Kia ora koutou

Welcome to Winter, Welcome to June and Welcome back to the 2020 Netball Season!! 

The team at Nelson Netball are very excited that netball games will be returning to the court later this month and have been working hard to plan out our re-jigged season. We hope everyone is adjusting to their new normal and are ready to hit the court soon in our slightly delayed and readjusted season.

Further information is outlined below and please check out the articles at the bottom of the newsletter to keep up to date with our latest news. 

Phase 2 - Prepare to Play

On Friday 29th May we entered Phase 2 where teams can return to training - we are thrilled to have everyone back out on court in a training environment, but we also need to ensure that all Government, Sport NZ and Netball NZ requirements have been met; the health and safety of our community is the number one priority. Last week every Club/School was issued with these requirements so please ensure that before your team returns to training, your Club/School has advised what is required around Contact Tracing, Hygiene, Gathering and Equipment Cleaning and you have been cleared to return.

Phase 3 - Return to Play

Following the guidance from Netball NZ, Nelson Netball has now confirmed the structure of our 2020 netball season - available HERE. The focus of our season this year is all around community participation and ensuring we have a family friendly, affordable and enjoyable season for all - this concept has been designed from the amazing feedback we received from all our members! Further community-based initiatives throughout the season will be released shortly. 

• futureFERNS
  • Years 1 - 4 will start in Week 1 of Term 3 and will run for 9 weeks
  • Years 5 - 8 will start Saturday June 27th and will run for 10 weeks
  • As always, there are compulsory coach/helper modules for all futureFERN teams (dates below) and information will be sent out closer to the time
    • Years 5 - 8 Wednesday 17th June (6.30pm - 8.00pm)
    • Years 1 - 4 Wednesday 1st July (6.30pm - 8.00pm)
• College & Senior - For the 2020 season we will be playing 2 full rounds starting from Saturday June 20th followed by semi-finals. Finals day is scheduled for Saturday 19th September
• Premier - A full 2 round competition with semi-finals and finals. Your first game is scheduled for Saturday June 20th and then you will return to Thursday evenings. Finals day is also scheduled for Saturday 19th September

Development - As all representative teams and regional tournaments have been cancelled this year, Nelson Netball is continuing to look at development opportunities for our players, coaches and officials throughout the 2020 season. We are considering options around coaching clinic days, tournaments and alternative competitions so keep an eye out. 

Umpires - we are always on the hunt for new umpires to join our officiating team. If you think you would enjoy jumping on the other side of a whistle (or you know someone who would make a great umpire), check out the relevant article below. Support and guidance is available from our senior umpiring squads and it's a great way to further understand the interpretation of the rules. Can all returning umpires please register for the 2020 season HERE this week.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our pre-season survey, provided feedback or assisted on our various committees over the last couple of months. As we approach the season start further information will be made available around game day procedures, updates to any health and safety information and requirements around team umpiring and duties. 

 As always, please let me know if you have any questions.

Jared Lock

Centre Manager