COURT IN HARD PLACE
Clubrooms closed, tennis coaching is OK
TENNIS competitions in Geelong are no closer to starting despite the easing of coronavirus restrictions but clubs are beginning to plan the return of coaching.
Informal tennis received a boost in the easing of restrictions by the State Government, with up to 10 people now allowed to gather and exercise outside.
Clubs have been told they are welcome to open their courts to the public to have a hit.
Tennis Victoria released guidelines on the return of the sport on Tuesday.
The guidelines encourage the return of the game but clubrooms must stay shut.
Coaching is able to take place in groups with a number of contingencies in place, such as regular cleaning and only coaches handling equipment.
Without clubrooms, competition is unlikely, according to Tennis Geelong president Donna Schoenmaekers.
“At the moment, competition is completely off the table and we won’t be starting anything any time soon,” she said.
“We are preparing to be able to start the next season but that would be dependent on how things progress in the near future.
“We had an idea that we would do abridged seasons for winter but obviously the longer this drags on, the less likely that will be.
“We still have the winter (season) applications open until we got some word, juniors have done some grading because that’s quite a large competition so that should reduce the amount of time it should take to get it up and running.”
The normal winter season would be reaching its halfway point in coming weeks and Schoenmaekers indicated that if play wasn’t under way by then the season may need to be abandoned.
But Tennis Geelong is continuing to work on ways an adjusted season could get started.
“It might be the case of ending up with some kind of social round robing to get things going,” she said.
“We are hopeful of getting some play in so we will just wait and see.
“We’re encouraging people that if they have the time and inclination to go and have a hit but just be sensible and stay apart and keep your distances.”