Club Update : May 2nd 2020

Firstly, I hope that everyone is ok in lockdown and as much as possible, making the most of some quiet time in your bubbles.
This update covers the following:

1. What Alert Levels 3 and 2 mean for clubs
2. Club support toolkits
3. Online club forums
4. Affiliation fees

1. What Alert Levels 3 and 2 mean for clubs

With moving to Alert Level 3 on Tuesday, we are all now focussing on what Levels 3 and 2 will mean for squash and, and hopefully, it will not be too long before we are back on court enjoying the company of friends.

Many of you will have seen the squash alert level recommendations advising that clubs stay closed during level 3.  Last Friday the Government confirmed guidance relating to sport and recreation for Alert Level 3. Unfortunately for squash clubs, all facilities should be closed at Alert Level 3 so working-out from home, in your bubble, needs to continue for a bit longer yet.  The recently released FAQs on the Sport NZ website are a helpful guide.

While we are optimistic that squash clubs will be able to re-open under Alert Level 2 and squash will be able to resume, there is no guarantee that this will be the case.  It may be another week before we get concrete confirmation of what Alert Level 2 will look like for squash clubs, but we will communicate this with you as soon as we receive the information.

There is no question that under Alert Level 2, and probably Alert Level 1 also, the way we train, play and compete will not be what it was before the lockdown. We will have to adapt the way we deliver our training and competition programmes with this ‘new normal’ likely to be in place for many months yet.

2. Club support toolkits

Three toolkits are being developed and will be released in three phases.

1. Club Ready - information around getting clubs ready to operate
2. Activity guidelines - suggestions that we believe will be acceptable under Alert Level 2. These will draw from the level 2 & 1 recommendations that we receive from Sport New Zealand.
3. Member engagement - ideas to support membership retention

As clubs prepare for a potential reopening of the doors, Squash New Zealand hopes to provide clubs with all relevant information to get them ‘Club Ready’.

The first is a tool-kit of information that will help clubs get to a ‘club-ready’ status. This tool kit is focused on ensuring clubs are ready to open the doors and maintain a safe environment when government advice allows this to occur.  It pulls together relevant information from government sources and is current as of the 1st May. The tool kit is made up of four elements; an overview, a club-ready plan, a poster kit and some digital solutions. It can be found on the COVID-19 section of our website.

Squash New Zealand highly recommends all clubs create a plan to ensure they will meet the relevant requirements to open when government advice allows. This can be done using the template in this toolkit or using another format.  A toolkit around Activity Guidelines will be produced when we receive more information from the government.

3. Online club forums

Squash New Zealand have set up online forums to help clubs get ready for the start of squash in the hopeful near future.  So far there has been two forums, recordings of these two forums can be found here.

The next forum ‘Getting Your Club Ready To Go’ will be held Tuesday 5th May at 7pm.  The guest speakers for this forum are some of our experienced club managers.  Join us to hear what they are doing to prepare for when squash clubs can open up again.

To join the forum follow the link to the Zoom call here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85728462062

4. Squash New Zealand affiliation fees

Details of affiliation fee relief for clubs will be released late next week.

As always, please touch base with any of the Squash New Zealand team if you have any questions