GREEN LIGHT FOR RETURN Sports celebrate as ease of restrictions clears path forward
Esan try-ing to join flyers
courts will be split into multiple zones, with 20 players allowed in each.
It’s a major change from the 20 per venue limit previously imposed, which forced some clubs to consider running multiple sessions per team.
While contact training is still not allowed and the groups will be unable to cross over, the zoned system allows more community athletes to get back to the training field.
Cairns Hockey general manager operations Kym McPhee-Smith
said the concession was a reflection of the enormous amount of work sports administrators had done to date, but warned there was still plenty more to come.
Health and safety restrictions have meant McPheeSmith and her counterparts at club and administrative levels have had to produce sport and site-specific plans, complete with entry and exit points, how the fields will be split and detailed what volunteers would have to do moving forward.
ESAN Marsters is the only player in the Cowboys’ outside backs yet to cross the stripe and he has been reminded of the fact by the club’s flyers fraternity.
But it does not faze the Kiwi international a bit.
In an off-season where the club picked up superstar Valentine Holmes and dynamo dummy-half Reece Robson, the signature of Marsters almost went under the radar.
But the former Tiger was brought north to do a job, and he plans to keep doing it.
Clubs and volunteers will then need to be informed of and trained to meet the requirements, which will then be enforced when teams return to the training field.
FNQ Football administrator Alex Srhoj said it would be nearly back to normal.
“It’s all non-contact, but there’s plenty of room to do fitness, ball-work and skills,” Srhoj said. “It’s another big step in the right direction.”
For Cairns Netball, the number of usable courts will likely be slashed from 16 to eight, but operations manager Tanya Dearns said the certainty allowed the organisation to potentially bring forward its 2020 season.
Netballers will have to wait at least a week before they can hit the court for training, as Dearns said the organisation would take its time to ensure every box was ticked.
Any sport which operates out of a council-owned facility has to have its plan approved by Cairns Regional Council.