NEW COVID-19 restrictions forcing community sport into a two-week hiatus are set to interrupt the tennis season for up to 400 local players.
Sporting clubs across the region have been forced to abandon training and competition for two weeks due to COVID-19 restrictions announced by the State Government on Monday.
Renmark Lawn Tennis Association head coach Mike Horsman said the announcement was made with little notice for Riverland clubs.
“We’ve got no control over it at all, we’ve just got to put it on hold for a couple of weeks without playing tennis,” Mr Horsman said.
“We’re allowed to continue to coach with some restrictions, so at least kids can still maintain some sort of hitting, which is pretty important across the board.
“We’ve got 250 juniors playing every Saturday morning and almost 150 seniors. It’s just disappointing, but there’s nothing we can do about it.”
Mr Horsman said an ability to distance players and spectators during matches meant tennis could still be played under restrictions.
“I’m in two schools of thought about it,” he said.
“If they allow pubs to have 100 people and allow schools to open, is it really a big deal to have 40 or 50 kids running around a tennis court in the open.
“At the same time, I can see where they are coming from.
“They are just trying to stop this before it does anything and the best way is to restrict everything.
“I do understand where they are coming from, although I’m not sure I completely follow the logic… I think tennis is one of the sports you could control.”
However, Mr Horsman said the State Government’s approach to COVID-19 was necessary to minimise the risk of regional outbreaks.
“South Australia has handled this situation pretty well, so I’m not going to be too critical of the fact they get a bit tough,” he said.
“Obviously we don’t want to go down the path Victoria went. That would be catastrophic.
“Two weeks without organised sport probably won’t be the end of the world, but the kids can still be coached.”
Mr Horsman – who is able to continue coaching lessons outside of the club – said Riverland Lawn Tennis Association matches over the next two weeks would be listed as abandoned.
“We’re not coaching at the club at the moment because that’s probably not a good perception,” he said.
“I’ll be listing all those games over the next two weeks as abandoned, which means there’s no points awarded to anybody irrespective of byes or not-byes.
“We have a system in place which calculates it based on a match ratio system… so it does a calculation that is equal.”
For further information or inquiries regarding Mr Horsman’s coaching call 0419 030 566.