Dear Clubs/Schools/Members

WNC Board & Staff would like to say a HUGE thank you for your patience and understanding, and offers of help, while we wait for updates and information from the Government / Sport NZ / Netball NZ and the Zones.

Netball NZ released information this week with Community Netball Return to Play Guidelines (CLICK HERE TO VIEW). So here is what we know.....

• Netball in New Zealand is currently in Phase 1 of the three-phased approach to return to netball.
• Phase 1 – Get Ready for Netball commenced on 15 May.
  During Phase 1 no netball activity is to commence but is a time for Centres to prepare and ensure that all government health and safety measures and contract tracing protocols are in place prior to the centre opening safely for trainings/workshops in Phase 2.
• Phase 2 – Prepare to Play may start on or after 29 May 2020, as long as it is safe to do so, and Government restrictions are met.
  This includes trainings & workshops with all health & safety guidelines in place.
• Phase 3 – Return to Play may start on or after 19 June, as long as it is safe to do so, and government restrictions are met.  This includes the delivery of competitions.
• Centres moving into the delivery of each phase must ensure they are compliant with all requirements before the next Phase can begin.

Only staff have returned to the workplace with all Health & Safety guidelines in place and are preparing information for Phase 2, with a couple more considerations to make around Hygiene & Sanitisation.  We hope to give you a confirmed date you are able to start trainings shortly, this will include Clubs / Schools / Players / Coaches and Centres responsibilities.

For more information on all the guidelines WNC is working through check out the Netball New Zealand COVID-19 Webpage https://www.netballnz.co.nz/useful-info/covid-19.

Please note Schools are responsible for managing Ministry of Health and Education guidelines for their School teams as well and may be required to add further information so make sure to confirm these prior to starting trainings.

Sport New Zealand continues to provide useful information which can be accessed on their website https://sportnz.org.nz/covid-19/, and is guiding us all towards a safe and measured return to play.

Also check out the latest Quick Reference for Play, Active Recreation and Sport Guide, designed to help organisations and individuals meet the Government requirements that allow us to resume play, active recreation and sport activities safely under COVID-19 Alert Level 2.

Netball New Zealand also released a statement on Thursday 21 May informing Centres they will have a zero fee for the 2020 season while the Netball Zones have reduced their fees by 50 per cent.  It is great to now have confirmation of this and WNC can start work on confirming fees for the season to come.

As well as making sure the facility is safely available for Phase 2 we will be working hard to confirm what we are all training for, again the focus will be on coming back as a community safely, enjoying the game we love and reconnecting.

Again thank you for your patience and we understand it may be hard to get back to training when we are unsure what we are training for exactly, but be assured WNC is doing its utmost to make decisions as quickly and safely as possible.