St. Vrain FC Teammates,

I am proud to announce our Online Training Program had over 500 logins in the first week! Our staff has been motivated to innovate through this time of crisis. It is this innovation that I believe will help propel our programming to the top of Colorado Soccer in the months ahead and I am excited to see how these new platforms will be weaved in to our traditional training models after COVID-19.

In response to COVID-19 and the postponement of our spring season, I challenged the staff to deliver programming to our teammates that met pretty stiff criteria. The program had to provide instruction on the four main components of the game, Technical, Tactical, Physical, and the Psycho-social. The program I dreamed of would provide a return to normalcy for players by providing them with a schedule, while at the same time being flexible. I wanted to maintain coach engagement, player accountability, and team camaraderie. Meeting the criteria set, while at the same time being able to deliver offerings for both our Recreational and Competitive programs, was a tough task. Add in the fact that the programming desired had to be able to accommodate players spanning ages 3-19 and possessing a wide range of ability levels and coaching experiences, and this became a very difficult ask indeed. I forgot to mention the curriculum for all this was due in less than 3 weeks. However, I am fortunate to have a great team and they exceeded my expectations at every turn. Not only have they exceeded my expectations, but the programming they have delivered has garnered recognition from outside organizations as well, including the Positive Coaching Alliance, who is continually at the forefront of youth soccer innovation.

The staff and I evaluated various delivery systems and conference call companies and ultimately decided on Zoom. In Zoom I believe we have the most appropriate program to suit our needs, both in terms of the usability of the program itself, but also in terms of the safety to our teammates.. Zoom allows for sessions to be recorded, which the staff will then be able to send out so that players can watch them on their own time. This is a huge benefit to those players who may not be able to attend a virtual training session due to other obligations, such as school. With regards to safety, many of you will have seen media headlines over the past few weeks questioning Zoom's security levels. There are reports of ‘Zoombombing’ and organized groups of hackers infiltrating meetings and posting or making lewd comments. The information below will tell you how Zoom will be used to keep our players and coaches safe while utilizing Zoom.

1. Our Zoom meetings will be secure with unique random Meeting IDs and passwords (Do not publish these to any public forum)
2. All users will need to be registered/verified
3. Meeting IDs and Passwords will not be made public and will only be sent directly to registered SVFC families and posted to private SVFC communication platforms, such as TeamSnap
4. All coaches have been given instructions on how to moderate meeting rooms
5. Coaches are not to be "alone" with players on Zoom at any time

St. Vrain FC's Player/Coach/Parent Handbook all rules/policies apply during Online Training. If you are not comfortable with your child using Zoom, we have other options. All Zoom training sessions will be available to you on either Youtube or sent with a link to watch the video on Zoom.

These are uncharted waters that we find ourselves in as both a soccer community and as a society. The staff and I truly believe that our Online Training Program will provide a fun, safe, and enjoyable avenue for our players to be able to enjoy the beautiful game until that glorious day when we are finally able to return to the pitch. Until then, stay safe, and, as always..

Stronger. Together. GO GREEN!

Dan Jones, St. Vrain FC Executive Director