Softball Australia (SA), together with all Member States and Territories (MS), are pleased to announce the rescheduled dates for the 2022 Australian National Championships.

Included in this announcement are the dates and venues for the inaugural Over 35 National Championships.

In deciding the rescheduled dates for National Championships, extensive consultation was undertaken, which included surveying prospective National Championship participants. More than 600 people responded to the survey, which shaped the dates and event formats for the 2022 Championships.

SA continues to closely monitor COVID-related restrictions within each state. Based on current State Government roadmaps, SA is confident all states will be able to participate in National Championships and events will proceed within those states that have hosting rights.

Prospective participants and those considering travelling to events need to be aware there are different restrictions in each state, which are regularly reviewed and updated by respective State Governments. All rules and restrictions in place within a host state at the time of an event must be adhered to.

Based on current State Government roadmaps, there will be restrictions on interstate travel, particularly for those who are not fully vaccinated. These are listed below:

Queensland

Once 90% of the eligible Queensland population (people aged 16 and older) is fully vaccinated, those who are not fully vaccinated will need to meet the relevant requirements for entry, and will be required to undertake a period of quarantine. Quarantine periods will be determined once Australian Health Protection Principal Committee advice has been received and considered. This period may be up to 14 days.

South Australia

Once 90 per cent of South Australians aged 12+ are fully vaccinated, there will be a period of 14 days quarantine for unvaccinated arrivals.

Western Australia

With a 90 per cent double dose rate (12 years and older), expected in late January/early February, interstate arrivals will be required to:

• be double dose vaccinated (for eligible people)
• return a negative PCR test 72 hours before departure
• undertake a test on arrival in WA (to be phased out, pending a review).

State Government roadmaps and COVID-related information is available via the following websites:

ACT

The ACT's Pathway Forward

NSW

Roadmap for easing COVID-19 restrictions

Queensland

Roadmap to easing restrictions

Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccination plans

South Australia

South Australia Covid-Ready Plan

Victoria

Roadmap: Delivering the National Plan

Western Australia

WA’s Safe Transition Plan

Currently, SA is not implementing a requirement for event participants to be fully vaccinated. However, SA strongly recommends everyone within the softball community be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

A COVID Safe Plan will be developed and implemented for each event. COVID Safe Plans will cover a range of rules, restrictions and expectations, including (but not limited to) the following topics:

• State Government rules within the host state
• Travel and accommodation requirements
• Playing venue rules and requirements
• COVID-19 testing frequency and protocols
• Procedures for participants with COVID-19 symptoms or a positive COVID-19 test

As in previous years, all participants will be required to sign a waiver agreeing to all associated event risks. The waiver for 2022 events will include COVID-19 related information. The waiver will not include detail regarding player levies: these remain the responsibility of Member States and Territories. In the event of any event being cancelled, all  refunds or partial refunds are at the discretion of each Member State and Territory.

Event Dates and Venues

Survey respondents for each championship indicated their preferred month of play was April. SA has therefore aimed to schedule as many National Championships in this month as possible.

Furthermore, most prospective participants would prefer to play a double round robin with two games per team per day for each championship.

The only championship where prospective participants would prefer each team to play three games per day is U14s. Given this age group plays games of 80 minutes duration rather than 7 innings, it was felt by SA and MS that this was a manageable load for this age group.

To maintain consistency across all events, each National Championship will be played over six days. Should only four or five teams enter a championship, an extended finals series will be adopted.

The dates and venues for 2022 national events are listed below:

In setting event dates, SA also considered the following factors:

Venue availability

Mirrabooka in WA is unavailable from 23-30 April, as the Australian Masters Games are being held  during that time, whilst West Beach in South Australia is unavailable from 22-26 April, with the venue hosting the Baseball State Charter Championships across.

Baseball events

Many respondents in the survey expressed a desire to avoid a clash with Baseball State and National Charter Championships. However, with prospective participants also wanting to hold the National Championships in April, it is extremely difficult to avoid clashing with all baseball events in this month.

With the U16 Boys’ National Championship expected to have fewer teams than the U14 Boys, SA has worked to avoid a clash of dates between the U16 Boys’ National Championship and the State Baseball Charter Championships to be held in April.

Time off school for U18s

Given many players at the U18 National Championships will be in Years 11 and 12 at school, SA has made every effort to minimise the time required to be taken off school for students. It should be noted there are only four days where every state is on school holidays simultaneously  (15-18 April).

Separation between Open and U23 Championships

SA has sought to have a break between the Open and U23 National Championships for the same gender. Given national squads and teams for world events in 2022 will be selected from these events, and that there is the potential of some participants playing in both events, SA felt it was important not to have these events in consecutive weeks.

Avoid playing the U16 Championships in the same week as the U14 or U18 Championships

Given that several participants who play in the U16 National Championships will also play in either the U14 or U18 National Championships, SA felt it was important not to schedule the U16 Championships in the same week as either of these events.

Junior tournaments played during the school term

Over 80% of parents for prospective U14 and U16 participants indicated they were happy for their child to take time off from school to play at National Championships. This allowed SA to consider dates outside of the school holiday period for these events.

Opportunity to return home on final day of the event

All championships, except for the U18s in WA, will conclude by mid-afternoon, to allow participants the opportunity to return home that evening. For the U18s in WA, the latest direct flight from Perth to some capital cities is too early in the day to allow for a mid-afternoon finish. Therefore, U18 National Championship participants should plan to return home on Monday 18 April.

It should also be noted the U18 National Championships will be played over Easter, including on Good Friday (15 April). No games will commence before midday on Good Friday.

Inaugural Over 35 National Championships

Ipswich Softball Association in Queensland will host the inaugural Over 35 National Championships, from Sunday 26 – Friday 1 July 2022.

Ipswich had been awarded hosting rights of the 2021 U23 Women’s and Men’s National Championships. However, these championships were cancelled due to COVID-19.

The inaugural Over 35 National Championships presents a fantastic opportunity for Ipswich to host their first National Championship for almost 20 years, after previously hosting the 2004 U23 Women’s National Championship.

The championship dates were selected to best fit between several events, including the Softball Victoria Masters (11-13 June), International Friendship Series training camp and tournament ( July), Softball Queensland AGM weekend (16-17 July) and Softball Queensland Masters (5-7 August).

SA looks forward to working closely with MS and Host Associations over the coming months to deliver long overdue national events for our members in a COVID-safe manner.