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Nov, 2020

Stay at Home Advisory

https://bsbproduction.s3.amazonaws.com/portals/4010/docs/ccdph-stay-at-home-advisory-111320.pdf

Due to the Cook County Department of Public Health’s (CCDPH) “Stay At Home” advisory of 11/13/20, the club feels compelled to suspend indoor soccer activities until further notice. Despite our protocols for indoor soccer, which provide a highly controlled and very safe environment, we are not considered an “essential business” and for very obvious reasons, we can not 100% guarantee a risk free environment, especially since the number of COVID-19 cases in the vicinity have recently substantially increased.

We share the frustration that this announcement brings to families, since for many, Celtics soccer is one of the few avenues currently open to their kids enabling them to learn, mature and interact in a socially competitive environment. For the coaches leading your kids this past weekend, the CCDPH’s announcement is equally frustrating as it was extremely gratifying to see players at the GrassHopper and Max enjoying their games in what was a diligently safely controlled environment.

This determination has been made strictly based on the recommendations of public health authorities and for the greater good. Regardless, we hope that this measure will only be temporary, and we will be able to re-asses within a few weeks.
In the interim, until we can continue with somewhat normal operations, the soccer calendar will look similar to this:
11/16-11/22 Individual Player Remote Curriculum Available
11/23-11/29 Thanksgiving Week off
11/30-12/6 Team remote classes via Zoom
12/7-12/13 Individual Player Remote Curriculum Available
12/14-12/20 Team remote classes via Zoom
The above is subject to change.

When guidelines change or the COVID-19 substantially improves, we will look to resume group indoor soccer activities immediately.

Looking Ahead:
While operating through COVID-19 the club’s mindset is to be flexible and provide soccer by grasping immediate opportunities to play, but in the safest environment possible. This may translate into a non-traditional calendar, for example the club has already provided a more comprehensive summer program than normal and it is likely that for female high school players we will extend their playing year prior to their delayed school season.

This mindset will be applied to every area of programming and as such our traditional budgeting does not apply. For example while league and referee fees are reduced due to very few fall league games, we still have to pay league affiliation fees and we have increased our facility usage mainly due to needing more space because of distancing requirements, yet staffing costs in general have remained constant. In addition there are other areas where we have to manage unusual costs, combined with a significantly reduced revenue stream largely due to us not being able to operate a GrassHopper league this year.

We are asking membership to fulfill their annual financial commitment since the playing year is fluid. In the spring, once we get a full grasp of the financial year after we assess our overall expenses relative to our revenue, we will make a determination on whether or not we can make adjustments to this year’s fees (similar to 2019-20). The bottom line is our goal will be to keep membership happy, the club sustainable and hopefully operate at a break-even or limited loss. If the club is financially able to, we will look at adjusting player fees toward the end of the year.

Thank you for continued support of the club.
Celtics Management & Staff