MSI has the strictest rules
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Anonymous
| The moco rule says if there is a barrier between the field and the spectators you can have the spectators. What field has a barrier? My kid has been playing at Julius West, and there is definitely no barrier |
Anonymous
You could learn a lot as well by actually reading the rules, which has raised the outdoor gathering limit to 50, and has more spectator exceptions beyond that in various circumstances. The contact of the sport has absolutely NOTHING to do with spectators. Geez ... for goodness sakes. You think whether parents are on the side watching baseball, soccer, football, baton twirling, or whatever else makes a difference on SPECTATOR policies. I really am amazed by some comments here. "Don't be dense" -- the contact of the sport has nothing to do with spectating. Never has, even in this very COVID restrictive county, and never will be. Not a single time in all the executive orders was gathering limits or spectator policies tied to a sport classification. Never. It was about whether games or contact practices could be held at all. |
Anonymous
The soccerplex allows for 1 spectator per player FYI. |
Anonymous
The "barrier" at the plex is a white painted line 10 ft from the field These "rules" are simply ridiculous and as long as this county rolls over for them the quality of soccer in Moco will continue to decline as parents take their kids elsewhere that they don't have to wear a mask and can actually watch the freaking games. |
Anonymous
It also says 50 people, so there is wiggle room there for spectators to be part of that count before you even get to the extras. And barriers can be created and submitted to the county. There's ways to spraypaint lines, or designate areas like up near the tennis courts, back towards the woods, etc. You don't need to have literal bleachers like in the high school stadiums. People have been doing this all across the area and country during the pandemic for youth sports, to create separation. NOVA teams have been good about creating barriers in the exact type of fields MSI isn't bothering. In any event, most of the MSI locations are public spaces and there's free spaces for people to watch at parks, for example, so MSI can only limit it so much. |
Anonymous
I have a baseball player, and a rec soccer player. My baseball player has never played or practiced on a field that didn't have a place for parents to watch that was six feet with some kind of separation from the player. With my soccer player, there have been plenty of times when he played on a field where the parents watched literally from the sideline, because there was another game a few feet away. I can't think of a field where my baseball player has practiced or played where it wouldn't be easy to meet both the spectator guidelines and the 50 person limit. On the other hand, most of the soccer places would struggle, because they have multiple games on the same larger field, so those numbers are added, and the places for spectators aren't as distanced. |
Anonymous
| Kindergarten and 1st grade Rec soccer games are played on very small fields since it’s 4v4. Hence, there are many separate games that are being played simultaneously on a soccer field. Hence, logistically there’s no space or area for parents to stand and watch the games. |
Anonymous
Do they play rec soccer at the plex? My experience was that usually the higher level teams are the ones using those. The high school fields, where there's a track around, meet this requirement which is why MSI allows spectators there. |
Anonymous
I have been to hundreds of MSI games at countless schools, parks, etc. I seriously don't get what you are saying. There's plenty of room. Historically, practice was to have parents lined up at the sideline, but there's lots of space to adjust and spread. The little 4 v. 4 games where they have a million going on at once would be the most problematic, unless they could space them out more to cut down capacity. |
Anonymous
Yes, they have a large rec league called SAM. Like MSI but at Soccerplex. Then they have Select that is like Classic. |
Anonymous
Sometimes, not always. I will give you that these are more difficult, but not true that there's categorically no space. They used Farmland for a while for the little ones and that park goes back and back in multiple directions well beyond where MSI would do the kindergarten program. I was at many, many K and 1st sessions there with tens of thousands of unoccupied open space. Same at Tilden Center (now new Tilden Middle School). Hoover was a little tighter, but that too goes back and back in one direction with green space. But yes, I do agree that if they have many games going on at certain places, it gets tougher. Once you get past fall 2nd grade, most games when they are at a school or park there's just one game. Those have tons of space. |
Anonymous
| MSI has now said they hope to have a new policy by next weekend, so some criticism seems to have sunk in, and they are making more of an effort to work with the county and within the rules. |
Anonymous
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OMG. People are fighting about kindergarten and first grade Rec soccer?
Not about which travel clubs (McLean, Loudon, BSC, FCV, etc.) are good, bad or ugly. Hahaha. |
Anonymous
If you play soccer through montgomery county government, that's done through the montgomery county website. Msi is private |
Anonymous
By "they" I meant MSI. I don't see how the set up at the Soccerplex is relavent to why MSI doesn't have spectators at their Rec games. |