‘A wee bit different’: Most junior sport goes on, even with 100-person limit

While many junior sports have been reworked to comply with ongoing Covid-19 alert level 2 restrictions, not all can adjust to the 100-person limit.

Most of the lower North Island, as well as the entire South Island, remain at alert level 2. Community sport is still allowed to go ahead at this level, but is limited to 100 people, according to guidelines issued by Sport New Zealand.

While people do not need to social distance or wear masks while playing sport, large gatherings related to sports are discouraged. “Now is not the time to have a large club prize-giving or event, the guidelines say.

Primary Sports Canterbury sports director Michael Wilson said the biggest difference between alert levels 1 and 2 was the numbers allowed.

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“One hundred people isn’t that many when you’re getting multiple teams from multiple schools coming together.”

Wilson said most weekly sports had been rejigged to have individual bubbles now.

A duathlon held earlier this month, which usually attracts about 700 to 800 children, had to be run just for year 7 and 8s and not year 5 and 6 students.

The duathlon was then held with four smaller groups each having their own race, limited to 100 people, across a single day.

“It was a wee bit different … but it was cool to be able to offer something, especially for those year 8s that are moving onto high school next year and have missed out on so much in the last 12 to 18 months,” Wilson said.

Not all events have been able to adjust.

Athletics days could not go ahead as it was too hard to reorganise for the 100-person limit, with children competing in multiple events, he said.

A year 5 and 6 tournament and another winter tournament had to be cancelled too.

Christchurch Junior Cricket Association general manager Rob Wilkinson said the national primary schools tournament and the secondary school Gillette Cup were also cancelled.

Cricket grades with children aged about 9 and under had to be reorganised too, he said.

“Previously we’d had about eight games on a local council park, so what we’ve had to do is reduce the number of games that we’re playing on those parks, to keep around the 100 [person] limit.”

These games were all counted as a single 100-person bubble, he said.

“So we’re having to use more local parks, which is putting a bit a pressure on the availability of parks generally.”

The situation was different for older children’s grades, where each game of cricket was counted as a single bubble. These games tended to have about 20 to 22 players and a similar number of adults, Wilkinson said.

Clubs had been sent instructions about wearing masks to and from games and not interacting with games on neighbouring pitches, he said.

One hundred-person limits at events will be a thing of the past under the Government’s Covid-19 traffic light system – as long as the area is at green or orange and the event uses vaccine certificates.

Still, it is unclear exactly how junior sport will work – especially as no decision on the age cutoff for vaccine certificates has been made and children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccine.

A Sport New Zealand spokeswoman said the organisation was still waiting to see detailed requirements for the sport sector in relation to the new system.

“We will then be able to develop and provide guidance,” she said.