Socially distanced travel practices

[Anonymous]

We have been missing players on a top local team. It’s tough - for scrimmages we have 1 sub, 2 if we are lucky - but the club is supportive. Coaches are extremely strict on the rules. Club is clear parents can change their mind due to Covid even day to day. The only time the coaches get irritated is if parents are not transparent bc you can’t plan. Ie don’t day you are coming to something 2 hours before and then not show up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alexandria has offered the option for kids whose families are not comfortable with scrimmaging to continue with socially distanced practices. We are considering having my son do that because my dad is immunocomprised, and we want my son to be able to keep seeing him. But we are concerned that it will be held against my son longer term, or that my son will get left behind his teammates in terms of skills development. Is either of these concerns valid?

Coach here.

I doubt anything will be held against your son, and if it does happen, shame on the coach and club. I would escalate the issue immediately if something like that happened.

As for falling behind his peers, may I ask what age we're talking about? There are also plenty of things that he can work on at home - you should ask your coach for some drills / exercises for him. Many players don't do any homework and this alone could keep him up to speed or even surpass some of his teammates.

Your big issues is going to be when games start and how you handle that....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’re in VA and the socially distanced practice is definitely not social distanced.

Ditto for Maryland and tournaments we have been to.

[Anonymous]

As for falling behind his peers, may I ask what age we're talking about? There are also plenty of things that he can work on at home - you should ask your coach for some drills / exercises for him. Many players don't do any homework and this alone could keep him up to speed or even surpass some of his teammates.

He's U13. My husband is constantly looking up drills and exercises and working with him, but it would be good to ask his coach for suggestions as well.