Dear RFYS families:
I hope this email finds you well. As many of you probably know, on July 29th, the State of Illinois unexpectedly issued new guidelines for all youth sports. Soccer was classified as a “medium” risk by the State and declared that only Level 1 and Level 2 activities were currently allowed. Level 1 and 2 activities only include practices and scrimmages; it does not include competitive play. On August 4, Illinois Youth Soccer, our affiliate agency, issued their recommendations for recreational (house) leagues. Illinois Youth Soccer recommends that leagues create “pods” of players, up to 50 total per pod which includes players, coaches, referees and close spectators. This past week, the RFYS Board met and reviewed several scenarios, including cancelling the season. However, most of the parental feedback we received is that some physical and social activity is better than none. With that said, we are moving ahead with a Fall season for all levels, K through 12th grade. We will be creating pods of players, within the stated guidelines, that will practice and scrimmage together during the season. Some age levels will be 1 single pod however some of the ages will be broken down into 2 pods. We envision that there being a weekday practice/scrimmage and also a Saturday scrimmage. We are still working out the details. Obviously, our initial plan for U10, U12, U14 and U19 to play against other teams from other towns and villages will not be feasible under the revised State guidelines. It is possible that Illinois could allow soccer to move to Level 3 during the season however the State has not provided any metrics or updates on when or how that could occur.
At this point, we will keep registration open for another 14 days. If anyone wishes a refund, please do so within the next 14 days. We will be offering full refunds (minus a $3.00 mandatory fee charged by our webhost) for those that drop out during the next 14 days. After the 14 days, all new registrations will have a late fee. We also cannot exceed the allowable pod numbers so some divisions might reach capacity before the 14 days. While we understand that this is not the typical Fall RFYS season, we ask that you be patient with us as we navigate these uncharted territories.
We are also in the process of developing our Covid-19 policy for the upcoming season. As always, the safety and health of our players and coaches is paramount.