BRTA News Update: Returning to Tennis safely
BRTA welcomes the easing of Melbourne’s Covid-19 restriction to allow tennis to recommence in a managed environment.
We will restart interclub competition as soon as restrictions are eased to allow us to do so safely.
To recommence we will require:
- The 25km rule to be further eased or removed
- Clubs need to be able to use all available courts
- Doubles will need to be permitted without household limitations.
To facilitate the restart we have the following competitions graded and ready to go:
· Saturday and Sunday Morning Juniors
· Summer Season Saturday Seniors
· Midweek Ladies
· Our night tennis teams are fully across the situation and are keen to restart
We thank all clubs for your entries and support during this difficult time.
Some points to note around the restart of competition play:
· We want to return to our normal program as much as it is practical for 2021
· Some competitions will necessarily face some changes and variations – don’t expect that once we restart that it will look like a traditional season.
· For summer seniors we have actively tried to grade as many sections as possible as six team sections – this gives us more planning flexibility once we know what restrictions look like. As a result some teams will not have been given the grade they hoped for – simply, we did not have as many slots to offer and this has a knock on effect as we move down the grades. We have done our best to provide competitive grades for all teams.
· We are considering a slight change of dates for these season’s only to fit in as many rounds as restrictions allow. For seniors this may mean running a week longer in December and returning a week earlier in the back-end of January.
· We are mindful of other competitions e.g.: Tennis Victoria Pennant and we plan not to overlap with them
· For the junior sections we hope to get some matches played, but it may not constitute a season (in the traditional sense). At this stage it is getting harder to envision a season that allows us to award a legitimate premiership. Our aim remains to offer something once restrictions allow.
· Tennis Victoria are still considering a shortened AJL season, however all the underage ‘cup’ events have been cancelled for 2020.
· Mid-week ladies will be discussed with the teams and clubs involved before we make any decision on what the rest of 2020 looks like for them.
We are looking forward to getting all players back on the court soon.