Dear SCSC Families,
I hope this email finds you all doing well, feeling healthy and staying safe. These times are like nothing any of us have probably ever lived through ever in our lives, in our everyday life, work, outside agencies, youth sports, you name it.
Here are just a few updates for you as far as things go for the spring season, etc.
New York State West Youth Soccer Association (NYSWYSA), our state youth soccer governing body, is following closely the guidelines set forth by US Youth Soccer, and for that matter the social distancing guidelines set by local, state and federal government. NYSWYSA has just extended the time before any youth soccer activities can start until after April 30th. Since US Youth Soccer and NYSWYSA govern the leagues we play in, we are all waiting to see what will come next and SCSC will continue to follow their lead and guidelines. See the full NYSWYSA announcement below, along with a link to their special “We kick Corona” newsletter.
At this point the Broome County Soccer Association (BCSA) League, which many of our teams compete in, has postponed any activity until May 11th, with hopes that teams will still be able to get their season in within the league. BCSA has extended the deadline for the season until the end of July (if needed). SCSC Coaches with teams in this league have been receiving frequent updates and hopefully conveying those updates to each of you.
As for the Thruway Soccer League, which a few of our teams plan to compete in, the Board of that league has said they will follow US Youth Soccer and NYSWYSA. As such, do, so we are in a holding pattern there as well, but obviously nothing starting till May. The Thruway League already had a mid July finish the season date, so I am sure although they have not said, they would be willing to extend this.
For SCSC teams competing in the New York State West State Cup, the NYSWYSA State Cup Committee met on Thursday 4/2/2020 and decided to move the NYSWYSA State Cup 2020 to the end of the season to allow all clubs as much time as possible to complete league play and to attend tournaments of their choice. The NYSWYSA State Cup 2020 will now be held over two weekends at the end of the season, with multiple games guaranteed and finals. The revised dates are the weekends of July, 25th-26th in Batavia and August, 1st - 2nd August in Rochester. As a consequence of this change NYSWYSA will reopen the registration window Monday 6th April for further teams to enter.
Finally, in line with these governing body and league guidelines, SCSC will continue to suspend all play through the end of April.
We are all eager to return to the fields, to our teammates and our friends, but must continue to practice patience and social distancing. While we were fortunate to complete all but a couple weeks of our Winter season, including indoor practices, I’m sure many are concerned with the balance of the season, as likewise our Board is. We will do all we can, within the boundaries set upon us, to resume play this year. In the event play doesn’t resume, we will need to address how to handle the program fees collected. While those fees have not been entirely used, much has including registrations, insurance, indoor rental space, leagues fees (which we hope would be refunded), not to mention in the event of a complete cancellation of the remaining season, we would still like to honor and thank our coaches by providing a stipend of some level. We hope we will not need to ‘cross that bridge’, but wanted to ask for your patience if we do indeed need to cross it, and to ask you to thoughtfully consider donating the remaining refund/credit should we need to move to that next step.
We hope all of our SCSC families find this update useful. It captures what we know and where we stand with our Spring program, and at this point, as it is with most anything associated with this pandemic, things remain uncertain, with many of our daily activities being postponed or pushed out.
In closing we wish you all the best, and as further updates become available we will surely let you know. Stay healthy!
Regards,
SCSC Board of Directors and Directors of Coaching
New State State West Youth Soccer Association announcement (3/3/20)
In line with the US Government's announcement to maintain social distancing until April 30 and the position of the United States Soccer Federation, NYSWYSA is extending suspension of its programming until April 30th 2020.
We would advise all our members during this time, that whilst players are not active, we are still planning for season commencement and that they should be doing the same. With this in mind, please continue to complete club administration so that when restrictions are lifted we can start playing immediately.
Stay safe and well, we expect to see everyone back on the fields soon.
New York State West Youth Soccer Association.
NYSWYSA Newletter
Are you bored at home? Please find our special newsletter "We kick Corona!". In our first special newsletter we will offer samples of practice sessions to develop our players' creativity.
Please click the following link to read the newsletter --> "The decision maker on the field"