What’s Happening with Soccer this Year?

Hello Soccer fans…. Can you believe that this would have been our last week of Spring Soccer?

We wanted to get you an update of what is happening at High River Minor Soccer. Many of you may have heard updates from Dr Hinshaw about Team sports being moved into Phase 2 (which we are now in) and there has been some media coverage about teams in surrounding communities starting up again. We wanted to let you know where we are at High River Minor Soccer.

In order for Soccer to return to our community, a couple of milestones need to be achieved.
1) The Provincial Government (AHS) needs to be in Stage 2 and allow Team Sports (Announced June 8th, In effect June 12th)
2) Alberta Soccer needs to announce their entry into Phase 2 of “Return to Play (Announced June 17th)
3) The Town of High River needs to announce that fields are accessible (In Progress and Pending)
4) The HRMS Board to release a program that meets all the requirements of AHS, ASA and CSA

Let me start with…. WE WANT SOCCER BACK IN HIGH RIVER! And the HRMS Board has continued to meet regularly though the shutdown to share information that we are each learning from The Town, The Province and from Clubs throughout North America as they struggle with the same challenges.

We are getting close to having a plan and here is what we know and what it may look like should we receive the go ahead from everyone.

  • Soccer (and all Team Sports) will be limited to playing groups (called Cohorts) of 50 participants. A player or coach can only participate in one Cohort. So this means that if your player joins a Soccer Cohort, they should not play any other team Sports (Golf, Tennis, individual sports are not included).
  • With the 50 Participant limit, we will be able to have 4 teams per age group (8-9 players per Team, 3 Adult Coaches/Managers ). There also may be an age limit for soccer players born in 2011 or older. This is still being worked out.
  • We will have new mandatory requirements for Screening and disinfection…. In order for this to work, we will need more parent support (3 adults per team). So give some thought to your ability to volunteer on your players team to help out.
  • Soccer will be 2 times per week (1 Practice and 1 game time) and we are working through what will work with our field options. If you have an opinion of 2 week nights versus 1 week night 1 weekend please let us know
  • Spectators will be welcome as long as you practice social distancing outside of your family cohort and masks are recommended for spectators.
  • We will continue to provide each player a ball and players will need to bring their ball to every practice, we need to limit the sharing of equipment.
  • During Games, we will have protocols to replace the ball with a newly sanitized one regularly

The HRMS understands that playing team sports can potentially increase the spread of COVID19, but we feel that the benefits of getting our players out and active and having some “social” time out weigh the risks. The choice is ultimately yours to have your player participate.

The next communication from us will likely be a call for volunteers to Coach and Manage teams. If we do not have enough volunteers for an age group, we will not be able to open registration for that age group. The stakes are high and our plan needs your help. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@highriversoccer.ca.

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