Last week, the club’s footballers and netballers returned to training for the first time in almost two months as a potential start to the Goulburn Valley League season looms closer.
And for the Tigerettes it was an extra special Thursday as they dusted off the cobwebs under the club’s new netball court lights.
“They’ve been a fantastic addition,” Rochester president Jeff Bright said.
“The netballers are really excited about using them on a regular basis. Any chance to improve things for your club is one we all have to take.”
While the new lights might have been the main attraction, Bright said seeing the teams come together was very important.
“It was good for the mental health of our players and staff,” he said.
“I know a few people have been struggling in the past few weeks. When you have something taken away from you, it can be hard to fill that gap.
“But it’s good to see so many of our players have taken care of themselves during their time away from the club.
“The coaches put them through some tough training sessions to try and build up some of that fitness that might have been lost.”
Bright said he expected training to be ramped up this week due to the further easing of restrictions from the Victorian Government.
“Being able to have up to 20 people in a group gives the coaches a lot more to work with,” he said.
“Last week, we had to do our running on the second ground on the dark because only one of our ovals has lights.
“Everything is only going to be looking up from here.”
Next week looms as D-Day for the GVL with competition officials set to meet again as they aim to get the 2020 season off the ground.
After it was reported July 18 had been identified as a start date, GVL operations manager Jo Spencer said several fixture options remained on the table.
“We've floated lots of ideas of how a season might look, but Rochester took it upon itself to post that,” she said.
“All clubs are really keen to play, but we just have to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved first and foremost. That date has not come from the league, there's been discussions but there's been other dates and other possibilities of how a season might look.
“We've had discussion of tentative dates, but that is certainly not concrete. The league position is as it was per our statement last week - we're waiting to see what restrictions are changed. Some were changed on Sunday and we'll wait on those changes scheduled for around June 8.”
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