Tennis Under Alert Level 3

Dear Tennis Community,

Like you we were pleased to hear the Minister’s announcement this afternoon, where playing tennis within your bubble was mentioned as a permitted activity under Level 3.

The purpose of this email is to clarify what that means for tennis across Auckland:

• First and foremost you can only play tennis with people from within your bubble
• Unfortunately coaching is not permitted under Level 3, unless you are coaching someone from within your bubble
• Clubs choosing to open must be confident and comfortable that they can follow all the health and safety measures recommended by Government (https://sportnz.org.nz/assets/Uploads/Play-Active-Recreation-and-Sport-at-Alert-Levels-4-4.pdf )
• There is no obligation for a club or centre to open if it is not practical to do so
• Scarbro Tennis Centre & Manukau Tennis Centre will remain closed under Alert Level 3
• Tennis NZ will have a ‘toolkit’ ready for clubs to use from Tuesday.  This will include:
  • A contact tracing FORM on www.tennis.kiwi for everyone to complete before they play
  • A contact tracing POSTER that you can print and display clearly on the gate/fence/club entrance
  • Updated Community Tennis Guidelines for Continued Play which will include clear health and safety guidelines from the Government, relevant for tennis

Whilst today’s announcement was encouraging it remains the recommendation of Tennis Auckland that clubs and facilities stay closed under Alert Level 3, unless you are 100% sure you can meet all of the conditions set out in the Sport NZ “Scenarios at Level 3” guidelines included below.

If you do not think your club will be able to operate within these guidelines, we recommend you keep gates closed and nets down. The last thing anyone wants is to have the next COVID-19 cluster named after their club.

Tennis Auckland encourages clubs and facilities to continue preparation for Alert Level 2. This includes having a transition plan that can be shared with your members as New Zealand moves down the Alert Levels. Some useful back to play ideas can be found here: https://tennis.kiwi/covid-19/for-clubs/ .

We will continue to provide regular updates, in the meantime please continue to stay safe.

Marcus Reynolds

Chief Executive Officer