by Keven Dubinsky | Sep 8, 2020 | Member News
While most of the events your club hosts likely fall under our Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance coverage, some events may require some additional due diligence in order be sanctioned.
External Venues Requiring COI
Most events or activities using external venues, such as fundraisers at conference centers or restaurants, or participating in physical training at a gymnastics club, will have the venue operator request a Certificate of Insurance (COI) which can take up to two weeks to obtain and cost $30. The form is easy to fill out and is available in our Registration / Insurance & Sanction files at https://bcalpine.com/files/Event_Files/Insurance_and_Sanction_Forms/.
Travel Outside of Canada
If traveling outside of Canada, groups or individuals must complete the Out of Country Training Sanction prior to departure to gain sanctioning for their trip. This form, like the request for COI also takes about two weeks to obtain
Is the activity approved?
Even if your event is in-country and doesn’t take place in a venue that requests a COI, other considerations still need to be addressed. BC clubs are reminded that prior to partaking in events that are not covered by the Alpine Canada / Canadian Snowsports Association pre-approved dryland training activities, they must first obtain verification from Ashlie at Alpine Canada via email to verify that the activity will be allowable under our CGL coverage. In the email request to Ashlie, please be sure to include specific details about the activity, when and where it will take place and who is conducting it.
At the time of writing this, the official list of CSA published acceptable dryland activities includes:
- Running
- Hiking
- Snowshoeing
- Swimming
- Paddle Boarding
- Canoeing / Kayaking (excluding white-water)
- Nordic walking and Nordic walking activities
- Roller-skiing: (helmets mandatory; wrists guards, pads recommended)
- only as a training activity that includes coach-organized and directed individual time trials
- Rollerblading
- Road cycling
- only as a training activity as prescribed by a coach or sports science regardless of the type of bike used in that activity
- Mountain biking (off the road “mountain biking” training activities)
- third party coverage ONLY which means that there is insurance coverage if the athlete runs into and is sued by a hiker on the trail
- NO second party coverage (there is no coverage when the athlete gets injured and sues the coach or another athlete for negligence in suggesting that the athlete train on that trail
- Recreational cycling (road bikes) is covered when done only as a supervised training activity in group.
- Organized games (i.e.. soccer, hill/track intervals, weight and resistance training properly supervised)
- Off-season glacier skiing as part of controlled training
- Back Country Skiing and Overnight Camping (requires specific CSA approval with designated leader with suitable qualifications)
Excluded activities:
- Recreational biking (mountain biking) of athletes/members (bike parks, etc. as individuals)
- Competitive biking (any type of bike) for events or time trials
- Mountain climbing / Rock climbing (considered a high risk activity)
- Waterskiing / Wakeboarding / Parasailing / White-water Canoeing/Kayaking
- Paintball
- Rock Climbing
If you have any questions about this or would like assistance, please contact Keven Dubinsky at kevend@bcalpine.com or 604-678-3074.
by Keven Dubinsky | Aug 25, 2020 | Member News
The BC Government and viaSport have announced a move to Phase 3 of the BC Return to Sport Plan in accordance with the B.C. Restart Plan.
The goal of this phase is to introduce more sport activities to our members in a way that prioritizes the safety of participants, staff, coaches, volunteers and the community. While sport is being able to advance, it is still important that the return of activities be done gradually. For our clubs advancing activities in Phase 3, a gradual approach has been recommended – slowly reintroducing activities allowing for flexibility while testing out safety measures and making other adjustments.
Clubs should still be implementing their own Return To Sport plan, following the guidelines set out at https://bcalpine.com/page/c19.
Sport Cohorts in Phase 3:
To allow for the introduction of new activities, sport cohorts will be introduced where physical distancing is not possible. A cohort is a group of participants who primarily interact with each other over an extended period of time and may contain up to 100 individual within them. At this time the cohort process could be useful both for larger clubs which will be sharing training areas between multiple groups but could also serve well for smaller clubs who may “cohort” with another regional team or group for summer training purposes. Going forward into our season, if we do not yet find ourselves in Phase 4, we may be implementing the cohort process as a method of organizing our racing programs.
Note: While cohorts may be groups of up to 100, it is still important to note that Provincial Health Office (PHO) Orders related to group gatherings are still in effect, limiting group numbers to 50 people at this time.
Additional Updates:
For contact tracing purposes, if sport organizations are not the owner or operator of the sport facility, they must provide the facility operator with the first and last names and telephone number, or email address of all participants. You can find the Ministerial Order here for more details.
Participating in sport means that individuals could come into contact with more people. It is important that each individual assess their risk tolerance and ensure they understand the safety plans that are in place. All participants should monitor their health daily and stay home if they don’t feel well or are displaying symptoms of COVID-19, with no exceptions.
Clubs and their members will need to be flexible to accommodate and respond to changes in the community, like outbreaks or mandates around masks. If you are unsure of restrictions within your community, contact your Regional Health Authority.
by Keven Dubinsky | Jul 6, 2020 | Member News
What are the costs and deadlines?
- Athlete passes will cost $ 614.25.
- Coaches passes will cost $ 1,228.50.
- Members must be registered with BC Alpine in the appropriate category by Aug 12, 2020.
- Clubs need to submit the list of athletes and coaches applying via the web submission found at https://bcalpine.com/reg/ by Aug 12, 2020.
- Athletes selected to receive passes will need to complete the online portion of the registration process, the links to which will be will be distributed to those who qualify.
Application Process:
- Eligible Athletes / Coaches: Please contact your club regarding their deadlines and application requirements. All dates listed in this article are based on when BC Alpine requires the paperwork from your club and they may require some lead time to compile the data on their side and send it in to us.
- Clubs: Clubs must submit all of their requests for passes directly through the BC Alpine Club Admin area. The link to the online form will be found under the “Registration” tab as shown in the preview below, and will only allow you to submit for members who are currently registered and eligible to apply. This should make the process much easier for most clubs and will give you an automatic total owing for the applications submitted.
by Keven Dubinsky | Jun 26, 2020 | Member News
All Commercial General Liability (CGL) insurance and Sport Accident Insurance Policy (SAIP) purchased during the 2019/2020 season will expire as of July 1st 2020. Because of this, all insurance must be renewed for anyone participating in summer programs on or before this date.
We are happy to report that all registration fees for the 2021 season are published at https://bcalpine.com/programFees/ with no changes to any category or insurance cost from the 2020 season.
Important Note: There has been a major change to the ACA Membership Registration Form and Release of Liability Waiver for this season and only this new waiver should be used for 2021 registrations. If anyone has already signed up in advance using the older versions of the waiver, please have them sign the new version as soon as possible.
The ACA 2020-2021 Membership Registration Form is now available
Download
View Online and all FIS forms can be found at https://bcalpine.com/files/Registration_Files/FIS_Registration/
by Keven Dubinsky | Jun 10, 2020 | Member News
Province takes action to support return to sport
British Columbians will be able to get back to playing sports sooner with the Province’s action to protect amateur sport organizations from COVID-19 liabilities, provided they are complying with public health orders and provincial sport guidelines.
Government has created a ministerial order that protects amateur sport organizations, their employees and volunteers from liability.
“We want to make sure children and their families can get the benefits of physical activity and get back to playing the sports they love,” said Lisa Beare, Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture. “Many sports organizations are run by volunteers who need to make sure they are protected for risks related to COVID-19. This order will help cover that risk so people can safely get back to playing sports sooner in their communities.”
Provincial and local sport organizations have identified challenges with obtaining adequate insurance as a result of the pandemic. Most insurance companies are not providing coverage for COVID-19 related damages, meaning many amateur sports were unable to provide sport programming during the pandemic.
The ministerial order protects amateur sport organizations and their representatives from damages resulting, directly or indirectly, from COVID-19 for amateur sports. For example, a sports organization or its representatives will not be liable for a participant in their sports program being exposed to COVID-19 as a result of participation. That liability protection would be in place as long as they follow applicable guidance, such as viaSport’s Return to Sport protocols and public-health guidance on how to prevent the spread of the virus. This guidance includes encouraging proper handwashing, regular disinfecting, limiting shared equipment, physical distancing measures and the use of wellness questionnaires and health self-assessment tools.
"We are thrilled that sport is making its return in the province. Today's announcement is welcome news for our partners in the amateur sport sector,” said Charlene Krepiakevich, CEO of viaSport. “This co-ordinated response to address concerns around volunteer and staff liability means that these not-for-profit organizations can focus on delivering safe, high-quality sport experiences for the people in their communities."
Quick Facts:
- There are 72 funded provincial sport organizations and 4,100 local sport organizations with over 800,000 youth and adult participants throughout B.C.
- ViaSport British Columbia is a not-for-profit organization created with the support of the provincial government in 2011 to lead the province’s sport sector to build a stronger, more effective system that brings more families to the field of play, more fans into the stands, more athletes to the podium and more sports events to the province.
Learn More:
To view the ministerial order, visit: http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/content/mo/mo/1115649140/?xsl=/templates/browse.xsl
For non-health related information, including financial, child care and education supports, travel, transportation and essential service information, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/Covid-19
Or call 1 888 COVID19 (1 888 268-4319) between 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. (Pacific time), seven days a week.
To view the list of the provincial health officer’s orders, visit: www.gov.bc.ca/phoguidance
To learn more about viaSport and the Return to Sport Guidelines, visit: https://www.viasport.ca/sites/default/files/ReturntoSportGuidelines.pdf
Read the official BC Government Release
