I decided not to coach soccer this season because of Covid

les26

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19 years I have coached youth Rec soccer, we were cancelled out this Spring but this Fall our organization for some reason is "gung ho" to press on with having the kids play while high school and colleges are cancelling or postponing all around us. I talked to several other coaches and I am going to sit this season out, I am almost 60 years old, I am around my 80 year old parents a lot, and I don't think we all have a handle on this thing and think it will get worse, and if someone gets it we are all on two week shutdown so I am sitting it out. It was very hard for me to do, my heart wants to do it but my mind is over ruling it, barely. But the way that we would have to coach with the kids all spread out and then next time a little closer etc. would be frustrating, it won't be anything like it had been and I would probably not like it, plus wondering every day "does someone have it?". And on the way home from work tonight my wife said she saw two teams practicing, the one had the kids spread out like they are supposed to, the other the kids were all on top of each other huddled together, so we could follow the guidelines to a tee and then play against a team like that who didn't.

It was a very hard decision but then again it really wasn't, it is too early to my mind. I hope they all stay safe, the ones who do play, but it wouldn't surprise me if it all got shut down in two weeks or less.
 

DreamerRose

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You're a very wise person. I canceled on a church activity way back in March when I first realized this was a very bad virus and it was spreading rapidly. I haven't regretted it for a minute.

All such events should be put on hold until the virus is under control - no matter how long it takes.
 

denice

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I would cancel as well. Kids are close together and there is a lot of contact. No I would steer clear. The city tennis courts are close to where I live and they have been open most of the summer. That is different though, not 100% safe because the ball could get contaminated if someone has it but it isn't a close in sport with contact. People are spread out just no shaking hands over the net.
 

Winchester

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It's a difficult decision, but you did what you had to do.

Rick has bowled for the last 40+ years. They're having a league meeting on Thursday; they're going to bowl, but they're trying to figure out guidelines for masks. Rick will be there on the side of mask-wearing; he says if they decide not to wear masks, he and his team will probably sit this season out....or, hopefully, be able to "bowl out". This means that he and/or members of his team will be able to go into the bowling alley during the day to bowl on their own time. Most of the team is retired and they're willing to do that, if they can get permission. If that's not allowed, I don't know what's going to happen. He dearly loves to bowl and, well, the man has some serious cabin fever. Being sheltered bothers him a lot more than it does me.
 

MoochNNoodles

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Most sports here are postponed till spring. Some are going on. But I was just reading comments about how packed this big outdoor sports complex they built nearby is every weekend. I’m confused who these people are because people were talking about out of state plates.

Normally there is a group of people playing soccer by my house every Sunday; almost all year long. It was weird not to see them. I see some using the fields now; but not the usual group. They seem like an unofficial league made mostly of migrant workers.
 

denice

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The head of WHO said that young people are fueling the surge globally now, it isn't just in the U.S. A larger percentage of them will get away with milder illness but they will come into contact with older relatives and neighbors while they are contagious but have no symptoms. Older people coming down with this stuff will follow.
 

susanm9006

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Wise move. The goal right now should be just to not catch this virus. There will be future coaching and soccer games and you want to be there for them.
 
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les26

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Well what I feared would happen is happening, my wife came home from work and said that a coworker got an "urgent" message from LMYA (a local youth organization, I coached 13 of my 19 years there) saying that a player who played in a game this past weekend has tested positive for Covid and both teams-players, coaches, parents and ref-are strongly urged to self quarantine for 14 days. I hope the kid is okay, but this is what I feared. I had been feeling sad and down this past week in the evenings feeling "I should be out there", but hearing this takes some of the sadness away, in a strange way.

Wow.....I have a feeling there will be more reports of things like this happening, I hope that I am wrong!
 

susanm9006

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Well what I feared would happen is happening, my wife came home from work and said that a coworker got an "urgent" message from LMYA (a local youth organization, I coached 13 of my 19 years there) saying that a player who played in a game this past weekend has tested positive for Covid and both teams-players, coaches, parents and ref-are strongly urged to self quarantine for 14 days. I hope the kid is okay, but this is what I feared. I had been feeling sad and down this past week in the evenings feeling "I should be out there", but hearing this takes some of the sadness away, in a strange way.

Wow.....I have a feeling there will be more reports of things like this happening, I hope that I am wrong!
Unfortunately, I think you are right. None of them should be out there.
 

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I play with a competitive Gaelic Football team and even though Ireland has gone back to practicing and playing, we aren't able to here in Korea due to not having a practice facility (we usually trained on the US military base which is closed to non-essentials these days). We used to compete around Asia, but with all the travel restrictions every tournament was understandably canceled for the year.

The thing for us is that most of us are English teachers and the risks we face are not the disease itself but the intense social discrimination. There was an outbreak in the foreign district back in May and whether any of us had been in the area or not, lots of parents were demanding every foreign teacher in the country get tested. If one of us comes up positive, it would be pretty damaging for our already tenuous reputations as a whole. Korea has done a tremendous job with virus containment, but we're all living on a knife edge. At least in other places you probably won't be publicly vilified, lose your job, have your visa canceled, etc. if you test positive (it's supposed to be illegal to do those things, but there are plenty of loopholes employers could and would take)

The risks are personally still too high for me, but lately I've been missing playing so much. Running and wallball on my own just isn't the same. Still, the more we all hold back this year, hopefully the quicker we can get back to it once vaccines are available. I think you've made the right choice!
 
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les26

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I just found out today that this kid who tested positive was feeling sick as well as one of his parents, they got tested but the parent LET THE KID PLAY IN THE GAME BEFORE THEY GOT THE RESULTS BACK!!!! It is stupid, selfish, self centered things like this that are allowing this plague to hang around, and I am sure there are others of this same mindset so this thing could be circulating and people don't even know it, or they will carry it to someone who will get it and get very sick or worse from it.

So so stupid......:nono: :mad2:
 
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