We are excited that with Zone 3 moving back into the Orange Zone on Tuesday at Midnight, we will be able to begin our soccer programming again effective Wednesday January 27^th.  The email below contains a lot of information, please see the headings in RED to find specific information relating to you and your program.

Refunds and Credits: We will not be offering any programming refunds, as we have started the programming, and we have passed the date for offering refunds which was December 18^th, 2020.  We will however be offering credits back at the end of the winter.  The exact amount of credit per program has yet to be determined, but will be worked out based on the number of hours of soccer, planned in the program, and the number of hours of soccer completed in the winter.  We have some administration costs, and other fixed costs understandably associated with the programming, but we have made every effort to reduce these to an absolute minimum, by putting a hold on uniform orders that have been possible etc.  As a result refunds will be prorated back to families based on total amount of time missed by end of program in March.  Our programming costs on average $11.25/hour for on field time, families can expect a credit of between $9.00 and $10.50/hour missed based on our models, this number will change slightly depending on how much actual time is missed.

Programs Restarting Days

• Advanced Academy: Restart Wednesday morning January 27^th with your regular gym time.  Academy will run Thursday as usual, and next week League on Monday and Tuesday will restart.
• Development Academy: Will restart on Thursday this week with Academy sessions.
• Academy Leagues:  Will restart on Monday February 1^st, with Academy Leagues.
• UPP: Restart Thursday January 28^th with boys in Dome, and girls will begin Thursday night, and regular gym times on Friday, as well as Friday 5:30-7:00pm session for all.  Week of February 1^st all gym and on field sessions will run on usual schedule. Everyone will continue with same gym times they have had in December and early January.
• U6/8 Elementary School Program: This program remains on hold until we return to the Yellow Phase.

 Online Zoom Call: With still a couple of days before we are back on the field, we will have an additional Zoom session for everyone interested tonight January 26^th from 7:30-8:30pm for all age groups.  This is a special session we will have Sarah Hillworth UNB Women’s Hockey Coach, and co-lead for the Phillips Sport Leadership Academy will be leading this session for our groups.  We will discuss the role of Confidence in sport, and she will be bringing along some fun tools for the players to work with during the call.  Don’t miss out on this one:

• Tuesday January 26^th 7:30pm-8:30pm – All Age Groups – https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87876791386

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.  Thanks as always to everyone for all of your patience and dedication as we work through a disrupted soccer season.

With the announcement from Dr. Jennifer Russell and Premier Blaine Higgs that the Province is moving to the Red zone at Midnight tonight. We will be postponing all program activity until further notice, effective immediately.  This will include all programming scheduled for tonight January 19^th, we feel that this announcement requires immediate attention and for us to take all reasonable action to do our part to help keep our players and families safe and healthy.  We hope that this is only a short postponement and that Fredericton will return to Yellow phase in the near future. When we do return we will be ready to start programming as quickly as we have postponed it.

Postponed Programs include:

• Reds Academy Leagues
• Reds Excel Development Academy
• Reds Excel Advanced Academy – Including fitness sessions with CSCA
• UPP Program – Including fitness sessions with CSCA
• Reds U12 Academy
• U6/U8 Elementary School Program

This postponement will mean that for many programs, we will not be able to make up time missed, in a reasonable way.  We will seek to get as much information as we can about what this means for sport, and our likely ability to return soon.  We will communicate as soon as we can about our path forward from here, including process for withdrawal, credits and refunds.  We will return to soccer, once it is deemed we can do so in a safe manner.

As always I want to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we navigate offering soccer in this environment, we are disappointed we do not get to continue to offer opportunities for our players to play the sport but we understand the importance of a safety first approach.

Well we have had an exciting week, both at home and abroad.  We have spent much of this week working with the various stake holders involved in offering sport across the province, and within our University Community.  Based on the recommendations in Orange phase for sport, we feel that starting the program on Monday January 11^th is too soon following Christmas and New Year’s considering our players didn’t play together over the holidays.  We will start Monday January 18^th, which gives us a full 14 day period post-Christmas break, we feel that this is the most responsible decision we can make at this time.  Programs with Gym sessions in the Canadian Sport Center, will continue with their Fitness sessions as per regular schedules.

We certainly understand that this is frustrating and difficult for all of us who want to get on the field and play Soccer, it is for all of us on the programming side also.

When we return we are likely to remain in the Orange phase, which will require socially distanced soccer for the first period.  In Orange phase we will be keeping consistent groups, in order to keep the recommendations consistent.  This will be different from normal as it will require groups to be grouped more closely by program.  We will be reviewing this over the weekend before releasing groups and times, early next week, once we move beyond orange phase we will once again adjust the groups in order to better match our more usual groupings.

Based on our plan to offer 3 days of tournament (in house games more than formal tournaments), and our adjustments for our Academy sessions, we will complete the hours planned for each program at this point.  We recognize that there remains high probability of disruptions through the winter season, we will provide some information on how we can manage refunds back to families based on cancelled and missed sessions.

We are disappointed to be letting everyone know today that we will be postponing our Winter League program until Middle to Late January 2021.

Currently, while back into the Yellow Phase of Covid 19 Recovery, the University of New Brunswick isn’t comfortable starting any new programming or inviting new visitors to campus.  We were advised yesterday that we would not be able to start our programming as planned.  The University is working closely with Public Health and the Department of Post-Secondary Education Training and Labor, to ensure that all activities on campus operate safely, and in a manner that limits the spread of Covid-19.  Although this is disappointing and difficult news for us to receive, we assure you that both the Athletics Department and Facility of Kinesiology have worked hard to provide us opportunities to run our programming this fall with safety as the top concern. However, the introduction of new programs to campus at this time will not be allowed.  Existing programs that have been running will continue to run as they have been.

Programming Plan:

Although we do not have a firm date, we have been told we can expect we will be able to start programming in middle to late January 2021.  We are committed to running the best possible programming for our soccer players through the winter and will be working closely with the University to get up and running as soon as possible.  We will be taking steps to make up the time we have missed in December and January by adding some interesting and exciting programming opportunities in order to meet our commitment to our players.  Understanding that players and families have busy lives and other sporting commitments,  we hope to be able to make up time flexibly in ways that limit number of additional days added while providing fun and value to everyone.  All details are yet to be finalized but you will see the following activities:

Online Workshops for Players: This will be a series of workshops run using Zoom to help keep players connected with each other as well as develop insight into different aspects of Leadership, Team Building and Individual Development planning. In 2021, we will begin to dive deeper into tactical topics,  FDSA Game Frameworks, while other specific topics and workshops will be announced in Late December and January.  These sessions will be added to our commitments within our programming.

December 10^th: Leadership Seminar with Jon Crossland

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

December 15^th: Developing Your Personal Development Plan with Barry Morrison

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

December 17^th: Player Profiles and Building Your Dream Team with Rory Keys

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

January 5^th: TBD

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

January 7^th: TBD

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

January 12^th: TBD

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

January 14^th: TBD

• 6:30pm to 7:30pm Players Born 2011-2007:
• 7:45pm to 9:00pm Players Born 2006-2003:

 

Tournament Days: We will select 1 day in each of January, February and March for each group to get together to play a 4-game tournament over the course of that day.  We will play a 2 hour block in the morning and a 2 hour block in the afternoon.  This portion of the program will be available to all players who are participating in our League Program (Reds Academy League, Reds Excel Development Academy, Reds Excel Advanced Academy, UPP), and is designed to make up for up to 12 hours (6weeks) of lost time due to cancellations.

Academy Make Up Sessions: We will organize a schedule of Academy Make Up Sessions (U12 Academy, Reds Excel Development Academy, Reds Advanced Academy, UPP) with players being able to expect a combination of 1 or 2 Morning sessions 6:00-7:30am, and Wednesday Sessions 5:30-7:00PM, with a total of 4 make up sessions for 6 hours of training (6 weeks of Academy).

Additional Activities: Over this time we will seek out additional opportunities to find engaging activities for players remotely.

Refunds:

Full Refund and Program Withdrawal:  We will offer all participants a full refund for the program if they should wish. To get a full refund placed directly back on your Credit Card please contact Ben Law: ben.law@unb.ca.  Refund Deadline is December 18^th, 2020 all refund requests must be sent to Ben via email by December 18^th to be eligible for refund.

Other Refund: Understanding that the Covid-19 pandemic situation has possibilities to cause further disruptions to our winter programming, and we could reach a point that making up lost time simply isn’t reasonable.  We will evaluate the program at that time, and make decisions on appropriate refund for all participants at that specific time.  Any refunds at that time will be pro-rated based on the amount of actual soccer we were able to offer in comparison to actual soccer offerings, understanding that each program is made up of between 15% and 25% fixed costs.

Additional Information: 

Information Session: We will host a parents information session on Monday December 7^th, to discuss the information contained here, and answer any questions from parents.

• Monday December 7^th, 7:00pm: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87820173604