Over the course of Thursday the 17th December, VNSW have been monitoring the outbreak of COVID through the Northern Beaches of Sydney. A significant Beach Volleyball community is based in this LGA and a large group have entered into the Coffs Harbour NSW Beach Volleyball Tour event planned for this weekend.

As the situation continue to develops and there are a large group potentially affected, the event is being significantly impacted but critically, the Northern Beaches community are not the only athletes entered into this event. In addition, at the time of writing this statement, only recommendations and not direct public heath orders on what to do/not to do are in place.

As a result, VNSW is planning to go ahead with this event however the following is to be seriously considered by all participants:

1. Each person is responsible for their own health and wellbeing. If you have been in any hotspot, been recommended to isolate or be tested, please follow these directives and withdraw from the event.
2. If you come from the Northern Beaches LGA, the clear recommendation is to limit your travel so please reconsider if your participation in this event is essential.
3. If you have participated in any activities (sport or otherwise) in the Northern Beaches LGA on the 11th December to now, please reconsider if your participation in this event is essential.

VNSW is committed to making every event as safe as practical but we are also committed to ensuring that the entire Volleyball community has the ability to participate in the sport. Our focus, like all year, will be on ensuring the event is delivered in a COVID safe manner and therefore extra staff are now being committed to the event to ensure this happens.

We understand that the event will not proceed as planned which is why we are asking all teams to confirm their involvement or otherwise with Jarred Osborne at jarred.osborne@volleyballnsw.com.au by 5pm on Friday the 18th December. All teams, including teams on the reserve list and new teams are welcome to withdrawal, change partners, enter or confirm attendance through this process. The event format will be changed to an “Open Format” meaning we will inform the teams at the technical meeting on the morning of your event how the event will run based and on final confirmed entries. We ask everyone involved in the junior and senior events as well as the junior performance camp to go through this process.

Please understand, this will mean Jarred will be creating a full draw overnight so the 5pm cut off is very strict. If you are not confirmed, it is assumed you have withdrawn and no place will be available for you to participate. In the words of the great Jerry Maguire – Help me Help you, please.

Lastly, if anyone withdraws, we are happy to refund as quickly as practical recognising the proximity to Christmas or you can choose to hold your entry fee as a credit with VNSW to participate in their next activity. Please be aware we will default holding a credit unless advised simply due to the challenge of administration at this time.
VNSW thanks you all in advance for your understanding at this time. We want to see the event and Beach Volleyball continue and thrive in NSW and will continue to make every effort to create opportunities for everyone in a meaningful way and as safely as possible.

Baz Wedmaier - Volleyball NSW CEO

Jarred Osborne - Tournament Director

Martin Reader - Performance Camp Director