How we Cover Live-Action Gym Meets in the Covid Era.
For months last year, we prepared to safely photograph meets when they resumed. With the surging infections from the Covid-19 Delta Variant, Sports Photos USA remains committed to staying safe at meets. Most of our interaction with parents will be contactless. Our prime directive at meets will be to capture the best images we can in the safest manner possible. There will be We will have contactless ordering at the meets we cover and contactless electronic delivery of those orders. Physical products (Paintings, Posters, Blankets, T-shirts, etc.), will be drop-shipped from our labs directly to the person ordering.
Here are the key points of our health safety system:
1. Masks -- Everyone on the SPUSA team will wear a mask which covers both mouth and nose at each meet. We will have very little close contact with anyone at the meet.
2. Self-Directed Image Previews -- We have developed a way to automate previews of your athlete's images. You can visit our booth, sit in front of a preview screen, and in three steps be viewing the images of your gymnast. 1. Select the session number, 2. select your team, and 3. select your gymnast, --VOILA-- the images of your gymnast will play for you automatically. We will, however, be available to help in case of problems.
3. Communicating with us at the meet -- If you have questions, you will be able to text us during a meet. That text number will only be monitored during the meet. At any other time, you should visit the main website and click "Contact Us" to send me a message. "Contact Us" messages come directly to my inbox. I will try to reply to emails within 48 hours.
We would love to sell you awesome images of your gymnast, but we will NOT compromise safety to do that. We want to keep your gymnast, you, and us safe at meets. We will not be shaking hands or standing around making idle chit-chat this year. We want to be able to make it through the season. Being unable to cover meets for several weeks by contracting the coronavirus would not only affect me and my team, but also the hundreds of gymnasts who will be at those meets.
4. Equipment and workstation disinfection -- We will disinfect all equipment as we enter the gym . Each photographer will be the only person to handle his or her own equipment. Our equipment will be disinfected between each session.
5. Work Area -- Our image management work area will NOT be publicly accessible. We will have three image preview monitors on the public side of our booth for your use. Please use hand sanitizer after touching the screens or using the mouse at the booth.
6. Ordering information -- A meet information flyer will be available to you as you enter the meet. It will contain the BASIC instructions for communicating with me and ordering at the meet as well as a link to the meet information webpage. The meet information webpage will contain COMPREHENSIVE instructions for ordering. Ordering must be completed on your phone or other internet connected device at the meet. The order system for a meet will be open for 30 days after the meet. At-the-meet discounts will end at midnight on Sunday following the close of the meet. There can be no extensions of that deadline.
8. Failsafe -- In the highly unlikely event of some emergency requiring us to speak face-to-face, such a conversation CAN take place if both of us (and anyone else who is a necessary party to the conversation) properly wear masks and physically distance from each other. If any person necessary for that conversation can't wear a mask fully covering their mouth and nose and physically distance from each other in that situation, or you choose not to, we will NOT be able to have that conversation regardless of the emergency.
#MeetPhotosSafelySPUSA