HOUSE LEAGUE SOCCER UPDATE *IMPORTANT – PLEASE READ*

It is with regret that the club is announcing the cancellation of the House League Summer Soccer Program for the 2020 Outdoor season.

While we remained optimistic that a more positive outcome would unfold, after meeting last night and reviewing the remaining hurdles for a season it became clear that neither our traditional nor modified House League Program would be able to run this summer.

The remaining milestones needed to be met in the COVID-19 recovery have not yet been reached and  despite the incredible progress we all have made as a community it does not appear that by July 20th we would be able to achieve the following prerequisites for the season:

A.  The Ontario government permitting gatherings of 50 people

-Recent reports indicate that Stage 3 of Ontario’s reopening plan is likely to be reached in the coming weeks. “When asked if Stage 3 would happen later in July, the premier said it was possible. “You’re pretty close, to the end of July.””. Additionally, recent reports have indicated the “Province will not expand size of gatherings in Ontario before Stage 3: health minister”.

B.  The city must open soccer fields for recreational/intra-club games

-The City has indicated as of July 7th, “ they “will not be booking anything until the Provincial restrictions are changed and the City of Brantford’s EOC” (Emergency Operations Committee) “approves team game play”.

-As of current the City has opened select fields for TRAINING only. While this is a great leap in the right direction, there is not enough fields currently open to be able to run our House League Program. The Parks Department and EOC would only consider expanded field openings if their was a greater demand for soccer fields. At this time as BCSC is the only organization looking to run programming for soccer in the city, resultantly the demand for fields is not great enough to justify the city opening these additional fields.

C. Ontario Soccer must proceed to Phase 2 of their Return to Play Plan.

-Hamilton and District Soccer Association, the regional soccer governing body, has indicated as of July 7th, that they “have not heard any updates on moving into Phase 2.”

Brantford City Soccer Club has taken all steps to provide a SAFE season for all of our players, including receiving approval of our Safe Return to Play Plan by Canada Soccer and the City of Brantford. Despite having teams rostered, coaches in place and equipment sorted and ready for dispersion no amount of preparation and planning can make the hope and dream of a season a reality. Today is a very sad day for us as an organization, but we recognize there are more out there who are even more challenged by this pandemic and we send our positive thoughts to all of them.

Families will be contacted with a Survey Monkey Link where they will be given the option to:

1)     Roll their registration over to Summer Outdoor 2021. We encourage you to LOCK IN registration for the next season at the current rate of payment. This secures your child’s spot in the event of a fee increase. If your child moves from a division with a lower cost to one with a greater cost you only need to pay the difference between what was paid for registration in 2020 and the 2020 cost of the more expensive program.

2)     Request a FULL refund for registration fees paid. You will need to provide your full mailing address (Including City and Postal Code) and the name of the cheque recipient for this to be completed. All refunds are issued manually via cheque. We will be sending these out as soon as possible but due to the large volume of players registered  refunds will take place over the next 6-8 weeks.

BCSC will be offering a Summer Training program to allow small groups (9 players max) to get on the field to work on individual skills. Designed to help develop ball mastery skills, this program is available to ages 7-13. The program will run Tuesdays (U8-10; U11-13) and Thursday evenings (U7 Pre-Rep; U8-10) in August and Saturday Afternoons (all divisions) in September for 8 weeks at a cost of $140.00. Players interested should contact bcsc@bellnet.ca as spaces are VERY LIMITED!

As always we will be offering our Fall Indoor (Nov-Jan) and Winter Indoor (Feb-Apr) programs. Our Registration will be opening in mid-August so keep an eye out for this in your email inbox and at brantfordcitysoccer.ca

For those looking to try-out for one of our 2020 competitive teams tryouts will be posted in Mid-to-late August on our website. If you are interested in being contacted for tryouts please e-mail bcsc@bellnet.ca 

All of us at BCSC want to thank you for being part of such an incredible soccer community and while we are saddened by this decision, we want you to know we are here for you and looking forward to seeing you on the pitch again.

We sincerely wish you all a safe and healthy summer,

Brantford City Soccer Club