Kia Ora Everyone,

We hope you are all keeping safe and well and enjoying seeing some more of your friends and family now that we at Stage 1 of the Auckland reopening plan.

As you will all be aware, we are yet to move to Stage 2 of the reopening plan and so our plans for a Holiday Program were unable to go ahead.

Plans to return safely to Water Polo – Covid-19 vaccination an important step

Although we do not know when we will be back in the pool, the Club Committee has been considering what it needs to do now to ensure the Club is ready when the Alert Levels allow us to return to Water Polo.  A priority is to ensure we do so safely and manage the risk of our Marist whanau being exposed to Covid-19.  Due to the transmissibility of the Delta variant, once we start to re-open again and are back in the pool, the risk of exposure increases as we interact with others during trainings, leagues and competitions.

The Committee has carefully considered the risks and the consequences of exposure during trainings and other water polo events and how to protect our coaches, managers, co-ordinators, players, the Marist community and other people we come into contact with.   A key tool in managing the health and safety risk of Covid-19 is vaccinations.    To manage the exposure risk, along with introducing measures such as physical distancing and wearing masks/face coverings, we have decided all our coaches, co-ordinators and managers and other volunteers must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19. We are in the process of implementing this decision.

We recommend all eligible Marist whanau get vaccinated

We have also considered the steps Marist players, family and friends can take now to manage the exposure of Covid-19 during Marist trainings and when we participate in leagues and competitions.  The more of us that are fully vaccinated, the more protection we will have against Covid-19.

We are yet to receive the updated Health and Safety Plans for return to water polo from the Pool Facilities we use and NZWP  – we expect they are waiting for updated guidance from the relevant sporting bodies.  However, we need to be prepared for the possibility that before anyone enters a Pool Facility, they will need to be fully vaccinated.  It is also likely for away tournaments there will be vaccine requirements to fly, stay at certain accommodation and participate in other activities.

Due to the possibility of these restrictions, we recommend all eligible Marist players and their family and friends who want to continue enjoying watching the sport, get fully vaccinated against Covid-19.

Tomorrow is “Super Saturday”

If you or members of your whanau are yet to get their vaccine, you can make a booking at www.bookmyvaccine.co.nz, or with your GP or there are many other local places where you can get vaccinated without an appointment – go to www.covid19.govt.nz for more information.   There is also Super Saturday tomorrow coming up where there will be a number of vaccination centres open with extended hours.

Term 4

At this stage, our plans for Term 4 remain the same with:

• U14 program
• U12 and transition to water polo program
• Seniors as they prepare for the start of their season in term 1 2022
• Athlete development academy

Please contact your age grade co-ordinator for further information on these programs.

Keep safe – we hope to see you all poolside very soon.