Seattle United COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates
Club Traveling Policy: Please note that Seattle United is following the WA State Department of Health officials recommendation of a minimum 10-day self-quarantine (or 7-day quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test performed on the 6th or 7th day after returning home) should any club family or coach choose to travel out of state for any non-essential reason. The club expects – based on the honor system – our families to comply with these public health recommendations.
(2/8) UPDATE – Travel Policy Reminder: Mid-Winter Break
Club Traveling Policy: Please note that Seattle United is following the WA State Department of Health officials recommendation of a minimum 10-day self-quarantine (or 7-day quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test performed on the 6th or 7th day after returning home) should any club family or coach choose to travel out of state for any non-essential reason. The club expects – based on the honor system – our families to comply with these public health recommendations.
(2/5) UPDATE – Spectator Field Protocol
We are excited to see our teams back on the pitch this weekend! This is a long time coming, and we would like to thank you for your patience and perseverance.
We are all obligated to follow field guidelines and protocols as established by the cities of Seattle and Shoreline. We know that our families will adhere to the guidelines below. In the future, these rules may change, in which case will update you on any new spectator protocols.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.
Spectators: We work with multiple field providers, and each of them can have sets of rules that are specific to their fields that may differ from other fields. It is important that we know and communicate to our families what the rules are for the specific field your team will be playing on. See below for individual field rules:
· Shoreline A/B – we will NOT be able to have spectators at games due to the use of Shoreline B for 9v9 fields, which will put us right at the 75 per field maximum (based upon player count) that they allow.
· Twin Ponds – we can have 1 spectator per player capped at 75 spectators, including players/coaches/referees.
· Ridgecrest Elementary – we will NOT be able to have spectators due to two games going on at a time, which does not allow enough space for spectators.
· Shorewood/Shorecrest HS – we can have 1 spectator per player capped at 75 spectators per field, including players/coaches/referees.
· Seattle Parks/School Fields – we can have 1 spectator per player capped at 75 spectators per field, including players/coaches/referees.
(1/28) UPDATE
The club is aware of Governor Inslee’s announcement today that the Puget Sound region (King, Pierce, and Snohomish counties) is eligible to move into Phase 2 of his Healthy Washington plan beginning Monday, February 1. This is exciting news! We are working diligently on the next steps, including working with the City of Seattle and City of Shoreline, for us to ensure that we are able to start playing games on February 6/7th. We ask for your patience as we work through these details. We expect to have more information to share with you in the next 24 hours. To be clear, there are no games this weekend.
(1/10) UPDATE
As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the region and the country, we need to remain diligent in doing our part to protect everyone as best we can. Player health and safety remain paramount at Seattle United. Our Medical Advisory Committee encourages all club members to adhere to public health recommendations, including wearing a mask at all times when around others outside of your immediate household, frequently washing hands, social distancing, and avoiding any social or holiday gatherings with individuals outside of your household. Our expectation is that all players, parents, and coaches will remain committed to following these health recommendations in an effort to ensure the health and safety of those within our community and beyond.
As we approach the holiday break, we would like to thank you, our families and players, for your ongoing commitment to the club throughout this tumultuous year. Few things have been easy in 2020, but the support from our families has been nothing short of extraordinary, and for that we are sincerely grateful.
(12/18) UPDATE
As the number of COVID-19 cases continue to surge across the region and the country, we need to remain diligent in doing our part to protect everyone as best we can. Player health and safety remain paramount at Seattle United. Our Medical Advisory Committee encourages all club members to adhere to public health recommendations, including wearing a mask at all times when around others outside of your immediate household, frequently washing hands, social distancing, and avoiding any social or holiday gatherings with individuals outside of your household. Our expectation is that all players, parents, and coaches will remain committed to following these health recommendations in an effort to ensure the health and safety of those within our community and beyond.
Club training will resume on Monday, January 11, 2021. Please note that state public health officials recommend a minimum 10-day self-quarantine (or 7-day quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test performed on the 6th or 7th day after returning home) should any club family or coach choose to travel out of state or gather with people outside of their immediate household for holiday celebrations. The club expects – based on the honor system – our families to comply with these public health recommendations.
SU Training App. Seattle United has created a training app for all of our players to use over the holidays. This is a free, supplemental training program for those individuals who want to stay active and conditioned over the holiday break. Please click on the link below to download the app and follow the instructions to get started. We have planned for three weeks of training, three times per week, running from December 19th to January 10th.
Club training will resume on Monday, January 11, 2021. Please note that state public health officials recommend a minimum 10-day self-quarantine (or 7-day quarantine with a negative COVID-19 test performed on the 6th or 7th day after returning home) should any club family or coach choose to travel out of state or gather with people outside of their immediate household for holiday celebrations. The club expects – based on the honor system – our families to comply with these public health recommendations.
(11/30) UPDATE
With the number of positive cases continuing to surge across the area and the country, we need to remain diligent in doing our part to protect everyone.
If you traveled out of state for Thanksgiving weekend, or if you attended a gathering that involved people outside your immediate family, per state Public Health recommendations we request you self-isolate for 7 days and provide a negative COVID test before returning to training, or stay away from training for 14 days.
As always, Seattle United and our Medical Committee are committed to following all state and local health guidelines in order to ensure the health and safety of our players, coaches, and families.
(11/16) UPDATE
(11/13) UPDATE
Dear Families,
We wanted to give a status update regarding the current COVID-19 activity in our state and our continued discussions with Governor Inslee’s office about a return to full practices and competitions. As you are aware, the fall surge has sparked increasing rates of COVID-19 throughout Washington. As a club, we must do our part to keep our families and community safe, and we understand that extra precautions need to be taken in order to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. In our conversations with the Governor’s office, there has been discussion of players being required to wear masks during physical activity in order to return to full team trainings and games. In light of this, the RCS (Regional Club Subcommittee) met on Wednesday morning to discuss the wearing of masks during training, and it was recommended that clubs begin to implement this new mask-wearing policy. Beginning the week of November 16th, clubs will be asking players to wear masks during training. For this purpose, any secure facial covering as outlined by the WA Dept. of Health is acceptable (loose bandana-type wraps, however, are discouraged).
We realize this will be an adjustment and also suggest training sessions be modified to allow more frequent breaks while players get used to wearing a mask during exercise. Beginning this new mask-wearing policy now will help acclimate players if/when we can return to games where masks may be required. While we believe youth soccer presents a low risk with regards to virus transmission, we also believe wearing masks during practice is a reasonable request given rising COVID-19 activity and further demonstrates our commitment to the health and safety of our players and families.
Thank you for your patience and understanding while we work to get the players back safely to full play. If you have any questions, please contact our club leadership.
(11/11) UPDATE
SU Families,
We want to share where we stand with regards to team travel as out of state tournaments and showcases get closer for some of our teams. At this time, given the state of the pandemic team travel remains suspended at Seattle United.
We as a club are following the WA governor’s guidelines for travel along with recommendations from the RCS committee, which directs the RCL clubs on policies along with WYSA. We are also working internally with our medical and travel committee to put forward a travel policy for when travel is approved.
Events held before January 1st 2021 fall into the NCAA recruiting dead period; this meaning no Division 1 schools can attend the event in person for recruiting.
D2 and D3 schools can currently attend events such as the November ECNL showcase, however, we have reached out to a large number of these schools especially on the West Coast and many have shared that they will not be attending due to their own school travel restrictions and/or budget restrictions that have been placed on their programs per the Covid situation.
Seattle United’s main focus is to the health and welfare of our players and families. We are evaluating this situation weekly and once travel is approved/recommended we will be working with those teams who need to travel.
(11/6) UPDATE
(10/15) UPDATE
(10/9) UPDATE
As we communicated earlier this week, we remain very pleased that Governor Jay Inslee announced revised guidelines for youth sports. The announcement includes specific guidelines for youth soccer that will allow Seattle United to resume full contact training and to participate in games! We would encourage everyone to continue to follow State guidelines for social distancing and wearing masks. There have been no changes to our Return to Play (RTP) protocols (see below). Players should continue to enter and exit fields with masks on, separate bags from one another, and apply hand sanitizer before and after training.
Continued compliance with public health recommendations for players off the field and for families outside of soccer also remains critical to our continued progress on the pitch. We ask that you remain vigilant. Individuals are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19 in their community, and research supports soccer as a lower risk activity. Of course, all families should assess their comfort level in proceeding with full practices and/or games, and Seattle United will support those families in their decision.
While we are returning to full contact training, scrimmages, and soon, games, to be safe, we will still place some restrictions on our contact training to further mitigate any unnecessary contact. Below is a list of modifications that we are asking our coaches to implement in trainings:
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No lines for activities
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No huddling of players
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No throw-ins during training or inter-squad scrimmages
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No opposed corner kicks (may work on unopposed attacking corner kicks)
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No prolonged shielding activities
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No sharing of training bibs
We have also attached the game protocols as published by WA Youth Soccer for the RCL and NPSL (there will be slight differences that are individual to league operations) that all clubs will follow. These were written in conjunction with Dr. Drezner to ensure the safety of our players and families as we return to league games.
Maybe the most important variable to game days is the allowance of spectators. Each venue and club we play at may have different rules depending on their county or field provider’s rules. For Seattle United, we are allowed to have one (1) parent/guardian/caregiver per player in attendance. Per Seattle Parks and League rules, if more than that come to the field, and we cannot limit the numbers to one family member per player, the game will be abandoned. It is very important to be in compliance with this rule and we ask for your cooperation. We all want the same thing: players to be able to play the game! If non-compliance becomes a problem, spectators will no longer be allowed at games, so let’s all do our part to adhere to the rules.
There are myriad metrics that we will track to ensure compliance with the Governor’s announcement. To do this, Wednesday evening before a game, a decision will be made if a team is scheduled to play against a team from another county that may or may not meet the RTP metrics. If the opposing team does not meet the metrics, the game will be cancelled, and we will look to play a friendly or intra-squad scrimmage in its place.
Below is a helpful link/resource that Seattle United uses in COVID-19 tracing to help ensure the safety of your children. These are the metrics that the Governor’s office uses in order to approve play across the state (25-75 cases per 100k on a 14-day rolling average, and a <5% positivity rate).
COVID-19 – risk assessment dashboard:
https://coronavirus.wa.gov/what-you-need-know/covid-19-risk-assessment-dashboard
(10/8) UPDATE
Seattle Times Article: What do Gov. Inslee’s loosened COVID-19 restrictions mean for youth sports in Washington?
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/what-do-gov-inslees-loosened-covid-19-restrictions-mean-for-youth-sports-in-washington/
(10/5) UPDATE
EXTRA TIME: COVID-19, Safety Protocols, and Return To Play information
Topic: Extra Time: COVID-19, Safety Protocols, and Return To Play Webinar
Date: Oct 5, 2020 07:00 PM
(9/7) UPDATE
Seattle Times Article: Youth sports amid COVID-19 pandemic: Some Washington teams hope for fall games, and others play on.
https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/youth-sports-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-some-washington-teams-hope-for-fall-games-and-others-play-on/
(5/15) UPDATE
Club leadership has been working hard with the medical advisory committee to develop a plan to return to the field. Of course, the start of any field practices must be in line with local, state, and public health guidance, and is also dependent on field availability. Although the exact date we can phase into field training is uncertain, please know that the health and safety of our players and coaches is our top priority. Following the release of the state of Washington’s Phased Approach to Recovery, we have created an initial plan on how we will return to the field when the opportunity arises. Below are 10 key features of Seattle United’s Return to Play Training Plan – Phase A (small groups at a time). Parents please take the time to review this information with your player. It is critical that everyone observe the same procedures when we begin field training. Our coaches will also be going through the training plan and important safety guidelines with their teams in the coming weeks. This starts only when we are allowed, by Governor Inslee’s order, to return to the fields.
Seattle United – Return to Play Training Plan: Phase A
1. Non-Contact and Social Distancing
Coaches and players will execute small group training sessions without physical contact during all activities and drills. All players and coaches will observe 6 feet distance from each other. No handshakes, high-fives, or fist bumps!
2. No Symptoms
Players and coaches with any of the following signs or symptoms should NOT attend practice: fever (>100.0), cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, chills, body/muscle aches, diarrhea, sore throat, new headache, loss of taste or smell.
3. Masks and Facial Coverings
All Seattle United coaches will wear cloth masks during the training session. Players should wear a cloth mask before and after the training session when moving between the car and field. Use of facial coverings during exercise and drills is optional for players.
4. Hygiene and Hand Sanitizer
All players should have hand sanitizer in their soccer bag. Players should use hand sanitizer before practice and avoid touching their face during practice. Players should immediately use hand sanitizer after practice before putting on their cloth mask.
5. Small Groups
We will train in small groups of ≤ 5 players (consistent with Washington’s Phased Approach Reopening Plan). Coaches will be centralized to the small groups and maintain social distancing. Depending on time and space constraints, teams may be divided into two 45 minute blocks and further split into groups of 5 or less for training.
6. No Shared Equipment
Players should bring their own water bottle and ball to training. There is no sharing of water bottles, and players will not touch or share training equipment such as cones or gear bags. Coaches will handle all equipment, and pinnies will not be used.
7. No Lines, No Huddles
Training will be appropriately spaced, with technical demonstrations and team-talks executed from a distance. Training activities will not include waiting lines.
8. 10 Minutes between Sessions
We will observe a 10 minute break between training sessions to transition the groups in and out. Where possible, teams will approach (enter and exit) the training field from separate directions, and players will remain in their car and away from the field until the 10 minute break after the prior session has concluded. Coaches and teams will receive specific instructions for which area of the field they will be working as a small group.
9. No Gathering, No Delay
Players should avoid social gatherings before and after practice to maintain appropriate social distancing of 6 feet and to facilitate rapid turnaround between sessions. Soccer bags should be placed 6 feet apart.
10. Parents Sideline Distance
Parents should not gather and socialize on the sideline and are encouraged to remain in their cars if staying at the practice site. If parents come to the sideline for pick-up or drop-off, they should wear a facial covering and maintain the appropriate distance from the training group and other parents.
(4/13) UPDATE
Here is a list of resources Seattle United has compiled to help provide assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our hope is that this will help families in need of assistance find all of the information they are looking for in one location.
The list below will provide you with information that other community groups are offering:
Low Cost Internet for Residents: Info from the City of Seattle on ways to get reduced rate internet service during this time.
http://www.seattle.gov/tech/services/internet-access/low-cost-home-internet-access-for-residents
United Way of King County: An extensive list of resources ranging from unemployment and COVID update translations, to tax services and much more.
https://www.uwkc.org/need-help/covid-19-resources/
Seattle Public Schools provides meals for students that can be picked up at 26 different sites across the district. This is provided Monday through Friday from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm. Details and guidelines are found at this link. In addition, the next link is to all the resources SPS is providing.
https://www.seattleschools.org/district/calendars/news/what_s_new/coronavirus_update/resources/student_meals
https://www.seattleschools.org/district/calendars/news/what_s_new/coronavirus_update/resources
Seattle City Light resource page, covers assistance provided by the city and also links to applicable resources.
https://citylight.seattle.gov/COVID-19/?elqTrackId=87EB5CB998B98C723E9F382DEA982FDD&elq=dea5811e15744d1c99c7318db8f630bb&elqaid=70&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=13
Boy’s & Girls Club are have some sites open in the Seattle area designed to give a safe place for kids to be during working hours. This is mostly for kids of families that are in industries that don’t allow them to work from home or don’t have a way to keep their kid safe at home. They follow the guidelines provided by the Governor’s office, king county board of health, and a few others in the operations. There is plenty of info on this page, including fees, scholarships, schedules, locations, etc.
https://positiveplace.org/2020/04/extended-programming/
