covid-safe Ultimate

[Cedric Puleston]

Hi all,

I am as eager as anyone to get back to playing, especially after the clock shift that normally signals a start to the Ultimate season in earnest, but I don’t think we are in a situation where we can resume regular play… yet. However, Cameron asked me to post the following message laying out some ground rules for a small and growing game as people get vaccinated. You can contact him at w.camero...@gmail.com to let him know you are interested.

Cameron’s message:

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To the larger Davis ultimate community,

Now that more and more people are getting vaccinated and Davis has such easily available testing, I would like to propose a framework to safely restart play.

Joining this game would require being two weeks out of your final vaccine dose and getting a test on Friday (results take a day). I also believe for that for everyone's peace of mind, players provide vaccine documentation at their first game and documentation of a negative test at every game. Testing is free in and easy in Davis (https://healthydavistogether.org/). We can designate one person to check documents/emails every week. I am willing to volunteer for that but we can rotate/elect someone else or whatever. My current feelings about masks after a vaccine and a negative test while playing outside are to leave that up to the individual. 

When I imagine how I would feel safe playing, this is what I came up with. I recognize that you may feel the same and some may feel different. Everyone is free to find or start other games that don't have these requirements. I'm writing to survey if anyone would be willing to go this route and restart regular play hopefully on Sundays at the same time. And while, personally, i'm also open to other ideas about the administration of the game, I'm not interested in discussion about what is safe in terms of vaccines and tests but am less sure about the necessity of masks for the game given the other requirements. If you are unwilling to get a vaccine or get a test, this game would simply not be for you.

I got my second shot about a week ago and am getting cautiously excited about playing again. I imagine it'll be small at first numbers-wise (maybe some mini) and we'll all be wheezing. It'll slowly grow to full games and, at some point, testing may not be as important but that is not where we are right now.

The pandemic only reinforced my appreciation for ultimate for both the body and mind and I look forward to hopefully seeing you soon on the field.

Cameron