The primary focus of every PennQuest tournament will be the health and safety of all who attend. Regardless of how dangerous we may or may not consider this virus to be to healthy individuals- the simple fact is that if we want schools to allow us to run public events at the present time, EXTRAORDINARY steps must be taken to show that we have made every effort to go about and beyond compliance with CDC guidelines. We truly apologize for any inconvenience or quite frankly aggravation these new changes create- please be advised that we are only adopting them as the alternative is not having tournaments.
Upon entering, all tournament entrants, coaches, parents and other spectators will have their temperature checked prior to Registering. Anyone with a temperature of over 100.4 degrees (temperature established by the CDC) will be barred from entering the tournament. At the time of entrance, we will screen all Tournament patrons with a questionnaire (known as the “Entrance Evaluation Tracker”) regarding whether they have been feeling sick, and/or in contact within the previous two weeks with someone who may be infected with Co-Vid 19. Anyone who has been in contact with an infected person or sick themselves will be denied entrance to the event.
It is mandatory that all tournament attendees fill out their entry form at home before arriving for the event. The purpose of this is that there will be no sharing of pens by the public.
Social Distancing
The single greatest challenge will be maintaining social distancing. However, there is a simple and virtually bulletproof way to ensure this happens to the greatest extent possible- the staggered start time. While our events have had a split start time with two sessions in the past, PennQuest Tournaments will now have FIVE start time times- with each session completing before the next one starts. Five session times means that the event will be at only 20% capacity at any given time. This will allow us to maintain social distancing both in the gymnasium and during the registration and weigh in processes.
Safety Protocol in the Gymnasium
All who attend the tournament will be required to wear masks- including officials, staff, wrestlers, coaches and parents. The exception of course will be wrestlers during their matches.
Parents and wrestlers will be asked to maintain social distancing throughout the event. This will be made easier by the fact that the crowd size will be at approximately 20% capacity throughout the tournament due to the new five session format.
Coaches will be required to purchase Coach’s Bands for our events. Nobody without a coach’s band will be allowed in the mat area. The purpose of this is to prevent crowding on the mats which would be the greatest challenge to social distancing. Thus, everyone but the coaches will be in the stands. Every mat will have two chairs in each corner so as to discourage non-coaches from crowding onto the mat.
To make sure that tournament goers do not come break social distancing accidentally, we will establish a system of traffic flow that requires everyone to walk “clockwise” throughout the gymnasium to get to their location mat. All wrestlers will stay on the same mat for the entire tournament.
Between each session, mats will be mopped with a disinfectant geared toward killing CoVid-19. Wrestlers will not shake hands at the start of their bouts- but bump elbows instead (as is the new practice at international wrestling events).
This safety plan is still a work in progress, as the months progress and new ideas are formed and information becomes available, we will add to the current plan. PennQuest Staff will attend large capacity wrestling tournaments and public events in the interim so as to generate new ideas to add to this safety protocol.