COVID-19
Return to Play
COVID has affected youth sports, all sports really, all over the world. You already know this. The question is: what is our position and our plan going forward?
For starters, we're following all Montgomery county guidelines, MSYSA guidelines, and US Youth Soccer protocols. Lot's of people can say "no" or "slow," but none of us can say "go" without the others. Click on any of the above links for a whole lotta information on the subject. We work within a system and we comply with the tightest of the policies prescribed.
What Should We Expect?
Our Summer program will be well supervised. There will be a lead coach with a USSF B license, lot's of experience working with kids, and well practiced in COVID protocols. We've been practicing how to make things work safely for months now!
If things continue the way they are now, we will have to limit how many people we allow on the field at a time. This should be good motivation to help out as a coach!
Our Fall season will be awesome if you agree to join us now and help us kick it off with a bang! We opened registration in June, and hope to get everyone registered by July 30 - in time to order new uniforms. Spread the word and get everyone excited (you can help with this!), and get back on the fields in September. Imagine each of our communities: Germantown, Damascus, Gaithersburg, and Clarksburg all suiting up, donning their finest fitness gear, and getting back onto fields!!
Our safety precautions will include a careful watch for post-COVID syndromes. We don't think the risk is a whole lot higher than it was pre-COVID, but we must watch for return to play injuries, overuse, and some experts have written papers talking about a slight increase in the risk for cardiac issues in people who have had COVID - even if asymptomatic.
With Safety and an abundance of caution in mind, we'll be getting trained int he usual subjects like concussion awareness and treatment, youth protection, and we're adding a refresher for many coaches on how to recognize and respond to Sudden Cardiac Death. Again... we don't expect any bad stuff to happen, but we want to be prepared all the same.
