When will in-person futsal training return? That's a great question. We are just as eager to return as all of you. This blog post outlines a potential timeline.
CDC guidelines allow for the return of in-person youth sports in Phase 3 of Re-Opening. Currently California is in Phase 2. We anticipate CA will move to Phase 3 sometime in early June. However, Phase 3 has limits. First of all, while the training can be done in-person it must be done with social distancing. In addition, training groups must be 10 or less including the coaches. That means we could do technical training, similar to what we are doing on Zoom, but with less than 10 players at a time.
While we understand the desire to return to in-person training, if social distancing is required, we may just continue with virtual training for those that are interested. Socially distanced in-person futsal training doesn't add much to the training environment in our opinion. The missing component of playing against an opponent is still missing. In addition, in order to train in person we will need to secure a location which might prove more challenging during the summer. However, as we get closer to Stage 3 we will reach out to membership to see what you want.
It isn't until Stage 4 that sports like futsal will be allowed to return to full training. We are known as an indirect contact sport. That means there is contact but it isn't the purpose of the sport like boxing. If everything goes well we are hoping that Stage 4 arrives in July or August.
At that time we will survey our membership to see how you want to proceed. Our program is supposed to be on break between August 1 and December 1. However, we may make adjustments this year. We will also be prepared with return-to-play protocols to make sure we follow CDC guidelines and keep everyone safe.
We hope this provides some guidance during these uncertain times. We can't wait to see you on the futsal courts again!