Tier 4 question, how do they define elite sport?

[notevenat20]

I am trying to understand the tier 4 rules for DCs sport. I think it says that under 18 outdoors sport is ok but that's sadly unlikely mid winter. It also seems to say that under 18 elite sport is ok in general, unless I read it wrong. But what exactly is elite sport? Is training for the county team elite sport for example?

I would presume elite sport refers to those who play a sport for a living tbh.

I’m not sure you can just restrict it to people who earn a living from sport? What about Olympic potential athletes, a lot of whom are amateurs? Also people in their early 20s who aren’t quite professional level but are very close and aiming for that? They need to keep training so they don’t scupper their chances. I won the British championships in a sport once (a long time ago) and made the British team for the world championships but I was a long way from earning a living from it. It cost me money to compete!

From the guidance

For the purposes of this guidance the definition of an ‘elite athlete’ means a person who is:

an individual who derives a living from competing in a sport
a senior representative nominated by a relevant sporting body
a member of the senior training squad for a relevant sporting body, or
on an elite development pathway.
For these purposes, a “relevant sporting body” is the national governing body of a sport which may nominate athletes to represent either (a) Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Tokyo, or the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Beijing, or (b) England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man at the Commonwealth Games to be held in Birmingham in those sports which are not part of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games programme.

Eilte sport includes academy football for example. This was allowed to continue throughout the last lockdown, for all age groups (as young as 9).

I work for a governing body - our athletes are training as usual. We definitely is it as a lottery funded athlete, someone who is on our high performance programme, or someone who makes a living from the sport - lottery funding is means tested so a fair amount earn too much from their professional team or sponsors to be able to claim lottery grant. Our training venue is open for our athletes to train (socially distanced), but it’s not open to the public as it normally would be.

In tier 4 all organised outdoor sport for under 18s is ok, not just elite. And 18 year olds are included if they were 17 on 31 August which is a very useful loophole for my dc.

So I think outdoor sport ok if under 18s and organised.

Indoor sport only elite and not sure what you do if facilities are closed eg swimming pools or ice rinks.

Ok so it looks like for under 18s elite sport is loosely defined but probably doesn't include county level. So winter county cricket and tennis training seems out which is a terrible shame if true.