To whom it may concern,

We the undersigned have concerns regarding the 15 minute access to arenas/sporting facilities before the booking time (game or practice).   Many facilities tried the 15 minute access last year and this proved to be very difficult and unsuccessful.

Here are our concerns:

1. Participants and guests line up and corral outside as they wait for access to the facility. We have observed less social distancing, limited use of masks and horseplay in the parking lots (impossible to screen 60 to 100 participants and spectators in 15 minutes). 
2. As users enter the facility, they rush to get into a dressing room and people are actually in close contact has they panic to prepare for scheduled programing (15 minutes isn't enough time to get ready before the scheduled practice or game).
3. Programming setup - many volunteers cannot set up programming equipment and dress for training within 15 minutes.
4. Many facilities do not have enough dressing rooms to distance out accordingly.
5. In minor hockey - there are teams travelling from over an hour away. Having a child wear equipment in a car for an hour drive - play or practice for an hour -  then return back into the car sweaty and ride an hour back - this evokes other concerns related to health and safety.
6.  Many children leaving the arena in the cold winter months with wet hockey equipment on is not a good practice. My recommendation to you would be to lift the timeframes for access to sports facilities.  Allow more time to access facilities and stagger use of dressing rooms by 10 minutes.

Here are some suggestions:

• users can access sports facilities 45 minutes prior to the scheduled practice or game time.  But,  we limit the number of people in the dressing rooms (ex.: 6 to 8 players can enter at a time to get ready then come out into the hallway to allow another 6 to 8 players to enter the dressing room);
• sports facilities should be offering better hand sanitization stands and not tucking them away in a corner;
• mask enforcement needs to be increased (need more people walking around ensuring that spectators respect the rules);
• have more people working at the main entrance verifying that the participants and spectators have the proper papers and I.D. to enter the facilities (QR code and valid ID).

We, the undersigned, agree that measures to ensure the participants and spectators safety should be our priority during this pandemic.  We agree that our suggestions would allow for the safety, health and well-being of all without compromising the sport (game or practice).