NEW RIVER UNITED

SOCCER GOAL SAFETY POLICY

 

 

New River United (NRU) has created the following policy that will come into effect immediately for all NRU facilities.  This includes practices and games on all town and county fields, as well as the Virginia Tech turf facility. 

 

Objective:

To establish a policy that will provide all coaches, players, parents, and administrators involved with the club with guidelines relating to proper goal anchoring and goal moving procedures.

 

Introduction:

This policy presents guidelines for the use of all moveable soccer goals.  This includes goals of the following sizes: 8x24, 7x21, 6x18, and 6x12s.  New River United believes these guidelines can help minimize all injuries resulting from soccer goal tip overs and improper movement. 

 

Goal Anchoring:

All NRU goals must be weighed down by two 40-pound sandbags during all practices and games.  The bags should rest on the back bar of the goal, with a bag resting on each corner.  If the goal does not have a back bar, the sand bags must be rested on the back corner of each side bar.

If any goal of any size does NOT have two sandbags properly weighing down the goal, then this goal may not be used.  This applies for both practices and games.   

 

Goal Moving:

Goals will be moved on a regular basis for both practices and games.  When moving a goal of any size, the crossbar must be brought down to waist level, and carried with people at the four corners: bottoms of each post and each upper corner.  A goal may never be moved when completely upright.  For all full sized goals (8x24), there must be at least 6 people moving the goal.  Players may assist with the moving of goals, but coaches must be present at all times.   

 

Goal Locking:

After the completion of each practice and/or game, all goals must be stored away and properly locked up.   All goals must be moved off the field and stored away in a safe area.  The goals then must be locked up with the goal frames face to face (front posts and crossbars facing each other), and securing them at each goalpost with a chain and lock.  All goals have two chains and two locks.

All coaches have a key to these locks.  It is the coach’s responsibility to manage this process during all NRU events involving goals.  The coach should not share this goal key at any time. 

If a set of goals is missing a lock or chain, please contact the NRU Director of Operations at [email protected].

 

Goal Storage – End of Season:

At the conclusion of each soccer season (Fall/Spring), NRU will remove the goals from the field and properly store them in a secure location.  Nets will be removed, and all goals will be secured with a lock and chain.  Goals will not be used during the off seasons (Winter and Summer).

 

If there are any questions on the NRU Soccer Goal Safety policy, please contact the club office at [email protected]