Hello,

We hope this update finds you well.

We are looking to return to team training and sessions week commencing Monday 6^th July  if parents are happy to return and agree to the guidelines and rules we set out.

Recently the Football Association (FA) published guidance on returning to football training.

The latest FA Guidelines must be read and can be found at http://www.thefa.com/news/2020/jun/01/grassroots-football-covid-19-guidance-update-010620

We have trialled for 3 weeks 1 to 1, 2 to 1, 3 to 1 and some 5 to 1 sessions across the club.  In the first week it was quite stressful even just with 2 players per coach but at the end of the second week it has become more manageable and positive, the coaches growing in confidence with the guidance.  Based on this we are looking to begin training again but do have concerns.

Currently we have no access to training facilities at Archbishop Beck High, and probably won’t until September and we have been advised Jeffrey Humbles would be available at the very earliest late July but we think August or September would be most likely for football use.

River Juniors will not agree to our teams training on public parks, we can’t be responsible for, or regulate, who is in the immediate area of where children are training, we don’t know if anyone nearby is safe to be around children, we can’t control if people are passing who are under the influence of drink or drugs and there are considerations like people having their dog off its lead or general anti-social behaviour.

We have access to Blessed Sacrament Primary School (Cedar Road, L9 9AF) near where we train.  Parking and space to coach on the field is limited.  It is our aim to have a positive relationship with both the school and residents and we have got rules and guidelines to ensure this happens as well as the Covid-19 guidelines.

Some children are not able to return to training as they are shielding or their parents are, some parents aren’t comfortable bringing their children.  There is absolutely no pressure from the club to return to training, there should be no pressure for other parents, coaches or managers for your child to attend.  Please respect the wishes and situations of others.

Please do not make comparisons with other teams and clubs.  They are welcome to make their own decisions and assess their own risk.  There have been people doing 1 to 1’s when they shouldn’t, teams training socially distanced before they are allowed to and I’ve been sent a photograph of a team training and then having a full contact match at the end of training as well as teams playing friendlies!  There will always be a minority of people who disregard the rules, know better or couldn’t care for them, that is their clubs choice and the parent’s choice to continue taking them.

These rules and guidelines are non-negotiable.  Anyone who jeopardises the club being able to use these facilities will be banned from attending training here and won’t return until we get back to other venues.

Rules & information as follows:

Environment:

• Unfortunately we have no toilet or refreshment facilities.

• You are not permitted to go anywhere within the school grounds apart from the car park, and the field (please keep away from the school’s outdoor classroom). Under no circumstances park on the field itself, club officials and coaches only.

• If you have a session time of 5pm or earlier please park on the Road. If you have a session time of 6pm or later please use the school car park.  If you are parking alongside the field please do not park outside the houses, make sure it is ‘field side’ of the Road.  If asked to park in the car park please do not ignore this, we appreciate it’s easier to park away from the car for access and exit but we must keep as much parking as possible off the neighbouring Roads.  If you wish to park on or off Long Lane that is ok.

• Wherever you are parked please make your way to and from the football with minimal noise and interaction with other people.

• We are hoping to put an extra coach on who will be on hand to monitor parking and assist if anyone requires help.

• Attached below (Pitch Plan) is a document that includes the layout and explanation of how we expect the flow of people to work on arrival to sessions and when leaving sessions.

• We have done a risk assessment following guidelines which is available on request.

• Pets are not allowed on site.

What we expect from children and parents:

• Anyone who shows signs of Covid-19 must follow government guidelines, they can be found at https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/symptoms/

• If you don’t agree with social distancing, don’t believe in Covid-19 and away from football are not following similar guidelines regarding social distancing that is your viewpoint.  This club is following the guidelines we are expected to and whilst at our sessions you are expected to follow them also, NO EXCEPTIONS.  If you aren’t willing to do this or your child is expecting to attend and ignore the rules we would ask you do not attend.  This also applies when waiting for sessions to start.
• Coaches now have the added pressure of monitoring social distancing & stopping equipment being shared whilst trying to coach.  We are not here to manage poor behaviour of players or to be checking and dealing with any situation were people aren’t following the rules we have set out.

• Player and parent behaviour at the venue and surrounding area must be impeccable, clean up after yourselves, no banging boots, no children or parents stood in the road talking, no messing and being loud in the roads nearby and children not kicking balls around the road. Please finish your session and head home without congregating around the venue.

• Please do not attend with more people than is required to be at the session, we appreciate some parents can only attend with a sibling (that’s allowable) but we have enough to deal with in the session without managing people alongside the session. We appreciate this has been slightly relaxed during 2 to 1 and 1 to 1 sessions but there are 8-10 children attending at a time and plenty of space, number will grow to 20-30 attendees.

Training Sessions:

• Full Covid-19 related guidelines are included as an attachment for you to read, there are player, parent and coach versions. Please note for the purposes of sessions siblings will not be allowed to break the 2 metre rules.

• These guidelines cover more details relating to players receiving treatment for injury and further advice showing the sessions are still covered by our insurance company. Insurance details can be found here: http://www.liverpoolfa.com/news/2020/jun/18/national-game-insurance-scheme—returning-to-football-guidance

• Sessions will mostly be technical ball work, passing and fitness. This makes sessions more manageable for coaches and less likely to risk breaking social distancing rules.  All sessions will be the same for each age group, regardless of coach a set/stock session is being created so all players are doing the same.

• Sessions are 55 minutes long as we need a 5 minute turnaround to check if any equipment needs to be cleaned or isolated from the session. This may be shortened by 5 minutes if we are risking a safe flow of people so accurate time keeping is a must.

• We can’t train in groups larger than 5. The club will pick groups.  We won’t put children with players they aren’t familiar with but to best make the sessions fit – which is going to be really difficult – we may not give you the exact scenario you are hoping for.  Groups will be made based on teams and we will consider similar level ability if we need to merge groups.  We can’t make this work if we try and meet every last request so please understand the difficulty we have putting this together.

• For example, a 5v5 team, squad of 7 can’t train as a 7, they may be split in to a 4 and a 3 or a 2, 2 and 3 depending if we can link players with kids from their other team. Groups will be made up to 5, we haven’t got the availability of coaches or space to just have a group of 3 and a group of 4, we need to utilise the spaces the best way we can.

• Parents must stay in attendance during sessions, and keep social distancing around the area your child is playing in. This is not negotiable.

• Sessions may be any day of the week but as much as possible sessions will be either on the day normal training will be in September or the day your child plays games, sessions will be similar times also.

What next?

• Please discuss with children how they feel about returning to football from an anxiety point of view towards Covid-19, it’s easy for a parent to analyse the information but a child may struggle to understand why they can’t go to school but can go to football.

• No one is expected to attend sessions yet but because this is going to be difficult to put together we have got to have a 4 week ‘opt in’ period. We can’t re-do and change the groups and sessions on a weekly basis, it will be far too time consuming.  If there are any spaces we may be able to add players on but this is unlikely.

• As you are aware our club operates differently to others, we use paid qualified coaches to take the team training sessions and these sessions will be provided at a 5:1 or 4:1 ratio. The cost of 1 session per week for a 4 week period is £20 in order to cover coach costs and contribution towards using the venue.  If you have any issues and need to discuss payments please contact Ray to discuss.  How to pay will be confirmed shortly.

Please complete the online form below, unless this form is complete then you will not be allocated a session, if you aren’t attending sessions at this time please complete the form anyway to advise us of this or we will presume you no longer want a place in a team or do not wish to continue attending sessions.

A final deadline of Friday the 26th of June is being set to enable us to have 5 days to put together the training groups and we will issue you the days and times on Wednesday 1^st July or Thursday 2^nd July.

If you’ve got any questions, concerns or queries about your child coming back to football that you want to discuss or a concern about them wanting to still play football at all then please contact Ray on 07875527909.

Thanks,

The River Team

Social Distancing Guidance – River Juniors (click to open)

Pitch Plan (click to open)