When does the new season begin?

Speed

GOLD
So given the fact that so cal has been locked down and games haven't been played when does the 'last' season end and the new season start? and when will clubs start requesting payments/commitments?
 
March 390th.

In all seriousness, though, in talking with a few fellow associates, the amount of fear and confusion and disarray is off the charts. We simply don't know the willingness of parents to pay another few thousand dollars with an absolutely unknown future. Yes we know at some point people are going to get vaccinated, including the kids, but we don't know when-- until then, asking parents to pay club fees based on an assumption isn't going to land well at all. We can assume that we will have league play this fall, but if you had asked me last April I would have told you that we were probably going to have league play last year. There are a ton of people who truly don't know either way.

Combine that with a huge number of parents who don't have the disposable income they had this time last year, and there are some very dark times ahead of us. Even before the SCDSL/CalSouth thing we would have said that it is extremely likely we will see more fracturing, and personally I think that's still true. The prospect of regional play this year looks extremely grim for people on the financial bubble. What you saw at Surf Cup is extremely likely to repeat itself for other large tournaments and I would not be surprised to see smaller tournaments evaporate.
 
July 31st is normally the traditional end of the soccer season as far as registration is concerned.

However some Clubs are already advertising for "tryouts" or "open" training for the 21-22' season.

With the current guidance and youth sports restrictions where counties need to be in the orange or 3rd tier while all of socal is in purple 5th the prospect of local socal games and leagues is a long shot for the next 3 months or so.

Some leagues like ECNL that have out of state teams that host at there is facilities have later March league games scheduled vs Socal teams but other than that not much.

Out of state tournaments and local training is about all that most teams can manage legally so just have to make the best of those opportunities.
 
What you saw at Surf Cup is extremely likely to repeat itself for other large tournaments and I would not be surprised to see smaller tournaments evaporate.
Theres still going to be a market for the smaller flight 2 and 3 tournaments put on by local clubs. It’s not the End of the Line for them

I agree some of the niche tournaments for flight 1 and encl teams might be strained in the near term. But parents love trophies and clubs like the revenue.
 
If we can’t start the season by March 15th, it’s time to just call it a wrap. Just go straight to tryout season to begin the new season in July. The other problem is that this summer you will see a lot of families going on vacations.
 
If we can’t start the season by March 15th, it’s time to just call it a wrap. Just go straight to tryout season to begin the new season in July. The other problem is that this summer you will see a lot of families going on vacations.

I agree. In the upper middle class there's a lot of pent up demand for travel, but one issue is that at least foreign borders are still likely to be shut. They'll be closer to home.

From the postings on the soccer announcement boards it seems like that's the assumption anyway. Tons of tryouts. I guess the issue is CalSouth is still reluctant to scratch the State Cup. Any word on that...they still holding onto a fantasy they might run it in summer?
 
Theres still going to be a market for the smaller flight 2 and 3 tournaments put on by local clubs. It’s not the End of the Line for them

I agree some of the niche tournaments for flight 1 and encl teams might be strained in the near term. But parents love trophies and clubs like the revenue.

It was only the End of the Line for GDA, not that anyone saw that coming or anything.
 
I should add-- here's where we are and here's where we are going.

Estimates are that we've already lost 10% of all teams out there. With small groups of players leaving from each team, there has been a large amount of team reorgs going on. Naturally this is causing the third teams (and even some second teams) to be ditched by the wayside as they don't have enough kids to remain viable. All of this was with existing club fees already paid and not playing any games. Obviously some refunds have been given across the board and from what I can extrapolate almost all clubs are dipping into emergency funds.

So that's where we stand right now, effectively on the edge of a cliff. Here's where we are going.

Over the next couple of months, clubs are going to ask their youngers parents to register for 2021-2022. In all likelihood, there won't be tryouts for kids who are returning, and there will either be virtual tryouts or distanced "come show up at a couple of practices" kinds of tryouts for kids who are transferring or are new. Parents, please don't transfer your kid this year, you will not wind up in a happy place. Anyways-- given all that, the estimate for incoming new pipeline kids is a drop by 75%+. This obviously isn't good as olders go off to college and we have a net drop in players of almost an entire age bracket's worth. With no AYSO from last fall to feed Ulittles into the pipeline, the U8 group registrations look dire.

So then we've got the money problem. Upper-middle-class families are not going to be able to float working-class kids onto the team and I truly do not know how many kids we will lose in the next couple of months but things do not look good at all. If clubs offer a discount on club fees, coaches are going to wind up carrying more kids on their teams and there will be even fewer teams. If clubs maintain the same level of fees, there is going to be a loss of talent, and again we're back to fewer teams as more reorgs take place.

My point of all of this is-- count yourself lucky if you are in the position to be able to throw another few grand at your club and please be patient with your clubs as we are all about to go through a buzzsaw.
 
If we can’t start the season by March 15th, it’s time to just call it a wrap. Just go straight to tryout season to begin the new season in July. The other problem is that this summer you will see a lot of families going on vacations.
Nah there is a lot of time for games in late March, April, May and June. No reason to be such a negative person.
 
We won't have any league play in 2021, even with a vaccine , expect more of the same this year, but with much less people paying full price.

It all turns on whether they force the vaccine. Kids won't be fully vaccinated until schools force the issue in the fall (vaccine probably not eligible til the summer for those 12 and under, and those with health issue like Downs will go first). With 20-40% of medical professionals declining it, how much more careful/paranoid will people be about their kids? In California, where things remain case dependent (as opposed to hospitalizations, or deaths which will drop even as we move out of the COVID/Flu season let alone due to so many having had it, and the vaccine) we'll still get enough cases that league play will at a minimum be disrupted in fall 2021. It's looking iffy for summer tournaments in SoCal, and if they happen they will be restricted.
 
Nah there is a lot of time for games in late March, April, May and June. No reason to be such a negative person.
Lmao! Negative person would be me saying in July that we are not having a season. I’ve been an optimist but we are running out of time.

Club contracts are due by March/April. With no season announcement in March, how can we get parents to pay another $2k+ for the upcoming season. Remember that parents have paid for a season that has yet to happen.
 
We won't have any league play in 2021, even with a vaccine , expect more of the same this year, but with much less people paying full price.
You cannot be serious. 45 states have been playing youth sports this entire past year. And, you are writing off 2021. C'mon. People will ignore the governor if he shuts down 2021.
 
Lmao! Negative person would be me saying in July that we are not having a season. I’ve been an optimist but we are running out of time.

Club contracts are due by March/April. With no season announcement in March, how can we get parents to pay another $2k+ for the upcoming season. Remember that parents have paid for a season that has yet to happen.
Clearly we are in different age groups. The olders season ends in late June. So we are on different timeframes. It seems you are talking youngers.
 
In all likelihood, there won't be tryouts for kids who are returning, and there will either be virtual tryouts or distanced "come show up at a couple of practices" kinds of tryouts for kids who are transferring or are new.
In San Diego a lot of clubs are advertising open ID Camps or straight up Tryouts for January. Some had started ID Camps in December.
 
You cannot be serious. 45 states have been playing youth sports this entire past year. And, you are writing off 2021. C'mon. People will ignore the governor if he shuts down 2021.

We didn't have league this year despite 45 states playing youth sports. What makes you think this time it will be different? It's not like California rose up and said no.

If we can't play until orange, and this continues to be based on cases, and we continue to have a high vaccine decline rate, even if we start next fall the season will be disrupted again as COVID/Flu season kicks off after Halloween. The only way that changes is if the California guidance radically changes (or at the minimum if they force the issue and require players, coaches and referees to be vaccinated before play....in which case the fall season for the youngest doesn't start til maybe Octuber/November to give them all a chance to get vaccinated).

Long term kids have been playing and will be playing baseball before soccer. A young kid's dad on the fence about whether to put them in baseball or soccer might be incentivized to pick baseball since they know they are more likely to play (as opposed to AYSO which will pretty much be shut down until fall or CYBA basketball). The recruitment pool will also be narrower in the following years.

IF everything continues unchanged, my guess is things begin to relax in California this summer, but a mild freakout again next fall....again IF everything remains unchanged.
 
I should add-- here's where we are and here's where we are going.

Estimates are that we've already lost 10% of all teams out there. With small groups of players leaving from each team, there has been a large amount of team reorgs going on. Naturally this is causing the third teams (and even some second teams) to be ditched by the wayside as they don't have enough kids to remain viable. All of this was with existing club fees already paid and not playing any games. Obviously some refunds have been given across the board and from what I can extrapolate almost all clubs are dipping into emergency funds.

So that's where we stand right now, effectively on the edge of a cliff. Here's where we are going.

Over the next couple of months, clubs are going to ask their youngers parents to register for 2021-2022. In all likelihood, there won't be tryouts for kids who are returning, and there will either be virtual tryouts or distanced "come show up at a couple of practices" kinds of tryouts for kids who are transferring or are new. Parents, please don't transfer your kid this year, you will not wind up in a happy place. Anyways-- given all that, the estimate for incoming new pipeline kids is a drop by 75%+. This obviously isn't good as olders go off to college and we have a net drop in players of almost an entire age bracket's worth. With no AYSO from last fall to feed Ulittles into the pipeline, the U8 group registrations look dire.

So then we've got the money problem. Upper-middle-class families are not going to be able to float working-class kids onto the team and I truly do not know how many kids we will lose in the next couple of months but things do not look good at all. If clubs offer a discount on club fees, coaches are going to wind up carrying more kids on their teams and there will be even fewer teams. If clubs maintain the same level of fees, there is going to be a loss of talent, and again we're back to fewer teams as more reorgs take place.

My point of all of this is-- count yourself lucky if you are in the position to be able to throw another few grand at your club and please be patient with your clubs as we are all about to go through a buzzsaw.
As a parent of a ULittle player, if the club asked tomorrow to sign up the next “season,” I would. We have been having practices all year long although modified, coaches still are showing up and training our kids. It’s tough for everyone but I am thankful for our club/coaches that continue to do their best given the circumstances.
 
We didn't have league this year despite 45 states playing youth sports. What makes you think this time it will be different? It's not like California rose up and said no.

If we can't play until orange, and this continues to be based on cases, and we continue to have a high vaccine decline rate, even if we start next fall the season will be disrupted again as COVID/Flu season kicks off after Halloween. The only way that changes is if the California guidance radically changes (or at the minimum if they force the issue and require players, coaches and referees to be vaccinated before play....in which case the fall season for the youngest doesn't start til maybe Octuber/November to give them all a chance to get vaccinated).

Long term kids have been playing and will be playing baseball before soccer. A young kid's dad on the fence about whether to put them in baseball or soccer might be incentivized to pick baseball since they know they are more likely to play (as opposed to AYSO which will pretty much be shut down until fall or CYBA basketball). The recruitment pool will also be narrower in the following years.

IF everything continues unchanged, my guess is things begin to relax in California this summer, but a mild freakout again next fall....again IF everything remains unchanged.
Agree, the perspective and guidance of CA officials will have to change to get normal league games this spring. It could happen. There could be a realization that the low risk isn't worth canceling organized sports as many other states have determined, but that would be a change in the approach we have seen since last year.
 
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