Good Day FDSA Family,
With several recent announcements regarding the Province of New Brunswick’s recovery plan from Covid-19, we have been working with Soccer NB and the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture to understand where our return to soccer might fit in the recovery plan. It is becoming increasingly likely that we will be able to return to some form of soccer like activities in the Yellow Phase. In order to return we will need to develop detailed operational plans and safety guidelines to ensure the safety of our players, parents, coaches, volunteers, and staff. We are currently working away on these documents.
Once the province enters the yellow phase of recovery, which we understand could be as soon as Friday May 22nd, we will need to finalize operational plans incorporating the information we receive from Public Health and Public Safety at that time. This will likely take some time for us to process and ensure we have all appropriate safety procedures and precautions in place at field level. This process will involve working with our partners at the city to ensure facilities are ready to open and programs are ready to start.
We now know that our summer of soccer will look very different than what we have traditionally seen in our programming and we appreciate your patience as we navigate our new realities. Our work to develop programming for this summer will include these top priorities:
- Focus on safety and following best practices as laid out by Soccer Canada, Sport Canada, Soccer NB, Government of NB etc.
- Focus on reconnection of friends and teammates
- Focus on cost effective programming that removes barriers to access for families who are facing different financial realities.
- Focus on adding appropriate and cost-effective competition
Our registration remains open for all programs. Currently, we are requiring a $50.00 deposit towards program fees which will be refundable should we not be able to have a season in 2020. We encourage you to register and begin to plan for soccer to be a part of your routine when possible.
Over the coming weeks we will begin player, coach, parent, and volunteer engagement sessions to keep everyone up to date as best we can about the next steps and what can be expected. You can also expect a membership survey to gather feedback from you as we prepare to return. Our competitive coaches will begin meeting with players in the near future using online platforms. They will begin to prepare players to return to the field. We will follow this with parent information events for all of our programs and continue to communicate as best we can with the information available to us.
We look forward to seeing you all on the field in the near future, when we can do so safely and responsibly. If you have any questions or would like to speak with anyone about the return of soccer please contact us:
Barry Morrison – Club Head Coach E:Bmorrison@fdsa.org P: 238-3533
Dennis van den Heuvel – Executive Director E:dvandenheuvel@fdsa.org P: 447-1912
Yours in Soccer,
FDSA Staff & Board of Directors
