News

LET THE GAMES BEGIN! NCYSA announces game guidelines.

Date Posted: 9/10/2020

Strikers of Gaston County Soccer Association

Competition Protocols

 

Hello everyone, 

 

The Strikers of Gaston County Soccer Association (SGCSA) would like to welcome you to our facilities. We are excited for the players to be able to play soccer again.  We would also like to share with you our COVID protocols SGCSA will utilize for home matches.   These protocols are modeled after the guidance received from the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association (the “NCYSA”).  We ask that you forward these to your families. 

 

The protocols are meant to provide assurance that SGCSA is taking our safety responsibilities seriously. We will not be able to play a match against any team who does not abide by these protocols.

 

If you have questions, please contact the coach or manager you have been communicating with to schedule games.  

 

For additional information on what our club is doing to maintain a healthy environment please follow this

link: 

 

 

 

Protocols

 

PLAYERS

• Players MUST wear masks at ALL times at field, except when they are on the actual field of play. This includes substitutes who are not in the game.
• Players must answer questions in a COVID symptoms check before their match.  The coach will ask these questions and document who has all responded.  This may be done electronically or in-person. The checklist is shown on the last page of these protocols.  Any player exhibiting any COVID symptom may not participate in the match. 
• Players must set up their bags a minimum distance of 6 feet from any other players’ bags on the sideline. Coaches are strongly encouraged to lay out cones to provide a guide for sideline spacing. 
• See Parents responsibilities - When temperatures checks are being performed at the field, all players, coaches and spectators must have their temperature taken. Anyone with a temperature above 100.1 oF will not be allowed access to the field. 
• There will be no benches provided at the fields. There will be no communal water stations or team tents allowed on the sidelines.
• Players should use hand sanitizer before, after and when possible, during matches at breaks.
• Players should use their own equipment and water bottle and touch another player’s equipment or water bottle. 
• Avoid unnecessary contact with other players, no group celebrations or high-fives before, during after games. No handshakes after games.  

 

COACHES

• Coaches MUST wear masks during the game and at all times while at the fields. If a coach temporarily removes his/her mask to give instructions, they must be at minimum 10 feet away from any other person and replace their mask immediately after giving instructions.
• Coaches MUST certify to home coach that all players have been asked the COVID symptoms check

list and have reported that they are free of all symptoms and have not been exposed to anyone who is COVID positive or who is suspected of being COVID positive. Home team coach will confirm this with visiting coach as well.

• Coaches must communicate to home coach, in advance, if there have been any cases of COVID within the team in the last 10 days, and if so, specific circumstances around it so that and informed decision can be made as to whether or not the match will be played. The home coach will be required to make the same information available.
• Coaches are responsible for maintaining the social distancing of their teams on the sideline and ensuring that their players follow all protocols regarding mask wearing. This includes social distancing during team talks before, during and after the match.
• Coaches must have their team depart the team bench area within 5 minutes of the end of the match.
• Coaches should not have their team arrive at the bench area until the previous team has cleared the area completely.

 

 

PARENTS / SPECTATORS

• Spectators MUST wear masks while at the SGCSA Home fields. 
• We ask that each team have a maximum of 25 spectators so that parents of each team has ample opportunity to watch their child play. 
• Spectators should maintain a minimum distance of 6 feet off the touchline and 10 feet from any other family group while enjoying the match
• Spectators should be on the half of the field corresponding with the half of the field that their team is set up on
• Spectators should not retrieve balls that go out of play.  
• Please show courtesy to others that may be uncomfortable with returning to activities.
• Parents should take temperature prior to leaving their house for the field.   Coaches may, but are not required to take the temperatures of players. 

 

 

COVID SYMPTOMS CHECKLIST

Coaches must maintain strict confidentiality of the answered questions.  If a “yes” answer is given, the coach should discuss the situation with the player’s parent(s) as discreetly as possible.  We should ask the result of any COVID tests are communicated to the SGCSA Coach or Manager.  

 

If others must be notified because they were close to that player that answered “yes”, names should not be used, only that the other player(s) may have been in contact with someone that has COVID symptoms.  

• In the past 14 days, have you experience a fever of 100.4 degrees or higher?
• In the past 14 days, have you received a positive result from a COVID-19 test?
• Are you experiencing any of the following symptoms?
  • Cough
  • Loss of Taste or Smell
  • Runny Nose
  • Shortness of Breath
  • Sore Throat
  • Fever
  • Shortness of Breath
  • Chills
  • Trouble Breathing
  • Chest Pains
• In the past 14 days, have you been exposed to anyone who has tested positive for COVID-19 or is suspected of having COVID?
• IN the past 14 days
• COVID-19 by a health care provider in the past 7 days?