Mid Canterbury Netball eNewsletter

Seeking more duty managers!

Every season we rely on some awesome volunteers who act as duty managers and help to run our competition days. Bearing in mind that we now have vaccine pass requirements and potential number limits for the 2022 netball season, it's likely we're going to need a bigger pool of duty managers to go on a roster for competition days and nights. Being a duty manager is all about ensuring our competitions run smoothly and dealing with any issues that might arise, and if we're unable to have spectators may include things such as counting heads, manning doors, or scanning vaccine passports. If this sounds like something you might be able to help with, please email info@mcnetball.co.nz and let us know whether you'd be available for Wednesday or Thursday nights, or Saturdays. We will hold a duty managers' information night in April to bring all new and existing duty managers up to speed with anything they need to know heading in to the 2022 season.

Welcome to netball 2022!

We're now well in to February, and things are well and truly starting to happen in the netball world. Registrations are now open and we're only a couple of weeks out from trials starting for our senior teams. Please remember that as all of our netball takes place at the EA Networks Centre, which is a vaccine mandated facility under the Covid Protection Framework, all players, coaches, managers and umpires need to have a vaccine passport in order to take part in 2022. Any player, coach or manager registering through a club in 2022, who is aged 12 years 3 months and older, will need to upload their vaccine passport at the time they register. A registration form can not be submitted without this. MCN's Covid Policy can be accessed here.

It's likely that we're in for another challenging season due to the ongoing impacts of Covid, but at this stage we're planning on running all of our usual programmes and age groups in 2022. Please be aware though that if current restrictions remain when the season starts we will be unable to have spectators - this includes for year 3-4 and year 5-6 grades. When we were in what was level 2 previously, we did not run these age groups due to the number limit, but after consultation with our clubs and schools we've decided we don't want kids to miss out again so really want to get these up and going in 2022. We are aware that some parents or caregivers may not be comfortable leaving their children to play netball without them present, and this is understandable, however we feel it's important to give these age groups an opportunity to play.

Going forward, I intend to send out a newsletter once a month with any key information you need to know. If you have any questions about the season ahead, hopefully our website will hold the answers. On our website you will find a link to our 2022 calendar which has all of the dates you should need on it, including our season start and finish dates. I'll also include a graphic below which lists trials dates or info for our senior clubs, and links to each of these clubs' websites/registration forms can be found on our website here.

Through our monthly newsletter I also intend to introduce you to a few of the key people who are behind netball in Mid Canterbury, so you can put faces to names. First up, I'll introduce myself! I'm Erin Tasker and I'm the centre manager at Mid Canterbury Netball. I've held this role since November 2019, so thanks to Covid I am yet to experience a ‘normal’ netball season! I'm a mum of two growing boys, and prior to this role I had possibly met many of you in my 15-odd years as a reporter at the Ashburton Guardian. Working for Mid Canterbury Netball has been a step way outside of my comfort zone at a very challenging time in this world, but it's one that I'm thoroughly enjoying.

So that's me, and next month I'll introduce you to another member of our awesome MCN team. Until then, we look forward to seeing you all on court soon!