Katherine's sporting fields have been a deserted over the past few months but came alive on the weekend with soccer, softball and cricket in the sun.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
From the tiny future soccer stars to senior men's cricketers enjoying a beer while waiting to bat, residents enjoyed their first real crack at dry-season sport this year.
Golfers were out and about on the course enjoying the competition of the Katherine open.
The under six and under twelve soccer teams led the way in the morning, with plenty of parents making the most of the occasion to chat the day away while their kids finally burnt off some energy.
Anthony Busch was down watching his five-year-old son Edmund this morning, and said it's a relief to see him running around again.
"This morning is just all about the kids finally getting out and about," he said.
"Saturday during the pandemic he would have been just lying around.
"It's definitely harder with kids because they don't really understand what's going on, and it's good for us parents come down and socialise as well.
"It's just good fun," Mr Busch said.
The soccer league's under 15 and open divisions started Wednesday night, and the club is looking to fill positions as it throws together a season it didn't expect to have.
"Our numbers are great but we do have some positions still vacant," committee member Nicole Gadd said.
"We have our Annual General Meeting Wednesday so we'd love to see some people volunteer to referee especially and we'll pay for their training," she said.
Softball was next up with Tindal, the Rebels and the Rockers playing a round-robin competition.
Katherine Softball president Dianna Ross has been playing softball for a good 30 years and was overjoyed to be back out on the pitch with the women's teams.
"We've gone from six teams last year to three this year so we're just running a round-robin to start off with," she said.
"Everybody is smiling and happy to be here though and it is a very supportive atmosphere.
"The Indigenous girls love softball as well so we hope to go play some games in the communities as well soon.
"We're still looking at the NT championship in September too so we've made a good start here today, and we'll keep looking into some other options over the next few weeks," Ms Ross said.
Finally the senior men's cricketers took the field with 20-20 games between the Camels, Cows and Bats.
Katherine District Cricket League president Steve Kaft says the league has changed formats to make for a faster paced game this season.
"We're going to run a 16-game season ending in September so it's a great result for us to be out playing," he said.
"We're playing with no LBW rule and all leg-side bowls as wides, which is is just to try make it a faster-paced game with plenty of runs.
"We're trying to get the numbers together for a junior league as well, we have about twenty at the moment coming down to train so we're almost there.
"We'd love to have a mixed competition at some stage as well, but it's just great to get started today first," Mr Kaft said.
Katherine Camels player Tim Delaney was sipping a cold beer on the sidelines while waiting for his chance to bat.
He said the competition gets heated enough come season's end, but is primarily a way to come down and socialise with other community members.
"We've even got a few new players this year which is great, and we're looking at fielding a second team so we can square up the league at four teams," he said.
"There's some good cricketers here and we do want to win, so come the end of the year we'll be having a red hot crack.
"We are having a beer today though just enjoying being back down at the ground again," Mr Delaney said.
While you're with us, you can now receive updates straight to your inbox each Friday at 6am from the Katherine Times. To make sure you're up to date with all the news, sign up here.
