Aerial Field Layouts

Hello Everyone,

Attached is the practice schedule for the Fall 2020 season.  Sorry for being late on this, but we had to revamp the schedule several times due to ongoing Covid protocols and to make sure we can share the field space with softball.

As of now, the first day of practice is scheduled for Wednesday night, Sept. 16 and we expect the season to run through Nov. 22.  A Saturday/Sunday CYSA game schedule is still being developed and will be announced later.

Great News! We have hired Steel Soccer to assist us in running drills and skills throughout the week.  This will help our coaches manage their teams safely and within Covid protocols as well as increase their understanding and soccer performance.  

Now for the Practice Guidelines. Please review.

• Practices will be held in two time slots, either 5:30-6:30 or 6:50-7:50.  Please adhere to these times ONLY.  The reason there is a 20-minute window between practices is because we want all players and coaches to leave the field as soon as practice is over. No loitering or coming early to practice. 
• In the following link is an aerial view of the practice fields at Charlestown High School. When entering the field, please walk around, either the softball field or football field in clockwise directions.  Arrows signify the course to walk to your allocated fields. Please practice social distancing as you walk to your practice field.
• Unless you are coaching, parents are not allowed on the fields to watch practices. For games only,  if a player’s parent/legal guardian is present as a coach for their team, another spectator is permitted to be present for this player.
• ​​(IN-HOUSE players - 1st and 2nd grades) We highly recommend that only one parent attend in-house practices on the football field to watch their player, and again, practice social distancing and masks are required. 
• Parents, you are the first line of defense. If your player is not feeling well, coughing, has a temperature (above 100.4) or is congested, please keep them at home.  If we see that a player is showing signs of any sickness, coaches and board members will contact parents and have them exit the field.
• Parents, if anyone in your immediate family has had contact with someone with Covid, please do not send your player to practice, quarantine him or her for the recommended 2 weeks, or until you can show a negative Covid test.

​Please contact CYSA at if a family has been exposed to Covid-19 so we can contact trace appropriately.  

Face Masks

• Massachusetts Youth Soccer requires that all players and coaches wear face masks at ALL TIMES during practice and for games.  Coaches will provide breathing breaks during practice and games. 
• Facial coverings must be of the ‘over ear’ variety only. Gators will not be allowed.

Players must have the following items:

• A mask - strings over the ear variety
• A soccer ball with the player’s name on it
  • (1st and 2nd grade - size 3)
  • (3-6 grades - size 4)
  • (7-8 grades - size 5)
• Soccer balls can NOT be touched by any other player, unless they are passing with their foot
• Hand sanitizer, (2 or 4 oz bottles are preferable)
  • ​​There will be hand sanitizing stations at the field, but players are still required to bring their ow
• During games, all players must bring a white and a dark T-Shirt (pennies will not be handed out this year)
  • ​​If a team has their uniform, that can be used as a dark shirt\
• Goalies - please bring your own GK gloves - these can not be shared
• Snacks during games can not be shared (parents  - no Oranges or fruit of any kind)
• Obviously no sharing of water bottles
• Unfortunately, no congratulatory high-fiving, fist bumps, etc.

As always, if you are interested in knowing and understanding the guidelines for getting back on the pitch, please click on the link to the Massachusetts Youth Guidelines, which are updated every week.
 

Thank you and please feel free to send us any questions that you may have at .

Hello everyone,

Hope your summer has been fun and safe.  I am writing to give you an update on the Fall Soccer season.  I know you have a lot of questions regarding the Fall and I hope to answer many of them in this communique.

Will there be a Fall Soccer season?  Quick answer is, Yes, but with modifications.

For the past several months, the Massachusetts Youth Soccer organization has been meeting weekly, hosting webinars and leadership/affiliate Zoom meetings to provide their recommendations and guidelines for getting back on the pitch.  Massachusetts Youth Soccer has put together the following guidelines for their members to use. Given the nature of this pandemic, this framework changes frequently based on the most recent CDC and or Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) guidelines.

Our plan:

The CYSA board has met several times these past two months to review the MYS guidelines and discuss what the fall season should look like. After carefully reviewing the guidelines, speaking with members of the CYSA community and attempting to understand how the schools are going to respond this fall, we voted on an in-house model for grades 3-8, rather than taking part in a travel program through the Middlesex Soccer League. Folks, this decision does not come lightly.

As a board, we felt that the concern for spreading the virus is already at a high level among our teams in Charlestown and playing against other towns on Saturdays just exacerbates the situation. The main argument was why should we add another level of concern in playing/hosting other towns when we didn’t have too?  Secondly, the schools are a factor. Since Boston Public is moving to a remote model until November, we may see a drop in participation of players on the weekends.  With an in-house model, we can control our season by playing games during the week. 

Covid Modifications:

Even with an in-house model, modifications to stop the spread of the pandemic will be in-place.  We will still adhere to the guidelines presented by Mass Youth Soccer. In fact, my concern is that because we are keeping soccer in Charlestown, there may be more of a sense of safety than if we are participating in a travel program. We cannot let our guard down. To help with compliance, we have appointed a Covid officer that helps communicate new protocols and modifications during the season.

PARENTS, you are still the first line of defense in making sure your child(ren) isn't coming to the field with a temperature or feeling sick.  We are NOT taking temperatures on the field. HIPPA regulations actually forbid it. In addition, if someone in the immediate family gets the virus, the child should not participate in any soccer activities and the Department of Health should be notified. Please consider this -  if someone tested positive (either a player or family member), it could mean that the entire team will have to quarantine for 2 weeks.  If more cases should arise, the season could be canceled.      

Practices and Games

All players have to bring their own ball

All players will have to wear a mask to the field.

Everyone should bring sanitizer.  All coaches will have sanitizer as well.

For games, every player needs to bring a white Tee-Shirt, in case their team is the opposing team - no pennies can be given out to players

It is highly recommended that only one parent come to games or practices to minimize exposure

The ball stays on the ground at all times. 

RULE changes:

There will be no throw-ins this season, only kick-ins

Shoulder-to-shoulder contact is suspended

All heading is suspended

Corner kicks will have to be passed in, no kicks into the goal box

Goalies will have to wear goalie gloves 

Please review the latest recommendations and rule changes from MYS (published Aug. 15, 2020)

Rosters:

Rosters are going to look a lot different this year.  All teams in a gender specific age group will be created as evenly and fairly as possible.  Usually, players are placed based on their skill level and placed in divisions that are adapted to their performance level. Through the in-house model, we want teams to be as evenly matched as possible to promote fair play.  Teams will be named, using a similar naming system as we have used for our in-house program in the past. Siblings will be kept together to minimize exposure to multiple groups.  

Practice and game schedule:

Since we just imposed an in-house model of play, we are currently working on Rosters.  Practice and Game schedule will be out within a few weeks. 

Update on Kindergarten

Due to field space restrictions and to limit the number of people on the fields at any given time, it is likely that we will not be able to extend our in-house program to kindergarten aged children for this season.  If we are able to make the logistics work we will advise soon, but Super Soccer Stars has advised us that they are able to offer programming for that age group. We are moving forward with a 1st and 2nd grade program, but again, because of space restrictions these groups may not be practicing on the same day.

I just want to reiterate that moving to an in-house model will be completely new to us, so bear with our all-volunteer board and its leadership. The goal is to get kids out of the house, socialize and play a little soccer. In addition, we are not the only town that is choosing to opt out of the Middlesex Soccer League and play in-house.  Currently 8 teams have opted out of the league this fall to either play in-house or not play at all!  Coaches are needed still, so please let me know. Finally, all late fee registrations will be refunded. All players that were registered late will pay the normal rate. 

Thank you for all that you do,

Allen Reitz

Charlestown Youth Soccer

President

CYSA is starting to plan for the Fall 2020 soccer season.  We need to submit travel teams to the Middlesex League by August 7th.  In-House registration is open as well, so families spanning travel and in-house can do registration at the same time.  Note that In-House registration for Kindergarten is not yet open, since CYSA is still making plans around that.

• Travel Program (grades 3 through 8 for the 2020-2021 school year) - For additional details see Travel Program Information
• In-House Program (1st and 2nd grade for the 2020-2021 school year) - For additional details see In-House Program Information

Click Here to Register

On that page, find the section for the appropriate grade & gender of your child and click the "Register" (or "Join Waitlist") button.  If you received this message via email, you should be able to log in using that email address (using the Forgot Password feature if necessary).  

As registration numbers approach the waitlist threshold, we can often increase program capacity.  However, the combination of both field space constraints and min/max team sizes for the Middlesex travel league can occassionally cause us to have a waitlist that later registrants can unfortunately find themselves on.  

Note that travel registrations have a late fee assessed starting Monday Aug 3rd.

Email info@charlestownsoccer.com with any questions.