adopted, October 6, 2022
Granite Falls Youth Soccer Club
Environmental Activity Policy
Purpose: As Parents, Coaches and Board Members we all take the health and safety of our players very seriously. Parents, Coaches, Referees and Board Members all have a responsibility for the safety of players during practices and games. GFYSC has adopted the following policy regarding excessive heat, air quality and lightning.
Excessive Heat:
- Guidelines
On days with temperatures 80 degrees or above, players should be well hydrated. Fluid breaks should increase during all practices and be more frequent for temperatures above 85.
Parents should provide extra water on days with excessive temperatures.
Players without water will not be able to participate in practices.
Coaches will monitor and/or limit activities to protect from heat exhaustion.
- Policy
On practice days where the temperature is forecasted to be 80 degrees or above, Parents should ensure extra water is provided and Coaches should schedule additional and frequent breaks. Practices may need to be canceled or limited to low cardio/impact.
On practice days where the temperature is forecasted to be 90 degrees or above, practices may be canceled for U08 and below, practices for U09+ may be canceled at Coaches or Club’s discretion. Parents should ensure extra water is provided and Coaches should schedule additional and frequent water breaks. Practices should be low cardio/impact.
On practice days where the temperature is forecasted to be 100 degrees or above practice will be canceled.
On game days where temperatures are 85 degrees or higher, quarterly water breaks will be implemented and enforced by the Referee.
On game days where the temperatures are close to or exceed 100 degrees, quarterly water breaks will be implemented and enforced by the Referee and/or game may be rescheduled at Coaches, Referee and/or Club’s discretion.
Air Quality
Wildfires can cause a tremendous amount of smoke in a very short time. It is GFYSC policy to cancel any practice or game where wildfire smoke is a concern for the health of our players and Coaches. Due to how rapidly conditions change during wildfires, limited notice may be given to Coaches. The Referee also has discretion to suspend a game at any time they feel the conditions become unsafe.
- Guidelines
Poor air quality is a risk to everyone.
Coaches shall issue no penalty for players or their family who chose to stay home when the air quality is questionable.
Parents and/or guardians of players with medical conditions that are sensitive to air quality should determine if their player should participate.
- Policy
GFYSC President and Vice President will monitor air quality using airnow.gov and home monitors for local estimates. If the Granite Falls School District cancels practice and/or games, so will GFYSC. Additionally, GFYSC will look at the AQI and reserve the right to make the following decisions.
If the AQI is around 80, GFYSC may cancel all practices for the day. Should practice continue, frequent water breaks will be offered and Coaches should monitor players. Practice should limit cardio/high impact training.
If the AQI is 100-150, GFYSC will cancel all practices for the day and may cancel games that have not started yet. The Referee may suspend any games in progress if they feel the AQI has become unsafe. Should games continue, quarterly water breaks will be offered and Coaches and Referees should monitor players.
If the AQI is above 150, GFYSC will cancel all practices and games, both that are in progress and that have not begun.
Lightening
It is the policy of GFYSC and North County Youth Soccer League that Lightening is a recognized threat. The 30-30 rule will apply. Count the time until you hear thunder. If this time is 30 seconds or less, seek proper shelter. If you see Lightning, seek proper shelter immediately. All training and games shall be suspended immediately. If you can’t see the lightening, just hearing the thunder is a good back-up rule. Wait 30 minutes or more after hearing the last thunder before leaving shelter. Should a game be suspended due to weather conditions all players, coaches, officials, spectators should seek shelter as appropriate. Play will not be resumed until 30 minutes after the last thunder/lightning sighting. Match officials are required to stay on site (sheltered) as long as the match can still be resumed. If the coaches indicate they will not resume due to weather/time then referees need to indicate that on the match report and contact their assignor. Coaches should notify their appropriate club. It is very likely that there is a match scheduled behind the current one and you may not be able to resume play.