The winter sport season is approaching and with it the need to protect children from Covid-19.
Many sporting codes have been affected by the pandemic, with competitions for all ages and abilities being cancelled or cut short due to lockdown restrictions over the past two years.
Netball New Zealand is among sporting bodies that are putting special measures in place to make sure kids who have had Covid aren’t overdoing it.
“It’s a framework that we’ve developed largely from looking at elite athletes and their returning to play and then modifying that for the community,” ANZ Premiership’s Covid Medical Officer, Melina Parnell, told Breakfast.
She says the protocol is made up of stages that are meant to ensure children are feeling well and back to doing their usual day-to-day activities.
The former Silver Ferns captain outlines measures that are being put in place to help children return to play. (Source: Breakfast)
This is expected to take between three to five weeks.
“If they haven’t quite recovered from their Covid illness, the symptoms they’re experiencing might linger and that could mean they’re not performing well at school, they’re not performing well at sport and then they’re not having fun, which is really the ultimate role of a child.”
Former Silver Ferns captain, Irene van Dyk, says there has been a mixed reaction among parents and children about the return to sport.
“You have parents and kids that are like ‘we’ve been through lockdown, we just want to get out there and play, regardless of what it looks like’,” she says.
“And then you get parents and kids who are quite apprehensive and going ‘how’s this going to work, how’s it going to affect me’?”
She believes the key to catering to everyone is to be flexible about how players are looked after.
Van Dyk says netball centres are being very flexible about season start times and durations, as well as registrations for those who weren’t vaccinated at the original cut-off date.
“It is making sure that the player’s welfare comes first.”
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