{"id":4974,"date":"2020-07-20T09:39:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T13:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/?p=4974"},"modified":"2021-07-28T09:42:00","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T13:42:00","slug":"letter-from-ceo-kevin-payne-covid-19-and-the-2020-21-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/letter-from-ceo-kevin-payne-covid-19-and-the-2020-21-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter from CEO Kevin Payne | COVID-19 and the 2020-21 season"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"4974\" class=\"elementor elementor-4974\" data-elementor-post-type=\"post\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2acd270 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2acd270\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-0b63019\" data-id=\"0b63019\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4c8c9cd elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"4c8c9cd\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Letter from CEO Kevin Payne | COVID-19 and the 2020-21 season<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-2bab68d elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"2bab68d\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2ee2f09\" data-id=\"2ee2f09\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-4c6f5c9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"4c6f5c9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"layoutContainer row layout-100 \"><div class=\"column-1 column col-sm-12 col-md-12\"><div id=\"pageEl_492026386\" class=\"pageEl\"><div class=\"pageElement textBlockElement clearfix\"><div class=\"text clearfix\"><p>July 20, 2020<\/p><p>\u00a0<\/p><p>Dear members,<\/p><p>The prospect of any new season brings optimism and renewed passion. And while that\u2019s true for the 2020-21 season, there\u2019s also good reason to balance excitement with caution. The COVID-19 pandemic is still very real and affecting many states around the country \u2013 in some areas worse than ever.<\/p><p>We must harness that optimism and passion and apply an unrelenting commitment to everyone\u2019s health and safety. Like most organizations, we made difficult decisions to suspend or cancel programming in the 2019-20 season. And we\u2019d like nothing more than to turn the page and welcome the 2020-21 season without restraint. But, all of us must continue to ask ourselves if our actions are responsible for all our families \u2013 both our club soccer families and our families at home.<\/p><p>Recognizing the wide range of impact that COVID-19 is having throughout the country, US Club Soccer lifted its national suspension of activities on May 18, which delegated the return-to-play decision making to our members. Our stance on returning to play remains the same as it was in mid-May: abide by local public health regulations and enjoy a safe return to the game we all love.\u00a0<strong>Those can, and should, be done in harmony.<\/strong><\/p><p>As a reminder: for activities to be sanctioned with the normal US Club Soccer-provided insurance coverage in effect, members returning to play must be in compliance with requirements\/mandates established by the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/publichealthgateway\/healthdirectories\/index.html\">applicable local and state public health authorities<\/a>.<\/p><p>Of course, US Club Soccer always encourages members to follow optional guidelines or recommendations established by local and state public health authorities, to the extent applicable and possible.\u00a0<strong>Members should err on the side of caution in health and safety matters.<\/strong><\/p><p>There have been new return-to-play resources released in recent weeks, which are detailed below. For insurance-related questions, please refer to the COVID-19 section of our\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usclubsoccer.org\/members-area-insurance\">Insurance web page<\/a>.<\/p><p>Return-to-play resources:<\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/publichealthgateway\/healthdirectories\/index.html\">CDC\u2019s directory of local, state and territorial health departments<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/coronavirus\/2019-ncov\/community\/schools-childcare\/youth-sports.html\">CDC\u2019s COVID-19 Considerations for Youth Sports<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ussoccer.com\/playon\">U.S. Soccer PLAY ON: Return-to-Play Guidelines\u00a0<em>(Phases 1, 2 and 3 are all available)<\/em><\/a><\/li><li>ECNL\u2019s Recommendations for Returning to Play:<ul><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.eliteclubsnationalleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/ECNL-x-Return-to-Play-Recs.-V5-Doc.pdf\">To training environments<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eliteclubsnationalleague.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Return-to-Comp.-Doc.-Master.pdf\">To competitions<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usclubsoccer.org\/offerings-players-health\">Players First partner Player\u2019s Health web page<\/a>: archived Facebook Live episode, discounted Kinduct COVID-19 screening for teams, return-to-play guide and discounted imPACT concussion testing<\/li><\/ul><p>**<\/p><p>We remain as proud as ever of the resilience of the soccer community. Together, we will not just return to the way things used to be, but we\u2019ll form an even more fulfilling, Players First-focused environment for every child.\u00a0<\/p><p>Sincerely,<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><div class=\"layoutContainer row layout-25-25-50 \"><div class=\"column-1 column col-sm-12 col-md-3\"><div id=\"pageEl_492026514\" class=\"pageEl\"><div class=\"pageElement heroPhotoElement\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn3.sportngin.com\/attachments\/photo\/5792-146326906\/SIGNATURE_-_Kevin_Payne_large.png\" alt=\"\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn3.sportngin.com\/attachments\/photo\/5792-146326906\/SIGNATURE_-_Kevin_Payne_large.png\" alt=\"\" \/><\/noscript><\/div><\/div><div id=\"pageEl_492026565\" class=\"pageEl\"><div class=\"pageElement textBlockElement clearfix\"><div class=\"text clearfix\"><p>Kevin Payne<br \/>CEO\/Executive Director<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Letter from CEO Kevin Payne | COVID-19 and the 2020-21 season July 20, 2020 Dear members, The prospect of any new season brings optimism and renewed passion. And while that\u2019s true for the 2020-21 season, there\u2019s also good reason to<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-primary\" href=\"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/letter-from-ceo-kevin-payne-covid-19-and-the-2020-21-season\/\"> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":4755,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"single-custom_post.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[31,59,32],"tags":[],"table_tags":[],"class_list":["post-4974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home","category-member-updates","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4974"},{"taxonomy":"table_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usclubsoccer.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/table_tags?post=4974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}