Nadine Ward, president of the Goulburn District Hockey Association, has delivered a reminder of the importance of social distancing at local games.
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As sport has gotten underway across the state after lockdown, the NSW government put restrictions in place to help protect players and spectators from COVID-19.
These included regulations regarding cleaning equipment, limits on the number of spectators allowed at each venue, and, most importantly, social distancing requirements.
Following the GDHA's monthly meeting for July, Ward posted a video to the association's Facebook page in which she issued a stern message to parents in the Under 7s and Under 9s age groups.
"One of the biggest points brought up was the social distancing not happening between the Under 7s and Under 9s," Ward said.
"We really want to reinforce that fact so that our whole competition stays open. We're going to give it one more try this week, and hopefully everybody can abide by the rules.
"If not, then as of next week it will be one parent per child."
In its post, the GDHA praised the majority of spectators for checking into the complex and maintaining social distancing as required throughout the first two weeks of the season.
But, it warned, "if parents continue to disregard the policy we will have no choice but to suspend spectators at our facility for all age groups."
The GDHA asked that patrons simply remain "aware of your surroundings, maintain your social distancing of 1.5m from other families regardless of if you work with each other, or attend each others homes, or whatever reason you may have.
"Unless its immediate family living in your home you must maintain 1.5m social distancing."
Hockey NSW participation manager, Blair Chalmers, said in a presentation of the organisation's COVID response plan that the current situation is "life-or-death", hence the stringent regulations.
"We've set a pretty high bar in New South Wales, and it's all about maintaining the health and safety of our members and participants," Chalmers said.
"It's critical to us that we provide a safe environment for us to continue to play the sport that we really enjoy.
"This period that we're going through at the moment with the coronavirus is a life-or-death event, so we need to be ultra-cautious."
The GDHA hopes that parents and spectators can abide by the social distancing guidelines, for the sake of the association as a whole.
"Thanks everybody who has been doing the right thing, and hopefully this weekend goes smoothly and we can continue things the way they've been going," Ward said.
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