During these unprecedented times due to COVID-19 health crisis we want to thank you for your continued support, patience and understanding as we work through some very challenging times in the Sports and Tourism Industry.
First off we would like to say a big THANK YOU to our team and event participants and families as sincerely about 98% of our customer base has been absolutely fantastic to deal with and have been very understanding of the challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of today, July 19th we continue to work with our strategic partners, local host facilities and Health units in regards to possible resumption of hockey events and things have been moving in the right direction. Interestingly enough while our friends in the US continue to struggle with COVID increases they have continued forward with normal hockey with events in Boston, New Hampshire, Chicago and others last weekend. Here in Ontario with the recent move to Phase 3 we will see on 4 on 4 and 3 on 3 hockey in August as long as conditions remain the same and we will be making final decisions on our August events and programming by Friday, July 24. After a long government mandated closure we are now back in the office but playing a bit of catch up so please feel free to reach out to us directly with any questions. Unfortunately COVID has devastated spring hockey this year so we have had to processed hundreds of tournament and participant refunds and/or credits for cancelled events. We are getting through all of them but again, please be patient as these all have to be done manually and individually so it is a tedious process which causes unavoidable delays based on workload but we anticipate being 100% caught up by end of the month.
While the situation remains fluid as government monitors current restrictions we will continue to provide the most up to date and accurate information as possible. Rest assured that the health and safety of our program and event participants and families are of paramount importance to us here at Draftday International Athletics so we will continue to closely monitor the COVID-19 opening guidelines as we are hopeful to be able to proceed with our August postponement dates albeit with some restrictions and guidelines. We expect to have more clarity and finalize decisions in the next 7-10 days.
We must say that while we certainly understand the anxiety and stresses that this virus has caused......, the supportive, positive and optimistic emails that we continued to receive along with the continued applications have been very uplifting and refreshing. Right from the beginning we received a steady stream of emails with the consistent message being how much everyone misses hockey and how much they cannot wait until they can get back on the ice....needless to say....we completely agree.
The challenges are complex but we at Draftday have a great deal of trust and confidence that together we will get through these trying times and we wish you safety and good health as we all navigate through these challenges.
All indicators are telling us that the Sports Industry will recover quickly as it is an important piece of most social and family lifestyle and well-being. We will continue to release additional statements on a weekly basis every Friday
Gregg Mann
President
Draftday International Athletics
