Kia ora koutou Following the government announcement yesterday that Nelson would remain in Alert Level 2 through until 11.59pm on Sunday 6th September, all Nelson Netball competitions will remain suspended. We understand the disappointment that this decision will bring and I want to assure you that it wasn’t an easy one. However, from the start we have always said that the Health and Safety of our netball community would be the number one priority and we still find ourselves in the middle of this pandemic. Our initial guidance under Alert Level 2 was to postpone our competitions and at this stage, nothing has changed. The requirements of physically distancing with both strangers and people you know, make contact sport with our number of participants too risky. We appreciate there are guidelines available for continuing sport at Level 2 and while we feel those guidelines are achievable at some levels, they don’t remove the physical distancing aspect of our sport – therefore the risk of operating at Alert Level 2 simply isn’t an option. Nelson Netball is a fantastic sporting community and our Centre must put the safety of our members at the forefront of all decisions. So where does this leave our 2020 Netball Season? We continue to deal with a changing environment and predicting what will happen on Sunday 6th September is impossible. We acknowledge that if we return to Alert Level 1 after Sunday 6th September, this will only leave us with around 2 weeks of our season remaining which does not provide us enough time to complete Round 2. Therefore, our regular 2020 season structure at this time has been abandoned. Once we are in a position and know the Alert Level updates following Sunday 6th September, we will look at opportunities for our teams, players, officials and management to finish off the disrupted season in some way. This may be in the form of a couple of tournament days but once again, dependent on where we find ourselves in a couple of weeks. Nelson Netball remains committed to the delivery of safe and enjoyable netball experiences – this is a setback, but we will bounce back stronger and continue to strive in the sport we all love. Take care!! The Team at Nelson Netball Centre |
