Hey 4-H Members, Leaders, and Parents!
GOOD NEWS! We have received a waiver to allow 4-H Shooting Sports practices to begin starting as early as this weekend! There will be a lot of guidelines in place for this to be able to happen. You will receive more information from your discipline leaders, but here are some overarching things that you will need to do/consider when attending.
Please read the following fully and carefully.
You must fill out an informed consent form and upload it to 4HOnline before you are eligible to attend practices. Download the 4-H member informed consent form here, and the 4-H leader form is here. Upload it into 4HOnline in the section that looks like the image pictured here:
There can be NO MORE than 50 people at each practice. You will use SignUpGenius to register for practices AT LEAST 24 HOURS BEFORE THE PRACTICE. Only directly participating 4-H members, guardians, and certified leaders should be at the scheduled activity. Guardians, siblings, family members, friends, and others not directly participating in the activities should not attend. A guardian will be required to be present for Shooting Sports and will be asked to observe from vehicles unless otherwise requested. If the parent/guardian wants to be with the youth member as they practice (out of their car and in the shooting area) they must also sign up as an Adult on SignUpGenius prior to the event and will be accounted for in our 50-person limited practice.
If you are experiencing any of the symptoms of COVID-19 or have had known contact with anyone with COVID-19 in the 14 days, do not come to practice. More information about the symptoms of COVID-19 can be found here.
Here are some of the key guidelines that will be in place: use of masks by members, leaders, and parents; hand sanitizing stations for use before, during, and after practice; separate entry and exit at facilities when possible; 6-foot physical distancing; discouragement of sharing equipment; sanitation of any equipment that must be shared between uses; and sanitation of high-touch surfaces at practices.
You will need to bring your own mask, and hand sanitizer if you have any! All members, leaders, and parents are highly encouraged to wear a mask during this activity. Some disciplines (archery and muzzleloader) will be able to take their masks off on the firing line only due to Shooting Sports safety reasons with the activity that necessitate it. Hand sanitizing stations will be available.
Keep the six-foot distance from others when at practices! Leaders and members will maintain at least six-foot spacing between participants whenever possible unless other safety aspects of the activity necessitate otherwise. Firing lines and ranges may be spread out more than normal to account for this. At times, 4-H Shooting Sports leaders may need to be within six feet of a member while on a firing line to help ensure safe muzzle control.
All participants should only handle their equipment. Shooters will have to bring their own equipment and any sharing of equipment is highly discouraged. Members can share within families though and if you are using county equipment it will be sanitized between uses.
Only directly participating 4-H members, guardians, and project leaders should be at the scheduled activity.
Be kind and considerate to the 4-H leaders, your fellow members, and 4-H families as we begin some face-to-face interactions. There are a lot of new guidelines in place so it will be a lot different than you may have experienced in the past. Please be patient and remember that we all truly care about everyone’s safety and are doing our best to ensure that. All the guidelines and procedures the 4-H leaders are given to abide by for practices are from CSU, the county health department, and our office. Therefore, they must be followed.
HAVE FUN! While it might not be “normal,” I hope you all still enjoy this time with your friends getting to do what you all love! Now is a great time to be able to practice and hone in on those skills you all work so hard to acquire!
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me! I am extremely excited that you all will be able to begin practicing in person again. Please be patient while waiting for additional dates and/or details as leaders plan for when your discipline might begin practicing again.
I hope you all have a great day!
Best,
Brittani Kirkland
