What Will Girls Club Soccer Look Like This Season?

Coronavirus changed much of what we normally did and made soccer leagues create protocols altering the normal landscape of the game. To continue having girls club soccer, organizers have had to figure out ways to keep the sport that we all love by keeping participants and players safe. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic is constantly changing, it’s hard to predict how different aspects of life will be affected. However, with what happened last year, here’s a look at what club soccer might look like for the upcoming season. 

Location, Location, Location

With new variants of COVID-19 cropping up and causing chaos, the location of the clubs becomes an important part. Different parts of the country are seeing increased COVID cases, with some densely populated places becoming hot spots.

Girls club soccer in COVID hotspots will struggle because clubs and leagues can’t guarantee how safe the play would be. This means club soccer might even have to pause for a bit. Additionally, it’s important to remember that teams and clubs will have to abide by state guidelines. 

Keeping Restrictions

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that places will lift all restrictions and that things will return to pre-COVID times. In fact, things might return to the way they were last year, with COVID cases increasing each day due to new variants of the virus. So the likely scenario is that club soccer will have to keep restrictions that they used last season as they returned to play. 

Masks mandates are coming back around throughout the United States, so players and teams will probably have to continue wearing masks on the bench or around the team if they aren’t actively playing in the game. We will also see teams continuing to sanitize all equipment regularly to help combat the virus. 

Both ECNL and EDP released COVID protocol guidelines that could be helpful for players and parents to read. You can read them here: ECNL, EDP. 

Tournaments

Tournaments are especially tricky because of the travel aspect. However, clubs could host tournaments safely during the spring, so we might see the big regions continue to follow those models and keep the tournaments going. Additionally, to ensure the safety of those involved, it’s possible that teams will have to do COVID testing or encourage players and participants to get vaccinated. 

The COVID pandemic is constantly changing, so it’s hard to predict what life will look like. Girls club soccer will certainly look different from normal circumstances, but overall, it could be similar to 2020.

Feature image via Unsplash 

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