SPORT
NETBALL
Dear Netball Players and Families,
It was lovely to see many of you in action for our first round of netball! I don't know about you but it took a quarter to warm up and remember how to catch!
All coaches have been given procedures to follow as well as sanitising wipes and hand sanitiser. Please keep an eye on the Tamworth Netball Association Facebook, as they update procedures quicker than I can communicate with the St Nicholas players.
Belwo is the latest from Bec McKenzie, who has been ensuring that we are COVID safe and is one of the many responsible for getting TNA back this term.
Emma Elliott
Good morning!
Congratulations everyone on our season start last weekend. As a whole, it was very successful and was fantastic to see netball back on court.
There were, however, a few teething issues around the new COVID-19 Health Orders and our response to same. When (not if – it will happen) we are visited by NSW Health representatives to ensure we are complying with our COVID-19 Safety Plan and current Health Orders, we need to be able to show we are ALL doing our best to ‘follow the new rules’.
The biggest issues identified last Saturday were:
1.) The 1 player = 1 spectator rule to a maximum of 23 participants per team was not being complied with by all. This needs to be strictly followed, especially for our exemption as a dual venue. If our dual venue status is revoked, we will literally have to become a no spectator competition. Of particular note, the 1 player = 1 spectator rule encompasses all, including other children - they are counted as a number. If you are there as a parent/spectator for a child that is playing, you cannot bring your other children with you as well. For COVID-19 numbers, they are also regarded as participants (everyone that is present within the venue is a participant). We are well aware of the issues this may cause some families, particularly single parents, weekend working parents, those that have multiple children playing different sports across multiple venues etc, however, to enable us to continue to run our competition, the 1 to 1 rule MUST be complied with. If this means parents need to drop their child to the courts and leave them in the care of their coach and return to collect, then whilst not ideal, it needs to be done.
2.) Participants attending the courts prior to 10 minutes before the start of the round that they are involved in. This applies equally to players, parents/spectators, umpires, coaches, managers etc. Last Saturday we had numerous participants arriving well in excess of the 10 minute period which affected the number of persons present in our venue at that time. By allowing a maximum of 23 participants per team per round we come very close to the maximum number of 500 participants in most timeslots. If participants arrive prior to the previous rounds participants being given the time to leave, we WILL exceed 500 and be in breach of the Health Order. If you arrive early, please remain in your car until 10 minutes before your game start time.
Please, please, please can you get this message out to all your members and stress to them how important it is for EVERYONE to respect the new rules and comply with same. If they are not followed, we will be put in a position where we will have to be asking people not complying to leave. Worst case scenario we will have to close down the game/competition. If necessary, I will be calling for Club representatives to be present when dealing with teams/participants who are not complying.
A huge amount of work has gone in to making this season viable, from both TNA Exec, and you as Clubs. Let’s try to keep everyone on board and educated about what we need and hopefully it will become the new ‘norm’.
Please don’t take this email as being negative – it’s not. The majority of people last Saturday were doing the right thing or were unaware of the new ‘rules’. I 100% deem our opening round a huge success, but we need to deal with the above issues to ensure the season as a whole is successful. I would ask that the issues identified are forwarded to individual coaches who in turn forward it to their individual team members (or however your Club information dissemination works to ensure it reaches everyone). I will also put a revised version on Facebook.
Thanks,
Bec McKenzie
President
REPRESENTATIVE CRICKET TRIALS
RUGBY UNION
TOUCH FOOTBALL
The season has begun with all our players turning up and enjoying the game.
All players have received information regarding Covid-19 restrictions, in particular only 1 spectator per child, please. At each game, there will be a clipboard to write your name and mobile, please look for this, thankyou.
***Kinder, Yr 1, Yr 2, Yr 3 and Yr 4 teams please note the change in the start time of 4.20 pm to alleviate the congestion of players and spectators leaving and entering the fields for the next round. See you there.
HOCKEY
SWIMMING
