IT's a waiting game that has at times been excruciating.
For the athletes playing community and elite-level sport in the Hunter and across Australia, coronavirus meant a sudden separation from team training and change-room banter, the rough and tumble of the sport on court and field.
Newcastle-based Sam Poolman, a Giants defender in the Suncorp Super Netball league, was hit hard by the lockdown.
"I don't find myself thinking I am better than anyone else but you go into a bubble as an elite athlete and you are unaware of things that are going on," she says.
"We knew things were serious but ... we went from training full-time to having the weekend off, to going to a meeting to being told we were going to lockdown.
"I am a busy person.
"To go from that to literally being at home all day is really challenging.
"The first couple of weeks were quite scary."
Poolman and Newcastle Jets player Jason Hoffman soon harnessed their skills to help athletes of every level make the best of social distancing.
Both have shot training videos for Greater Bank's Together Greater online platform, including a weekly challenge their followers are encouraged to perform and share.
Poolman has drawn on her Aspire program - which offers elite Hunter netball training so talented local players don't have to make the travel sacrifices she did as a budding player - reinstill connectivity among her tribe.
"Everyone is wanting to go into the backyard, that's what you did when you are younger. I said 'Let's go back to what we used to do, work out where we can, so when we return to the court it will help us improve," Poolman says.
Newcastle Netball Association president Cheryl Hernando says the sport had been given a green light for training in groups of up to 10 players, with games slated to resume in July.
The association has 3700 members and 42 clubs.
"There are risk assessment plans; we still have a long way to go," she says.
"Yes, we have directive from state bodies that we can train but there are many protocols and procedures that must be put in place with social distancing and no-contact rules."
Financially, she says the club is travelling ok, despite sponsors falling by the way side.
"The beautiful thing is everyone understands, we've said 'That's ok, we'll be back next year," she says.
For now, online training continues and players have been mostly patient as they count down to court time.
"With netball its' the camaraderie and getting into groups of friends ... that is what they have been missing because they haven't been at school either," she says.
"I've still got friends who I played with at nine and I'm now 56."
Newcastle Jets chief executive officer Lawrie McKinna says he's a "glass half full kind of person" but admits that waiting for updates on when restrictions will ease has tested his mettle.
"You get flat but I have to be up all the time because my job is to be up, If I am walking around like a sourpuss, it affects everyone else," he says.
"I'm a social person and the first thing I'm asked is 'When's training' and you can't answer and it's frustrating."
With it now looking like the Jets can train as early as June, McKinna says the team is "pretty upbeat" despite players being placed on JobKeeper.
The club has supported them with home training programs, including pilates and yoga online.
"A few are training together ...they are doing it off their own bat because it's easier when you are doing it with someone," he says.
We knew things were serious but ... We went from training full-time to having the weekend off, to going to a meeting to being told we were going to lockdown. I am a busy person. To go from that to literally being at home all day is really challenging. The first couple of weeks were quite scary.
- Sam Poolman
"The boys will come back fresh and very fit because that's just the group they are and some other clubs might not be as focused as a group like ours.
"It could be to our benefit.
"We could make the finals if we get off to a good start."
McKinna was worried about the virus' impact on community sport, a feeder to elite level talent.
"Some National Premier League players get paid from the gates and canteen and if they can't generate that ... I saw in Victoria someone saying, 'Why play the season, we lose money," he said.
"There are many cogs that produce players and if there are glitches it will affect us - and we are not producing enough Aussie players as it is."
Jets player Jason Hoffman said the videos helped to spread positivity.
"If people feel overwhelmed and restricted, this is a way they can gain control in their own backyard," he says, "getting fresh air and a mental break from the reality of what is a difficult period."
He cannot wait to train again with his team-mates ahead of the resumption of the A-League season.
"It's the reason you get into sport - to work day in day out is something you live for," he says.
"The hunger to get back to normality and see the boys is huge."
Together, not Alone is a partnership between Out of the Square, the Newcastle Herald and the Greater Bank. Its aim is to inspire some positivity in these difficult times and will feature a series of stories that explore kindness, innovation, creativity, celebration and mindfulness among businesses and the community.
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If you have a story worth telling, contact Penelope Green: penelope.green@newcastleherald.com.au
