MOCO Executive Order No. 087-20 - Effective Date 8/5/2020

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So, here we go, my son’s team that is based in Montgomery county has rescheduled two scrimmages. Both have been relocated: one to Baltimore and the other to Northern Virginia. Can someone explain to me what Montgomery county is trying to accomplish? Unless there is a nationwide ban on the sport, people are going to find a way to play, let’s stop fooling ourselves. If this isn’t politics at its worst, please tell me what is really going on.

I think my ds moco team has a scrimmage in NOVA. Im on the fence about letting him play. But I wonder if I would allow it in moco with similar numbers if it were allowed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, here we go, my son’s team that is based in Montgomery county has rescheduled two scrimmages. Both have been relocated: one to Baltimore and the other to Northern Virginia. Can someone explain to me what Montgomery county is trying to accomplish? Unless there is a nationwide ban on the sport, people are going to find a way to play, let’s stop fooling ourselves. If this isn’t politics at its worst, please tell me what is really going on.

I think my ds moco team has a scrimmage in NOVA. Im on the fence about letting him play. But I wonder if I would allow it in moco with similar numbers if it were allowed?

Personally, I think that is fine. Only against team mates, right? They are no doubt already getting quite close to each other in practice anyway so makes no difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The population that plays soccer is more racially and socioeconomically diverse which may place it at higher risk than lacrosse.

Don’t think MoCo officials would admit that is a factor.

This is what makes no sense to me. Lacrosse contact sport with pads for boys, close up. For girls it’s defending is running very tight next to another girl. . They have been having tournaments all summer 1 county away. It’s not high risk. And we had kids play lacrosse - it still remains the sport of wealthier kids - travel and Rex.

Soccer the most diverse sport, inexpensive - ball and cleats which a lot of organizations donate, and can be played by a lot of kids. Stopped.

I understand if you stop both sports (though I don’t support that). I just don’t understand the logic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, here we go, my son’s team that is based in Montgomery county has rescheduled two scrimmages. Both have been relocated: one to Baltimore and the other to Northern Virginia. Can someone explain to me what Montgomery county is trying to accomplish? Unless there is a nationwide ban on the sport, people are going to find a way to play, let’s stop fooling ourselves. If this isn’t politics at its worst, please tell me what is really going on.

I think my ds moco team has a scrimmage in NOVA. Im on the fence about letting him play. But I wonder if I would allow it in moco with similar numbers if it were allowed?

Personally, I think that is fine. Only against team mates, right? They are no doubt already getting quite close to each other in practice anyway so makes no difference.

Yes i would agree but i think the "scrimmage" is against another team and just not taking score.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The population that plays soccer is more racially and socioeconomically diverse which may place it at higher risk than lacrosse.

Don’t think MoCo officials would admit that is a factor.

This is what makes no sense to me. Lacrosse contact sport with pads for boys, close up. For girls it’s defending is running very tight next to another girl. . They have been having tournaments all summer 1 county away. It’s not high risk. And we had kids play lacrosse - it still remains the sport of wealthier kids - travel and Rex.

Soccer the most diverse sport, inexpensive - ball and cleats which a lot of organizations donate, and can be played by a lot of kids. Stopped.

I understand if you stop both sports (though I don’t support that). I just don’t understand the logic.

It also may be a numbers game.

Think about the number of kids and games that will return county wise compared to lacrosse. Not fair but in sure they thought I'd this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The population that plays soccer is more racially and socioeconomically diverse which may place it at higher risk than lacrosse.

Don’t think MoCo officials would admit that is a factor.

This is what makes no sense to me. Lacrosse contact sport with pads for boys, close up. For girls it’s defending is running very tight next to another girl. . They have been having tournaments all summer 1 county away. It’s not high risk. And we had kids play lacrosse - it still remains the sport of wealthier kids - travel and Rex.

Soccer the most diverse sport, inexpensive - ball and cleats which a lot of organizations donate, and can be played by a lot of kids. Stopped.

I understand if you stop both sports (though I don’t support that). I just don’t understand the logic.

It also may be a numbers game.

Think about the number of kids and games that will return county wise compared to lacrosse. Not fair but in sure they thought I'd this.

Sorry for typos..

[Anonymous]

MoCo council and health commission will be revisiting this week. One of 2 outcomes likely:

1- Soccer reclassified as medium risk
2- Other sports (ie lacrosse) reclassified as high risk

It will be interesting to see which social economic group prevails.........

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the issue is less organized soccer and more the neighborhood games where people ignore all protocols. I went to a practice in NOVA last week. Before the practice started that was a game of adults and after the game, no one was following protocols. I can see how such a situation would make local leaders nervous and drive them to shut down soccer fields all together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the issue is less organized soccer and more the neighborhood games where people ignore all protocols. I went to a practice in NOVA last week. Before the practice started that was a game of adults and after the game, no one was following protocols. I can see how such a situation would make local leaders nervous and drive them to shut down soccer fields all together.

I unfortunately don't see this happening with kids unless we're moved back to phase 0 or 1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo council and health commission will be revisiting this week. One of 2 outcomes likely:

1- Soccer reclassified as medium risk
2- Other sports (ie lacrosse) reclassified as high risk

It will be interesting to see which social economic group prevails.........

Please please #1. Im just hoping for at least scrimmaging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo council and health commission will be revisiting this week. One of 2 outcomes likely:

1- Soccer reclassified as medium risk
2- Other sports (ie lacrosse) reclassified as high risk

It will be interesting to see which social economic group prevails.........

Please please #1. Im just hoping for at least scrimmaging.

If they don't, then MoCo has decided to just entirely abandon kids. So that being said, I suspect it'll be #2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo council and health commission will be revisiting this week. One of 2 outcomes likely:

1- Soccer reclassified as medium risk
2- Other sports (ie lacrosse) reclassified as high risk

It will be interesting to see which social economic group prevails.........

Please please #1. Im just hoping for at least scrimmaging.

If they don't, then MoCo has decided to just entirely abandon kids. So that being said, I suspect it'll be #2.

Me too. We seem to be an anti-kid county where massage and tattoo parlors are prioritized, but any perceived slight risk with kids is stopped.


I would encourage everyone to write council members. Based on other actions and videos I have watched, I do not think Dr Gayles or Dr Stoddard will be swayed. It maybe worth state efforts too - not sure. The public health officers making the recommendations are state employees reporting to the health secretary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MoCo council and health commission will be revisiting this week. One of 2 outcomes likely:

1- Soccer reclassified as medium risk
2- Other sports (ie lacrosse) reclassified as high risk

It will be interesting to see which social economic group prevails.........

Please please #1. Im just hoping for at least scrimmaging.

If they don't, then MoCo has decided to just entirely abandon kids. So that being said, I suspect it'll be #2.

It's really said what they're doing to kids. Since they canceled school (likely for the entire year), kids need something to look forward to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Montgomery County is the adult in the room and is making the correct decision for all these clubs, parents and kids. The solution to shut down all complaining is to add more sports like Lacrosse and Indoor Volleyball to the high risk list.

As disappointing as it is, I agree. Remember, we haven't had widespread group activities on the scale of DC-area youth sports since March. Children may be unlikely to have severe symptoms. But, seriously: all things being equal there's no good reason, let alone empirical evidence, to think that bringing thousands of kids together for multiple practices and games each week won't exacerbate the prevalence, among both children and adults. We, as a country, didn't discipline ourselves in May, June, and July in order to suppress the spread sufficiently. Throwing caution to the wind now, because we're bored and kids are stir-crazy, is just rolling the dice, at best, and head-in-the-sand, at worst. And, yes, I'm sensitive to the fact that some kids have special needs that soccer serves well. I feel for you. But we're talking about a gd pandemic. Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Japan, Spain, and even Italy reported fewer than 100 deaths over the last week. The US? More than 7,000. The answer is not to assail cautious local officials about our individual pet causes. The answer is to demand real leadership from our state and federal authorities and experts.

The war analogy is ridiculous coming out of Trump's mouth, given that he wields it only for self-aggrandizement. But it's not completely inapt. What we need is nation-wide coordination and a temporary, but sustained, re-ordering of priorities. And youth sports, are much as my kid and I miss them, and despite all the many, indisputable benefits, are low on that list.

I agree with this, too. And would agree that Lacrosse should be considered a high-risk sport. Will communicate this to the County Council.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Faced with low information, you have two choices: plunge in headlong, assuming it's safe until proven wrong (i.e., with more infections and deaths). Or make reasonable, conservative assumptions and the corresponding sacrifices -- painful though they might be -- to minimize the the risk, even if it turns out to be overkill. Isn't that obvious?

Fortunately many areas are planning to plunge in headlong. Kids have already had everything else taken away. They shouldn't have to be the ones to sacrifice over and over to keep the numbers at just a good enough level to enable adults to do whatever they want. I'm glad our league's games are starting up in September. Heck, scrimmages this month have been a blast. So glad I moved out of Olney three years ago to get away from this nonsense.

I believe they call this the "lemmings argument".