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The Polarettes Gymnastics Club, under strict COVID-19 measures, will be the first gym in Canada to unlock their doors to athletes beginning next Tuesday.

Polarettes head coach Kimberly Jones said there is excitement around the club about reopening the gym.

鈥淲e are pretty stoked,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淲e were really talking about being closed all summer. I don鈥檛 really know what changed but we realized if we got our ducks in a row, we could open.

鈥淥riginally, we had closed not because the Yukon mandated us to close but because our insurance company told us that we had to close.鈥�

Being insured by Gymnastics BC, Jones had to show that the Yukon could operate as its own entity.

鈥淚 worked really hard on this plan to prove to the insurance company that we would be able to open,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淵ukon is doing quite well with COVID and we got approval. Later that day, Yukon Health called me to confirm we got the go-ahead.鈥�

To date, the Yukon has had 11 confirmed cases but all are recovered. A total of 1,112 people have been tested with 25 pending results, according to yukon.ca.

Jones said the club is using a three-phased approach to reopen the facility. It will start with competitive team gymnastics, over the age of 10. The gym will only allow in six athletes plus two coaches.

To maintain physical distancing, the athletes will be training in basic gymnastics and fitness only, so the coaches do not need to spot.

鈥淲e have 30 really intense competitive kids and about 60 competitive kids in total. They train about 20 hours a week so the gym is really a part of their home,鈥� said Jones.

鈥淲e are opening to them first because they have such a broad gymnastics background that we can give them huge programs to do without needing to spot them. With beginners, you need to take a more hands-on as a coach, which of course would break physical distancing.鈥�

Phase two will tentatively see competitive athletes over age eight return on June 1, with six athletes and basic training and fitness.

Phase three is slated for June 15 for recreational gymnasts over age eight and all competitive gymnasts.

Before an athlete is allowed in the gym, they will be required to do a pre-screening assessment with their parents.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a questionnaire and it鈥檚 the same one Yukon Health put out for childcare facilities,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淲e decided that was really relevant to our facilities. There is a checklist that parents have to follow. They have to check in and make sure their child isn鈥檛 feeling any symptoms and doesn鈥檛 answer yes to those questions or anyone in their family.鈥�

The Polarettes currently have one other coach on staff. Jones said they will also be taking the assessment before going to work each day.

When athletes enter the gym, they will be met by one of the coaches to ensure they follow the proper protocol.

鈥淎s soon as someone enters the gym, they will be greeted by one of our coaches and asked to sanitize their hands,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淭hey will then be directed upstairs where there are cubbies to put their things and a sink to wash their hands before entering the gym.鈥�

To ensure the gym doesn鈥檛 reach the occupancy limit, Jones said, athletes will have to wait outside before they can enter.

鈥淲e are going to ask them to show up five minutes before practice and when possible dressed and ready to go with the least amount of belongings possible,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淚t鈥檚 going to have to be pretty much a clockwork system of people coming and leaving.鈥�

Between sessions, Jones said, the coaches will be cleaning and sanitizing the equipment.

鈥淥ur coaches are going to be cleaning high-contact surfaces after each round of kids. The equipment will be cleaned and sanitized before the next wave of kids come in,鈥� said Jones. 鈥淪ome areas of the gym will be closed. The foam pit will be closed and the rope swing, just things that are really porous and hard to sanitize on a large scale.鈥�

Before COVID-19, the club employed cleaners to come in after training was done for the day. Jones said they will be rehired.

鈥淎fter each day that we practise, that will be happening,鈥� said Jones.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big job to do the gym. It was always cleaned every night before COVID.鈥�

The Polarettes鈥� opening policy can be found on the website. Jones said it has been reviewed by Yukon Health, Gymnastics Canada and the club鈥檚 board of directors.

Even though the club wasn鈥檛 required to be shuttered by Yukon Health, Jones said it was important to their reopening efforts to have their backing.

鈥淲e really wanted Yukon Health鈥檚 support and they told us they thought our plan was excellent and will let us know if anything changes along the line,鈥� said Jones.

鈥淲e will continue to watch the COVID-19 Yukon website. We are always checking that to make sure we are staying within the rules and keeping our community safe. If we have to, we will revert our plan back.鈥�

From a gymnastics perspective, Jones said, the athletes are getting excited to get back to training - away from their ZOOMworkouts.

鈥淲e鈥檝e still been doing the online workouts, but I think everyone is getting a little ZOOMed out,鈥� said Jones.

Now, because the club will have to stagger sessions, the athletes will be getting about six hours of training a week.

Jones said working with six athletes is a great opportunity for the athletes; however, it isn鈥檛 feasible for the club long term.

鈥淕roups of six from a training perspective is fantastic,鈥� said Jones.

鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a gymnastics coach鈥檚 dream to have groups of six because we can give them so much attention.

鈥淚n terms of feasibility, it鈥檚 not great for the club. Financially, we鈥檝e taken a huge hit having to cancel our spring session. It鈥檚 going to be a struggle to only have six kids per group, but six kids in that facility per hour is really low numbers. We usually have 30-70 kids in the gym per hour. It鈥檚 going to be way different.鈥�

Jones said the gymnasts have been out of the gym for 60 days, and it will take double that to get them back where they need to be.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 why we are planning a phased approach,鈥� said Jones.