The health and safety of our players, coaches, and PacNW families take priority in the Pacific Northwest Soccer Club’s decisions. While orders from Govenor Inslee to prevent the spread of  Coronavirus remain in place, PacNW has created a detailed list of precautions and processes to be implemented once practices are allowed to resume

PacNW has developed the following Return to Play Coronavirus Protocols to implement in conjunction with health professionals, infectious disease specialists, and information from the Centers for Disease Control & OSHA. The protocols do not have a specific duration, but the club will adhere to the recommendations of public health officials and make adjustments when needed. These protocols will be in addition to a liberal sick leave policy for our coaches and staff.

If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Member at Large, Jeff Hemmen:  .

1. Minimize physical touching between players and coaches.

We have instructed our coaches that all players should avoid “high fives,” handshakes, or other types of physical touching. We understand that this may be difficult as players enjoy celebrating with their teammates (or even give them a hug after being apart for so long!), but we need to be diligent at enforcing this protocol for health and safety of our players.

2. Coaches to wear masks during training sessions.

We will require all coaches to wear CDC-recommended appropriate face coverings during training sessions. Players will also be allowed to wear masks while training, but this will be a personal choice of the player.

3. Hand sanitizer.

We are working in conjunction with Starfire to ensure there is access to hand sanitizer, including near the entrance by Field 2 and near the PacNW clubhouse. We encourage you to send your player with hand sanitizer for personal use.

4. Avoid “shared” equipment like pinnies

In the past our coaches have carried with them a bag of “pinnies” that are distributed to players in order to distinguish teams during scrimmages and drills. At the end of each practice session our coaches have traditionally collected all pinnies and laundered them at home. To reduce any chance of infection, reversible pinnies have been added to the player uniform kit.  Players will be responsible to bring their own pinnie with them to each practice session.

5. Reduce players touching practice equipment.

We have traditionally asked our players to assist with collecting training equipment (small goals, marking poles, discs, ball bags, etc.) after each practice session and returning it to the PacNW clubhouse. In order to avoid unnecessary touching by players on this equipment, we will be temporarily asking our coaches to handle all of the retrieval and storage of equipment.

6. Avoid large gatherings or lines of players.

At some of age groups (especially younger age groups) we will typically bring the entire age group together to learn a skill or drill, and then smaller groups will disperse to work on it. We will be temporarily pausing this practice of assembling large groups, and we have instructed all coaches to ensure that any lines of players during drills must maintain appropriate social distancing.

7. Clubhouse Cleaning and Use.

The clubhouse will be cleaned and disinfected daily, as will the railings leading down the stairs outside of the clubhouse. To limit traffic in the clubhouse we ask that members enter the clubhouse only for official business with coaches or staff.

8. Increased signage throughout Starfire.

We are working with Starfire to post reminder signage throughout Starfire to remind all players and spectators to maintain social distancing.

9. Introduction of “crowd busters” during peak practice hours.

For the first several weeks after resuming regular on-field practice sessions, we will be using volunteers who will serve as “crowd busters.” These volunteers will be walking around Starfire and will politely but firmly ask any groups of parents or players to disperse and maintain appropriate distancing.

For more information about guidance from the CDC, please visit the following links:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html 
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/community-mitigation-strategy.pdf