What are we doing now?
Currently, we are trying to stay connected with our players through several avenues listed below:
- Regular club and program updates to SC Surf membership
- Home-based technical training sessions posted on YouTube
- All spring season player will be getting an individual (written or verbal) evaluation from their coaches
- Many teams have connected together through Zoom meetings
- Interview with Troy Lesesne, the current Head Coach for New Mexico United USL professional team
- Interview with Beth Mead, professional women’s player for Arsenal and England national team
We are working to find other ways to connect with the players in the future. If your family has any questions, concerns or suggestions, please email us at admin@southcarolinasurfsoccer.com.
Plans for the future
We are all anxiously waiting for the day we can restart training together on a field. We are continuously monitoring information and recommendations provided by the South Carolina Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), US Youth Soccer, local and state government, and local school districts. As you all know, the local schools have cancelled school for the rest of the year and will be conducting online learning. The SCYSA Spring 2020 league season has been cancelled along with the SCYSA post season Cup events. The Carolinas Premier League (CPL) and the National Premier League (NPL) have suspended all league play but have not cancelled their spring season. US Club Soccer has cancelled their ENPL National Playoffs, ENPL National Finals, and National Cup Finals. They will announce their decision on their regional competition National Cup Southeast Regional (June 20-23 in Winston-Salem, NC) on May 6th.
Since we do not have an exact date of when we will be allowed to return to the field and we are nearing the month of May, we most likely will have to cancel the remainder of our league games. Once we have heard back from all our league governing bodies, we may make our final decision.
However, we have a plan to implement as soon as we have the exact “reopening” start date. As soon as a return to the field has been judged safe and reasonable, we will start our 5 week replacement programming.
- All current in-season teams will receive a minimum of 2 training sessions per week for 5 weeks
- At the end of the 5 weeks, we will host a Surf tournament/festival that weekend
- There will be no additional cost to our in-season spring members for this 5 week replacement programming
Variables
The 5 week replacement programming is our best case scenario plan. As we all know, our society will not open back all at once. The return to “normalcy” will be phased. Variables such as field availability and restrictions on gathering size may affect our plans. As a result, we have several other back up plans that accounts for these variables.
Other training options that we are considering are small group sessions spread out at different locations and different times, fitness training stations, beach training, and bridge runs. The festival may need to be small-sided games. Complete detailed information on our exact plan will be communicated as soon as we know an exact start date.
Field Availability
We are constantly working to increase our available fields, both through the Town of Mount Pleasant and through other relationships. For many years and through prior agreements, the TOMP had unique rental agreements with various clubs across all sports. Recently the TOMP received legal recommendation that all fields under the control of the TOMP should be offered at equal weight to all interested sports clubs, to include all sports and resources, and that no one club should be given exclusivity. The TOMP does not have a system in place to backfill empty spots in the field rental schedule. When you see empty baseball outfields or empty soccer (rectangular) fields, these fields are not available for our club or other clubs to be rented under the current system. We want to assure you that the number of fields our club uses, and time spent training on those fields, is at a maximum as allotted by the TOMP under their current system. We are currently discussing new opportunities for field space for the 2020 Fall Season and beyond, and as always, we welcome your comments and input. We will update everyone as we progress.
What about the Awendaw Project?
After months of extensive work to get proper permitting and approvals, the initial quotes to develop the land into our vision have significantly increased and become unattainable. Following much deliberation and funding research, we decided that carrying a large debt burden was not in the best interests of the club and membership. Therefore, we have decided not to move forward with the Awendaw Project. We will be focusing on improving our existing fields and developing new opportunities in the areas of our growing club footprint.
Financials
The pandemic has caused economic uncertainty in our world. We recognize that times are tough for all of us. We are continuing to position the club to be able to serve our members today, tomorrow and in the future. There are several expenses (league fees and tournament expenses) from the spring season that the club will not recover. There are on-going expenses (rent, field maintenance, insurance expenses, and administration fees) that remain even though there is no active training and games.
The club is highly committed to the well-being of our staff and their families. We are doing our best to support the staff financially through modified compensation. We also realize the importance of being loyal and supportive of our members. In an effort to be able to balance paying our staff and provide player development, we will be offering replacement training sessions as outlined in our plans for the future. During this suspension caused by the COVID pandemic, the club will not be able to offer spring training fee refunds because we have position ourselves to make up the lost training time. The staff is working hard to finalize the 5 week replacement programming and additional training opportunities for the remainder of summer, fall, and into the club 20-21 season.
Evaluations
As soon as we are cleared to return to play on the field without gathering restrictions, we will be holding our annual evaluation process. The evaluation registration fee is $31.21, which provides the player a training shirt and covers the traditional cost of field rental, equipment and coaching expenses. The registration page for player evaluations for the upcoming 2020-21 year is active online. Please feel free to register your player at this link:
https://southcarolinasurfsoccer.com/evaluations/
Fall Programming
Our tireless staff has been working hard to ensure our teams have access to the most competitive leagues possible. We will be providing exciting information about our upcoming league programming, new staff announcements, and new club opportunities in the near future.