Welsh Netball to Move to Stage 4A of Return to Play Roadmap

Following further changes to Welsh Government and Sport Wales guidance, Welsh Netball has had to make a change to the age brackets previously published for Stage 4A of its ‘Return to Play’ roadmap.

The intended plan to move to Stage 4A on Monday 16 November remains, but the two roadmaps will now apply to:

1. Those under the age of 11 (not aged 11 and under, as previously published)
2. Those aged 11 and older (not aged 12 and over, as previously published)

We apologise for any inconvenience this change may have caused and the full detail of the move to Stage 4A of the ‘Return to Play’ roadmap can be found below.

On Monday 9 November, Wales will be lifted out of its 17-day ‘firebreak’ lockdown and therefore, Welsh Netball’s ‘Return to Play’ roadmap will be un-paused. A week later, on Monday 16 November, the roadmap will be able to advance to Stage 4A. Stage 4A of the ‘Return to Play’ roadmap will be differentiated for various age groups, allowing for as much netball activity as possible under Welsh Government regulations.

Prior to the all-Wales lockdown, netball had been at Stage 3B of the roadmap, which applied to all netballers. Rules around social distancing in different age groups mean that now is the time for us to introduce different roadmaps, based on participant age. This will allow our members to engage in as much netball activity as possible at this point in our return to netball journey. This will include the introduction of ‘Modified Netball’ which has some different rules to the traditional format of the game. More information about ‘Modified Netball’ can be found here.

Therefore, there will be two roadmaps introduced for netball in Wales. One will apply to participants under the age of 11, the other will apply to all participants aged 11 and over.

For those under the age of 11: Groups of up to 30 participants (including coaches, umpires and off court personnel) may play Modified Netball, indoors, within a club training environment. Though permissible indoors, we recommend, wherever possible, that this type of netball activity takes place in an outdoor setting.

For those aged 11 and over: Groups of up to 30 participants (including coaches, umpires and off court personnel) may play Modified Netball, outdoors, within a club training environment.

In order to participate in this aforementioned netball activity under Stage 4A of the ‘Return to Play’ roadmap, clubs must have completed the #NetsGetReady checklist and have their certificate. More information about completing #NetsGetReady can be found here. Sports facilities in Wales will be checking clubs’ #NetsGetReady status when taking bookings.

Organised netball fitness activity (i.e. activity that was permitted in Stage 3B of the roadmap) can occur without #NetsGetReady certification. This type of activity (groups of up to 15, excluding coaches, with minimum equipment sharing) can take place indoors, however, we highly recommend that it take place in an outdoor setting (where you can have group of 30). This applies to all age groups.

As part of our move to Stage 4 of the roadmap, Welsh Netball will be hosting a special training webinar with England Netball’s Head of Officiating, Gary Burgess. Gary, along with Welsh Netball’s Community Lead, Vicki Sutton, will be talking you through the move to Stage 4 and the rules around Modified Netball. This online Zoom session will take place on Thursday 12 November at 6:30pm. Registration for this free session can be found here.

We have updated our Frequently Asked Questions document, which can be found here. A full set of resources/infographics for training activity and Modified Netball can also be found here.