School sport teams have been in the “get ready to play” phase as outlined by the government, and from this week will be allowed to resume full contact sports.
Mahurangi College director of sport Karlie Stanbra says the college is following strict guidelines, including contact tracing of players, cleaning of equipment before and after trainings, and no drink bottles are permitted.
Harbour Rugby’s college tournament is scheduled to start from June 27, while North Harbour basketball may resume as early as June 8.
Harbour Netball is not set to resume until Term 3, possibly starting from July 21.
A date for school hockey has not yet been set, although Harbour Hockey confirmed last week that the club competition will resume from June 20.
Mahurangi College is investigating pushing out the annual exchange with Hauraki Plains College to August and changing the format to a one-day exchange, with no billeting.
Although still to be confirmed, the Murray Jones shield annual rugby competition between Mahurangi and Orewa Colleges may be rescheduled as a pre-season game, leading into the 1A grade tournament.
While in lockdown, Mahurangi College competed in iso 3k and iso distance challenges, which required participating students to track and submit their runs with GPS apps.
More than 100 students from Mahurangi participated, covering a distance of 840km, placing the college in the top 15 of 65 competing schools.
Rodney College is also gearing up in anticipation of Sport Northland competitions resuming, although not much is yet known about dates.
Sport coordinator Maria Northin says the Sport Northland hockey and rugby competitions are likely to go ahead, however the format is yet to be announced.
Rodney College has already begun basketball trainings in anticipation of the Northland competition resuming.
The Northland midweek football competition has been cancelled, but an alternative tournament is being investigated.
“Sport will be happening – it’s just a matter of how and when,” says Northin.
The college is also looking to enter six teams in the Rodney Netball Centre winter competition, which will begin sometime after June 19.
The Upper North Island Secondary Schools netball tournament has been cancelled.
The 2020 AIMS Games have also been cancelled.
“We have had a huge amount of feedback from people saying the spectre of Covid-19 and the associated financial and emotional factors would make it impossible for them to attend this year,” AIMS said in a statement.
