The coronavirus canceled the St. Clairsville Area Soccer Association’s spring season earlier this year.
SCASA leadership waited as long as possible to make its decision on the fall season, doing everything in its collective power to ensure area players didn’t wait a full calendar year to retake the pitch.
That waiting paid off. Once Gov. Mike DeWine gave his blessing for sports to push ahead this fall, registration for SCASA opened soon after.
The group had been planning for months for multiple possibilities, hoping to hear some good news from state leaders. Once they did, it was time to signal all clear and push forward with fall registration.
“We had been talking the last couple of months, but we really didn’t want to make a decision to start doing the registrations until we knew what the state would allow, or not allow,” said Rick Ferrell, SCASA Treasurer. “The governor’s decision for high school sports included any fall sports for the younger kids as well. That night, we had a meeting and decided to proceed forward with the registration.”
Registration is now open on the Capstone soccer website and runs through September 10. That is the absolute last date for players to sign up.
“We have a hard deadline of September 10 for the registration, and then we plan on starting the season the last week of September,” Ferrell said. “That will give us about five weeks of games which is about one week short of what we typically do.
“But due to the circumstances, we just want to get the kids out there and get them playing, get them some sort of season.”
What About Guidelines?
Yes, Virginia, there will be guidelines.
The setup for matches at Capstone will be similar to both St. Clairsville High School and similar area schools in terms of regulations.
Fans will be allowed. Two per player. They must wear masks if they choose to watch from alongside the playing field. If they want to watch from the car, a mask naturally isn’t necessary.
Family members may sit together, but otherwise social distancing rules must be maintained.
Coaches will also wear masks, but the players, while on the field, do not.
Another big key, especially for the U-14, 12 and 10 teams, is the availability of opponents from Wheeling, Marshall County, Linsly and potentially elsewhere to help fill the schedule.
The older teams travel to play area rec teams in the valley while the younger groups play against fellow St. Clairsville teams.
“We believe that Wheeling and Marshall County are a go, but we will go as far as what the state will allow us to do,” Ferrell said. “If we were unable to get Marshall County and Wheeling and get them to participate, we probably would not have done the travel for the older age groups.
“We don’t have the numbers at those levels. If you only have two teams, how many games can you realistically play against each other.”
Wheeling, Marshall County Also a Go
Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be an issue. Wheeling’s soccer association, WASA, lists signups are still being taken for its recreational league program through August 30.
The Marshall County Soccer Club, meanwhile, already concluded its registration and is having a parent meeting next week.
The interesting part will be as rules potentially lift or strengthen in one state and not the other, the game regulations will depend on in which state the contest is held.
“They key is people that come to our facility must follow the guidelines that we’ve set. We don’t want to be in constant conflict with the spectators and the parents.
“We agree with what everyone else is saying that it’s about the kids on the field, not about everybody else.”
