Following the announcement from Sport NZ with regard Coaching under Alert Level 3 Tennis NZ, Tennis Auckland and Tennis Northern wish to clarify what is required by clubs and coaches to recommence coaching individuals and small groups.

As public facilities, those operated by Tennis Auckland and Tennis Northern (Scarborough Tennis Centre, Manukau Tennis Centre, Nicholson Park, Forrest Hill Tennis Centre and the Albany Tennis Park) are all required to remain closed under Level 3.

Venues

Ultimately Clubs are responsible for what takes place on their premises, and any coaching activity under Level 3 should only take place with the express permission of the club.

Coaches are responsible for adhering to the protocol and guidelines specified by Sport NZ, and coaching must be delivered in an environment that meets all applicable health and safety requirements at Alert Level 3, including:

• A NZ COVID Tracer QR code must be displayed prominently near the main entrance to the venue.
• Contact tracing must be able to be conducted and details collected from all who attend the venue.
• The venue must have a Covid Plan in place and be available for clients to view.
• Coaches must have a health and safety plan in place and accessible to clients. This should include all relevant protocols including hygiene and sanitation and the use of PPE.
• Coaching must be booked in advance with client contact details provided.
• Suitable cleaning and sanitization procedures must be in place. Common touch points should be minimized.

Coaches

• Coaches should be able to demonstrate that the coaching needs to take place (e.g. as part of an existing training plan) and that they have exhausted any remote coaching options first.
• Coaches must hold a coaching qualification relevant to the coaching offered; be certified by, or registered with, their national or regional sports organisation, are currently affiliated to a club and paid for their coaching.
• Coach and client must always maintain a distance of at least 2 metres from each other.
• Coaches must only see one client at a time or a small group (up to 4 people) from a single bubble. There must be a suitable gap between clients to prevent crossover between clients and to allow for cleaning of equipment and shared surfaces to take place.
• If more than one coach/trainer is operating in a facility, then they must ensure that at least 2m distance is kept from each other at all times – and great distance kept when seeing clients (e.g. do not use adjoining courts).  In addition, careful attention must be given to scheduling clients so that clients are not using entrances or shared waiting areas at the same time.
• Clients must be able to book and pay through contactless means.
• No sharing of equipment – the client must bring their own equipment to use (e.g. their personal tennis racquet) and only the coach touches the other pieces of equipment (e.g. balls). .
• Coaches and clients are strongly encouraged to wear a face covering.

Prior to attending each session both the coach and the client should confirm that both:

• Have no symptoms consistent with COVID-19 (fever, sore throat, cough, congestion, loss of smell, shortness of breath).
• Are not awaiting a COVID-19 test result.
• Are not in isolation or quarantine.
• Are not linked to an active COVID-19 cluster.
• Have not been overseas in the last 2 weeks.
• Have not been in contact with anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 like symptoms.

If either the coach or the client respond positively to any of the above questions, the coaching session should be deferred until a medical opinion is sought.