Dear Members,
We hope that this email finds you and your families in good health and well-rested after our enforced layoff from tennis. Following on from the exciting news that our sport can begin to restart after May 18, your Committee has been working hard to prepare the club and grounds for limited re-opening.
Much like the rest of our lives, post-lockdown tennis will be different to what went before. If the club is to be allowed re-open, we must ensure that we strictly adhere to the guidelines issued by Tennis Ireland (in their document A Practical Guide for Clubs Returning to Play Tennis following the Covid-19 Restrictions during Phase 1 of the Roadmap for Reopening Society.)
Please know that these guidelines are in place to ensure the health and wellbeing of you and your family. If tennis can operate in a socially responsible manner, then we will stand a greater chance of remaining open and hopefully enjoying more relaxed rules during the later stages of the Roadmap for Recovery.
Some of the Tennis Ireland requirements during this first phase include:
• No play at the club if you are over 70 years old or live further than 5 kilometres from the club.
• Children under 18 years old can only play at the club with a parent or guardian in attendance.
• Play will only be permitted on courts that have been pre-booked online and with all players named on the booking.
• Staggered starting times between adjacent courts.
• Shortened playing times so that players can clear the court before the next booking arrives.
• No access to the clubhouse including toilets at all.
• Play will be restricted to singles play only. The only exception for doubles is if playing partners are from the same household.
• Players have to use two sets of clearly marked tennis balls. These should be alternated for serving with each player only touching their own tennis balls.
We will have a team of volunteers supervising to ensure that the rules for attendance are fully complied with, and we’ll expand on this further during the week so that you are fully aware of your responsibilities before you resume play at the club.
More guidance is set out in TI documents, please find the links below:
In the meantime, can we recommend that you check your settings in the club booking system to ensure that you can make an online booking to avoid problems nearer the time. If you have any queries about this please email SandycoveTSC@clubmanager.ie Please remember that unless your court is booked online in advance, you will not be able to play. This is to enable contact-tracing, should it be needed.
Thanks again for your ongoing patience, we’ll be in touch again over the coming days with fuller instructions about the new protocols. All going well, we will be playing tennis and enjoying our fabulous club again very soon.
We can’t wait to see you on court!
Regards
Your Committee