sports training may continue without contact, there is no limit on the number of participants as long as physical distancing can be maintained
*Spectators are permitted at 25% capacity
*Sessions may only be training for team members – No games or scrimmages permitted in Step Two.
*Indoor use closed except for high-performance athletes and day camps or overnight camps
Under these guidelines we would not start playing

We will continue to monitor the Provincial reopening guidelines as we move through the reopening process in the next few weeks.

We will also continue to follow what directions are coming from the KFL&A Health Unit as well to understand special requirements that may need to be in place for a restart of our program.

As an executive, we plan to meet regularly throughout the summer, and we are sure that you can appreciate how “fluid” things will be in the time between now and September. We do want you to know this – we are committed to doing everything we can to operate, and we will always do that in the way that provides the safest environment possible for our players, volunteers and their families. RB

I am sad to report that Bridget Walker-Payne’s mother Hilda has passed away. We will post funeral details as they become available. Hilda was Don Petersen’s big sister and such a very important part of his life. Our condolences to Bridget and her siblings, and of course to Chris, on the loss of his mother in law, and to Carson and Calista on the loss of their grandmother. Last week Bridget posted that her grandparents created two very special people for the world to share when they had Hilda and Don. We could not agree more. Dealing with the loss of a family member is never easy, and even more difficult in the times we are continuing to live in now. May the many happy memories that you have of life with Hilda bring you peace. R

Yesterday we received a donation from the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame in memory of Bruce Sheen. Bruce coached with us when his playing career at St. Lawrence College finished, and he was inducted into the Kingston and District Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. We want to thank the KDSHF for believing in what we do, and we want to assure both the KDSHF Board of Directors and Bruce’s family that the donation will be put to good use teaching the next generation of children to love the game that Bruce loved so much himself.