After a few weeks off to relax and spend time with our families to recover after a long and disrupted 2021 season our teams are now well and truly back into training with our sights set on a strong 2022 season. However, the safety of our players, staff and their families is of utmost importance to the Bears and thus we return with new processes in place. For 2022 we have implemented club-wide guidelines regarding covid-safety, covid awareness and also return-to-play and train post-covid protocols for our players and staff. “Ensuring our teams are able to continue to thrive in the current environment is essential as we head towards the start of the new season” stated Bears CEO, Gareth Holmes.

The advice from the Department of Sport and NSWRL regarding covid guidelines is still being adapted to the new highly transmissible Omicron strain, “Until we receive further advice from the league, we have developed our own guidelines to protect our players and staff as best as possible” said Gareth. This includes working closely with the Club doctor, Dr Robert Laidlaw, to ensure we have Rapid Antigen Tests available for all teams, working with the most recent health advise and implementing strict guidelines regarding monitoring covid symptoms and test results. Our physiotherapy partner, St Leonards Physio, are working tirelessly to establish best practices for our players to return to play in a way that allows their bodies the recovery required post virus.

We also caught up with Club Coach and NSW Cup Head Coach, Jason Taylor, to find out how the teams are doing. “Training has commenced and we are in our second week post-Christmas. Covid has slowed things a lot, but we are slowly getting numbers back and will be ready for our NSW Cup trials in February and also the start of the Junior Representative comps for our younger teams.” stated Jason.

Image Credit: Ian Reilly