The Ballarat Netball Association has begun preemptive talks in preparation for a return to play.
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The BNA executive committee will hold a meeting this week to ensure the association is ready to act if the government gives the go-ahead for clubs to return to the court. BNL netball operations manager Jo Dash said the meeting would be the first step towards preparing a season structure.
"What we will be doing is firming up a plan so that when we get the green light, we will have a plan in place for our competitions," she said.
"We cant be too specific because we might not be able to get indoors for three months, so this is a fact-finding meeting to firm up some protocols."
The BNA had to cut short its junior summer competitions, which run from October to March, a few days before grand finals were set to played. No premierships were awarded. Meanwhile the seniors closed up shop five games into their winter season.
Dash said the association would look to start fresh when play returned. She was hopeful that the Athlete's Foot Cup, which takes place in October and November, would not be effected.
"We didn't start six programs in March when we normally would have and that includes juniors, school teams and club teams run across Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Saturdays," she said.
"So this meeting will give people a bit of a bright spot and say we are pre-planning so they know there is something to look forward to."
Dash said up to 30 talented netballers in the 13-under, 15-under and 17-under age group missed the opportunity to play in a number of tournaments due to COVID-19 - including the state association championships set to be held in Ballarat. The state titles have also been cancelled.
Dash said she was coordinating competition play with other associations at the end of the year so players still got the opportunity to play against bigger centres.
"It's all about playing netball as far as we are concerned, people who want to play will be able to play eventually and that's something that's important in Ballarat," she said.
Dash said BNA clubs had yet to resume training.
"Not a lot of clubs are training at the moment," she said.
"The burden on volunteers to keep everyone safe is extremely important and we are discussing when that will happen based on what we hear from Daniel Andrews and Netball Victoria."
Last week Victoria premier Daniel Andrews announced community sporting activities would be permitted to have up to 20 people in undivided spaces from Monday, June 1. He said indoor facilities might reopen from June 22 might reopen if COVID-19 transmissions remained low.