Hockey New Zealand will be releasing their guidelines and further information around the restarting of community hockey tomorrow afternoon.

Following yesterday’s announcement on the transition to Alert Level 2, Sport NZ can confirm that the 10 person gathering limit does apply to all community sport.

“We have worked closely with major winter codes around how and when they are best able to get their seasons underway, and what has come through clearly from those discussions is the importance of having an initial phase of preparation before play can commence,” says Sport NZ CEO Peter Miskimmin.

“We anticipate it being possible for competitions to be able to commence from around 30 May, subject to New Zealand’s continued containment of COVID-19 and the advice of the Director-General of Health. Some sports may choose to take longer to start competitions depending on their specific circumstances.”

For many sports, this is now in a ‘get ready’ phase where they will put in place what is needed to commence safely. As training numbers can increase sports will then enter a ‘prepare to play’ phase to get athletes ready to compete.

Some sports may be able to return sooner. From Thursday sports can train and play subject to the combined number of players, coaches and/or officials not exceeding 10 and appropriate physical distancing guidelines being observed.

“Where this is possible, we are encouraging sports and teams to take time to look at how they can operate effectively within the 10 person limit and adhere to public guidelines around hygiene, contract tracing, physical distancing and gatherings,” says Peter Miskimmin.

“It’s important everyone is patient as this will help to keep New Zealanders safe. We don’t want sport to be the reason we go backwards in alert levels.”

Professional sports teams are not covered by this guidance. They are being treated in line with guidance on workplaces, and have indicated that their competitions will commence in June.

Updated Level 2 Guidelines for Physical Activity is available at sportnz.org.nz.