Hey Devils I am sure you are getting excited about the potential of a winter hockey season in 2020; this is a long post, please read all the way through and respond! Your Board are cautiously navigating our approach to returning to play - taking into consideration restrictions and official advice from HACT and ACT Government – to ensure that we have participation that is both safe for players and financially viable for the club. I am sure some were disappointed that we chose not to commence CL training this week, but given the quality of training we believe could be offered (restricted in numbers, distancing, and interaction) and the additional cost that would have needed to be passed onto a small number of eligible players we believe that this is the best approach. To provide perspective, if the season commences as now proposed we are essentially in February and we don’t normally training this far out from the season! We are hoping these trial conditions for training are deemed successful and, if they remain the only option, we will look at how to make training viable until restrictions are further reduced and - ultimately - removed so full hockey training and games can take place. Before I continue with returning to play, I think it is important to keep you updated on our Club’s financial viability. We have been steadily refunding season fees to those who have requested such – which I hope respects the trust many of you have shown in allowing us to retain your fees until a decision on the season is made – and we have sufficient funds to remain solvent. Given that income is now wholly reliant on players fees due to the cancellation of nearly all fundraising activities (the ACT Container Deposit Scheme is still going strong!) the Board recently reviewed the Club’s already lean budget with a focus to ensuring that playing activities take primacy. This means that the funding of subsidies for things like Presentation Night and Finals Shirts have been suspended; we will now have to look to alternate methods to make such manageable costs for club members. Early-bird and club staff discounts have also been suspended. As part of our planning we need accurately determine player availability; I appreciate that we, your coaches, and HACT have surveyed you to gauge interest previously, this is now the time
where full commitment to a decision is required to ensure that the Club and HACT continue to plan for a viable season; there is simply no fat in our system to cover for maybe players that don’t eventuate. We will only be nominating teams based on your responses to this post (via email), ensuring we have sufficient numbers of players per team (indicatively 16) so as not to increase fees. Further, we will only be nominating teams once we have confirmed that all players have paid both Hockey Australia Levy and full Club fees (or have a Board-agreed payment plan for Club fees) for the competition(s) they have indicated they wish to play. The below season ‘packages’ are being proposed. We will try to honour these to the best of our ability but they remain aspirational and subject to change (or not even occur) if restrictions prevent. Should a proposed season be shortened/cancelled the Board will look at reasonable, commensurate fees structures - it is hoped that our providence thus far provides you assurance in our ability to effectively manage your fees. Package One – Full CL and SL Seasons
- Training - One hour training per week, from week commencing 8 Jun. - CL Games - 21 Rounds and two Finals Rounds, commencing weekend 10-12 Jul and finishing weekend 20-22 Nov - SL Games – 20 Rounds and two Finals Rounds, commencing weekend 17-19 Jul and finishing weekend 20-22 Nov - Cost (in addition to $43+GST HA Levy) – UC Student $480, Non UC Student $530, Goalie (with own gear) $265, Junior $400, Representative and Second Grade Fees by arrangement with Board in line with current fee structure. * Note – Cannot be selected in conjunction with Package Two. Package Two – Reduced SL Season - Training - One hour training per week, from week commencing 8 Jun.
- CL Games - As per package 1 - SL Games – 16 Rounds and two Finals Rounds, commencing weekend 17-19 Jul and finishing weekend 30 Oct-1 Nov. - Cost: SL only (in addition to $43+gst HA Levy) – UC Student $410, Non UC Student $450, Goalie (with own gear) $225, Junior $340, Representative and Second Grade Fees by arrangement with Board in line with discounted fee structure. (*CL cost remains as in package 1) * Note – Cannot be selected in conjunction with Package One Package Three – ‘Winter’ Social Season - Training – None - Social Games – 8 social games on Friday nights, commencing 31 Jul and finishing 18 Sep. - Cost (in addition to $43+gst HA Levy) – Everyone $80 (additional to any other competition fees). *Note – Can be selected in conjunction with Package One or Two. Your Action. Reply to this email and copy/respond to the following questions: Full Name: Package(s): Any expected unavailability of 3 weeks or greater: Responses to ucdevils@gmail.com and Fee payment (if not already held by Club) are required by 7pm on Mon 01 June.
To be perfectly clear, if you don’t reply to this post by emailing the club at ucdevils@gmail.com and/or you haven’t paid then we will not allocate a spot for you.
Please also let your mates know in case they haven’t received this email, don’t have social media or generally live under a rock! It is expected that there will be questions regarding the above and other aspects of the proposed season(s), a Zoom session will be held at 6:30pm on Wed 27 May to provide clarification and answer your questions
- Meeting ID: 6961787774
- Password: 729229.
Please send any questions prior to the meeting to UC Hockey Club in Messenger – this will also be the best way to ask questions during the session. I appreciate you taking the time to read this post and I hope you are better informed to make a decision, looking forward to catching up soon. Go Devils! Jimmy