Tinton Falls Soccer Club

Soccer Activities Status Update

Updated: 6/20/20

Good morning TFSC players and parents.

I hope all of you are doing well.  This email concerns return-to-play timing and protocols for the Tinton Falls Soccer Club (TFSC).

As you probably know, Governor Murphy has stated that organized youth sports activities can resume, with social distancing restrictions, on June 22nd.  The TFSC has developed Return-to-Play protocols that all participants will need to read and acknowledge, in writing, prior to returning to play.  A waiver will also need to be signed.  Your coach will distribute this paperwork to you if your team intends to train between June 22nd and July 6th.  Prior to June 22nd, all TFSC soccer activities continue to be suspended.

Considering that the Governor has also stated that training sessions involving contact and team competition can begin as early as July 6th, protocols will need to be modified for these activities that apparently will not require social distancing (we are still waiting for guidance from soccer governing bodies and the state with respect to this phase of return-to-play).  If your team does not intend to train between June 22nd and July 6th, I would recommend you wait for the update to protocols that will be required for this phase of return-to-play.  

With respect to facilities, we are currently NOT allowed to utilize Borough of Tinton Falls fields.  I continue to work with the Borough to coordinate return-to-play protocols and the Borough has been very supportive with respect to this and I hope to have field access shortly. Thus, currently, if teams do want to practice, practices will be restricted to fields not under the jurisdiction of Tinton Falls and, prior to commencing any soccer activities, TFSC players, coaches, and trainers will all have to acknowledge in writing that each has read and will adhere to the TFSC return-to-play protocols and will also have to sign a waiver.

Overriding all of this information is that if you, as a parent, or if your son/daughter is not comfortable with returning to soccer - then please DON'T.  There is going to be risk in returning to soccer activities.  Even though the TFSC has taken a lot of time to develop protocols, these protocols will simply work to help minimize the risk of contracting COVID-19, not eliminate the risk.  This is a personal choice that you as a parent have to make for your child.  The TFSC respects any decision that families make with respect to sending your child to participate in training or not allowing your child to participate.  If you have any reservations, please make your coach aware.  Please know that returning to play is not mandatory.  Your child will not lose their roster spot on a team if they do not immediately participate with their team.  

We are taking the COVID-19 situation very seriously and we want to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, the safety of all TFSC participants.  If you have any questions, please direct them to your team's coach or manager.

Thank you,

Dave Stone
President  - Tinton Falls Soccer Club

 

Updated: 5/22/20

Dear TFSC Parents,

I hope that this email finds you and your family well and that you are making the best of the Covid-19 situation.  

I want to provide you with an update as to the status of soccer activities at the state and the local levels.  At the state level, New Jersey Youth Soccer, our governing body, continues to suspend all soccer activities until further notice.  This week, it has published a set of guidelines for returning to play, but these guidelines are subject to change and are not yet ready for implementation.  I attach the Return to Play guidelines for your review, but again, these are subject to change.

At the local level, MOSA has canceled its Spring 2020 season.  Most TFSC teams play exclusively in MOSA, so this impacts the majority of our teams.  MOSA has communicated that it is open to some form of a summer league; however, this is subject to completing the phases for return to play as a prerequisite.  MOSA has also communicated that all flighting in Fall 2020 will be based, to a great degree, on Spring 2020 flighting.  This flighting was never communicated to parents, but if you are interested, please ask your coach and I will get him or her the information.  

EDP has yet to cancel its leagues or its post-Memorial Day tournaments, but since all soccer activities in the state continue to be suspended, the chance of having a Spring season in the Spring or even in the summer of 2020 is becoming less and less.  

The TFSC will be spending the next few weeks and months reviewing these Return to Play guidelines and coming up with a set of protocols to make sure they are implemented adequately and that, when the time comes to resume soccer activities, players, coaches, trainers, and parents are put in as safe a situation as is humanly possible.  I currently do not have a timeline for returning to play and obviously this timeline will be first directed by government authorities and soccer governing bodies and second, and ultimately, by each of you as parents.  

Annually, soccer clubs hold tryouts in the Spring for the upcoming Fall soccer season.  The TFSC tryouts were going to be held in late April / early May and were obviously canceled.  We are currently unable to reschedule these tryouts at this time and, although this is still a fluid situation, we may choose to hold tryouts on a team-by-team basis this year, rather than at the club level.  This all depends on return to play protocols and timing.

Finally, many of you ordered uniforms and other apparel in the early part of this year, for original delivery in late March.  Our supplier, Athletes Alley, was forced to close its business from Mid-March until this week due to state-wide Covid-19 restrictions.  I have been in contact with Athletes Alley and they have assured me that in about another week or so, they should be in a position to start getting orders ready for pickup via coaches.  I realize that this is going to be anticlimactic for many of you, but I'm sure most of your purchases will still be put to good use in the future.  If you have any issue with the fulfillment of these orders, please contact your coach, who will then contact me to resolve.

Take care and stay safe,


Sincerely,
Dave Stone

Leagues & Affiliates

US Club Soccer

US Club Soccer

US Youth Soccer

US Youth Soccer

New Jersey Youth Soccer

New Jersey Youth Soccer

MOSA

MOSA

EDP

EDP

EDP