Pre-Season Round Robin

You will notice that on Saturday 6^th February we have noted a Pre-Season Round Robin. We want to give all teams and also our umpires the chance to get back on court and remember what it feels like to throw, catch, run around with our teams and also how to umpire! It’s also a good chance for us to work through any extra procedures we may have to implement with government or council COVID guidelines. So we’re planning a day with similar times to a regular competition day but this time with each team playing 3 short games instead. The games will be two short halves and we won’t have finals either. It is entirely optional for all teams but please note that there will be a $50 entry fee per team and that we will be contacting you for entries by the 29^th January. We would really love to see lots of teams on the day!

The idea to run this Round Robin was formed when thinking about how long both players and umpires had gone without being on court due to the lockdown last year. We wanted to celebrate being able to be out there again as an Association and thought that it might be a good opportunity to combine a celebration with a non-competitive and therefore hopefully non-stressful environment for both players and umpires to find their feet again and not worry about winning etc. It would also be a great opportunity for coaches to find their groove again too, plus a great time for us to iron out any new COVID safety procedures that we will need to adopt for our regular competition.

The plan is to have all age groups (including 11/U) play on the one day but NOT to have everyone stay for the whole day, like a tournament. Ideally each age group would play at a time as similar to their usual Saturday time (ish) as possible (except for the 11/U’s obviously – they will be first up!) and then for them to play for approximately an hour, with a few games and breaks all squeezed into that time frame. The times haven’t been finalised yet, as that will depend entirely on how many teams enter. However, the rough timeframe would be an 8am start and no later than a 2pm-2:30pm finish overall.

Please remember that this isn’t compulsory at all and is entirely up to you if you want to participate.

Please also remember that it will be costing $50 per team to enter. This will be invoiced before the round robin and is purely to cover the costs incurred for the day.

If you do want to enter, just email me through a list of each team and age group and we will do the rest. Those lists are due by the 29^th January. If you don’t want to enter, that is completely fine too! We will look forward to seeing all teams when the season officially begins on Friday 12^th and Saturday 13^th February.

I hope that helps explain it a little more and apologies again for any confusion.