The Hills Tennis Association (HTA)

Covid-safe plan

As you would know, all clubs must have a covid-safe plan in place before any tennis can be played at that venue. These covid-safe plans are quite simple and quick to complete, and need to be submitted to both Tennis SA and the HTA.  Here is the link to the website where you can create your plan:

https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/business-and-work/create-a-covid-safe-plan

Please note – no matches will be permitted to be played at your venue unless your club does has a covid-safe plan in place. If the HTA/Tennis SA have not received your covid plan before Wednesday 8^th October, any matches (Jnr/Snr/Night/midweek) due to be held at your venue will be rescheduled to another venue and your club will be responsible for paying court hire to that other venue.

Covid marshals

Each club is required to have a covid marshal on site at every official tennis match or activity, including coaching. More information about this role can be found here – https://www.covid-19.sa.gov.au/business-and-work/covid-marshals , and the quick and easy training can be done here – https://marshal.clickontraining.com.au/.

Covid marshals need to be easily identified – how you do this is totally up to your club, but some ideas include using a high-viz vest (hung on the netpost if the marshal is a player), badges, stickers and posters to indicate who the marshal is on that day.

IT IS EACH CLUB’S RESPONSIBILITY to ensure that a covid marshal is present at all tennis activities at the club. From the HTA’s perspective, the only exception would be a night tennis match with only 10 people in attendance – this would be deemed to be a time of “low patronage” and would not require a marshal.

Please contact Tennis SA if you need any further information regarding your covid-safe plan or the implementing of your covid marshals at your sites.

Jo Casey, HTA President

Through its Dunlop sponsorship deal, the HTA would love to give away:

·       3 x Dunlop Force 98 Tour Racquets (with racquet cover) – full size racquets with 4½ inch grip; and

·       3 x Dunlop racquet bags, with a tin of balls

To go into the draw to win, send an email to President Jo Casey (president@hta.asn.au) with the following details:

Ø your name

Ø your HTA club

Ø what you love most about playing tennis in the Adelaide Hills!

We can’t wait to hear from you!

Here’s a fun way to ease into the tennis season for our members who are 35+. As a means of helping shed the gloom of COVID and winter and as preparation for summer tennis, Tennis Seniors SA are conducting a fun carnival on 3 and 4 October for 35yo+. We’d love to see a strong HTA representation at this carnival tournament. It’s doubles only, with single gender doubles being played on the Saturday and mixed on the Sunday. A promo flyer is attached.

So if you’re not doing anything on the long weekend, add this to your “to do” list! Contact Max Foran at Tennis Seniors SA for more info – 0409 096 017, maxieforan@gmail.com.

Jo Casey, HTA President

As the Summer Season draws closer, we want to make sure that all of our member clubs are aware of their responsibilities with regards to the current covid situation.

Access to latest Community Tennis Guidelines and latest covid info available on the Tennis SA website:

Covid Marshal Required for all activities

The HTA has been notified by Tennis SA this week that all clubs are required to have a Covid Marshal present at any and all tennis activities after tomorrow, Friday 21^st August, as per the recent SA police direction. Again, this is not a huge responsibility – it just requires Marshals to complete a short online training and to be aware of their club’s Covid-safe Plan. More information, including a link to the training, can be found HERE.

Covid Safe Plan

Every HTA club needs to have a Covid-safe Plan before conducting tennis activities. This doesn’t need to be an onerous or difficult task – attached to this post is an example from Littlehampton TC that you could use to form the basis of your club’s version. Your Covid-safe Plan needs to be submitted to both Tennis SA and the HTA – please attend to this as soon as possible. The link to creating your own plan is HERE.

Clubs that co-exist and share clubrooms with other sports should have an identical plan to those other sports but should submit a plan under the name of the tennis club to ensure their compliance.

Tennis SA have confirmed that contact tracing records are currently not necessary for outdoor tennis activities.

Further Covid clarification on some additional points from Tennis SA:

• Continue to enforce social distancing;
• Limit social gathering – same mentality of get in, play, get out;
• Use of hand sanitiser at court entry points;
• Tapping of racquets upon completion of match, no handshakes;
• Essential players/staff on site only (encouraged only to have one parent per child);

Hi there HTA Family!

It’s been an interesting few months (to say the least!). Thankfully though (fingers crossed), we are able to look at getting the 20-21 HTA Summer Season up and running again.

Our AGM had to be delayed because of the covid situation and will now be combined with the Senior/Junior Conference. This meeting will be held on Monday 10^th August at The Old Mill in Hahndorf. It will be 7.15 for a prompt 7.30 start.  Clubs are required to send 2 representatives to this important meeting, where essential information regarding the new season will be discussed and distributed.

Clubs will be required to update all contact information. Please ensure any trophies/shields from the 19-20 season are returned on the night. The Agenda will be posted closer to the meeting date. See you all then!

Hello all!

With the gradual lifting of restrictions in SA, Tennis SA is planning to go ahead with a shortened Winter Pennant season, starting on 6^th June. The Stirling Club is currently taking nominations from interested senior players. Nominations close very shortly, so if you are interested, please contact Bill Walter at Stirling – bwaltertennis@gmail.com.

More information about the competition can be found HERE.

If you have any team Photos from HTA Junior Grand Finals please send with names of players and Division to barryfam@aapt.net.au. I will send to Courier over the weekend for publication in the next few weeks..

The 2020 Country Carnival held from Thursday January 9th to Sunday 12th January 2020 close Friday 6th December (9 days). Please register at the post below to avoid disappointment as spots filling fast. This event is played at Kensington Garden Lawn Tennis Club and is free to juniors in the HTA. It is a fantastic event representing HTA, playing against other teams from around the state and is lots of fun for all.

Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO) training will be held on Sunday, 24 November 2019 from 9:30am – 1:30pm.  Tennis SA strongly recommends that each club has at least one person performing this important role.

Nominations are now open, with limited spaces are available. Successful completion will enable the participant to register with Sport Australia as a recognised MPIO and get ongoing access to support materials. The Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing recommends that active recreation organisations aim to appoint one or two Member Protection Information Officers.

The MPIO’s role is to provide appropriate advice to the club around their Member Protection Policy when issues arise. The MPIO is also responsible for providing information about a person’s rights and responsibilities and options available when making a complaint or raising a concern, as well as support during the process. The MPIO does not investigate or attempt to resolve a complaint.

To become an MPIO and be registered with Sport Australia a person must:

•             Register for free online training at http://learning.ausport.gov.au and complete all MPIO modules. Then save their certificate of completion.

•             Attend a free face to face MPIO training session at ORSR

•             Complete registration with Sport Australia (using the unique link provided) following the completion of both the online and face to face courses

Registration for the course on 24 November 2019 is available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/WHL9BNB or can be found via the Courses and Events page on the ORSR website http://ors.sa.gov.au/upcoming_courses_and_events  

The intended participant is required to upload their online MPIO Certificate of Completion during the registration process or alternatively the Certificate can be emailed direct to MT Smith (see contact details below) prior to attending the training session.

For further information, contact:

Marie-Therese Smith | Senior Project Officer – Sport Culture and Ethics  |  Infrastructure and Sector Capability

Office for Recreation, Sport and Racing

Tel: 8457 1408| Email: marie-therese.smith@sa.gov.au