Scottish Volleyball beach performance elite athletes made a welcome return to the sand this morning. We were recently granted a limited return to training under the Scottish Government elite athletes’ exemptions by the sportscotland Institute of Sport.
This will allow the athletes currently in the beach performance programme aiming toward Commonwealth Games qualification and their support staff to make a limited return to outdoor training. Rigorous safety procedures have been introduced and daily symptom tracking and venue entry protocols are in place to minimise the risk to our players, support staff and the wider public.
Two venues have so far been approved for use with safety plans, risk assessment and enhanced cleaning protocols in place, they are the newly opened inland court at Liberton High school and Portobello beach both managed by Edinburgh Beach Volleyball club. Work is undergoing to establish an approved venue in other areas of the country, and it is hoped that the in conjunction with the West Coast Beach Volleyball club a facility in the West is not too far away.
To allow this return to play Scottish Volleyball are delighted to announce the appointment of Doctor Nichola Osborne as the sports Chief Medical Officer. An internal performance operations team lead by sportscotland’s Ben Pipes will assist the newly appointed Performance Management Group in supporting the athletes on the performance programme.
Scottish Volleyball CEO Margaret Ann Fleming MBE “This is a huge step forward for our sport and I can’t overstate the level of work that has had to be completed to get to this stage and would like to formally thank Ben and the wider staff for the excellent work to get us to this stage and welcome Doctor Osbourne to the team. Athlete safety is obviously paramount to us but giving our players the best possible platform to qualify for next years Commonwealth Games in Birmingham is a key priority for our sport and gaining this exemption is certainly a step in the right direction”.
