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Apr, 2020

CSA and USYS COVID

We want to keep our members informed of what's happening in soccer locally, regionally and nationally. This information will be updated in future as we have it. 

Updates from USYS:

USYS has pushed back its potential ‘Return to Play’ date for all activities (including Regional League games) to May 1st, 2020. This is in alignment with U.S. Soccer and all other major soccer youth groups. Again – please note – this date is NOT a definitive Return to Play date. Factors on the ground in local state associations and State Departments of Health, will continue to drive the local outcome.  As USYS has done since the start of the outbreak, future decisions will be evaluated every two weeks.
Accordingly, the ‘Return to Play’ date of May 1 will be re-evaluated on April 15th.            - Accordingly, Georgia Soccer and its affiliates will follow suit and suspend all events and activities through April 30th, 2020. This keeps everyone in alignment with Georgia Soccer, U.S. Soccer and USYS.
-  USYS has also made the very difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Presidents Cup, 2020 National Championships and all Regional Championships. This decision was based on four core priorities;  
 I.          Financial Impact on Families
II.         Stress on Families
III.        Integrity of USYS Competitions
IV.        Focus on Local USYS Leagues and Communities

The full announcement from USYS can be viewed here.
Note: at this time this does not include the Georgia State Cup for select teams.
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HOW THIS IMPACTS OUR LOCAL SOCCER COMMUNITY...
Question – Does this mean that training and matches for the season are cancelled?
No……we are obviously still in a very fluid situation, but current dates established in previous memos as well as new information this week, remain as stated below;
-  State of Georgia school closure Public Order was amended so that all K-12 schools will finish the year in the online format.
-  U.S. Soccer has suspended all activities through April 30, 2020.
-  USYS has now amended its original date of April 15 and suspended all activities through April 30, 2020 with a provisional ‘Return to Play’ date of May 1, 2020.
-The state of Georgia has issued a shelter-in-place directive.
-Cherokee and Cobb County, Cherokee and Cobb County Board of Education and City of Canton have closed all active use spaces at schools and parks. Note that passive park areas remain open under social distancing guidelines, but we've verified that no formal training or organized gathering is permitted.

Question – Can I get a refund for my fees?
Please be advised that many considerations are still being made. CSA is a non-profit organization that has made a strong commitment to putting its funds back into the organization's facilities and staff. Know that the staff is trying to put together some form of a season, if and when we are given the opportunity to play locally. Our staff is working hard to engage the players in this unprecedented time.  All of them want to play and give our kids an outlet from this virus if they can. There are things that we must consider when looking at refunds:

-We have committed to paying our staff. We have spent years building a staff of talented professionals and we want to retain them so that they are still with us when this crisis passes, they are a big reason why our members choose to play here. 

-As with any business there are fixed costs like field maintenance which continue throughout the year and member fees reflect those ongoing costs, if we can't maintain the fields, we can't resume play quickly. There are many other expenses such as coach education, background checks, administration, insurance, etc.

-This crisis has hit everyone very hard and we are working on creative ways to add value for our members to help make up for time lost to the pandemic. As we have information, we will certainly pass on updates and any decisions.

In conclusion, please know that our heart is to help our players and families get through this difficult time.  We are doing our best with the information that we have to make the best decisions. Please be patient as we all try to find our new normal.

Kind regards,
CSA Impact/Georgia Alliance-Cobb