If some people who are reading this don’t know what ECNL is, then let me explain. ECNL stands for the “Elite Club National League.” It is the nation’s leading youth soccer platform. ECNL is spread all over the country with different teams playing against each other in tournaments. A few different places you can find ECNL teams in the U.S are, Oregon, Arizona, California, Texas, and so many others.

ECNL season has been delayed, but is planning on finding a way to start games back up again. October 8th is the day that the ECNL community will publicly announce when the games will be set to start. Right now, all we know is that the meeting will be discussing what special rules will be set in place for the games and when those games will be held. 

Right now, some coaches have suggested that players should have to wear a mask when they play. Others have suggested that throw-ins be replaced by kick-ins. Other special rules that will be discussed are if the players can head the ball, will slide tackling be permitted, will Goalkeeper’s be asked to play out of the back, and will Goalkeepers not be permitted to dropkick the ball. 

Other worries that parents seem to have is that by playing soccer games against different teams, the chances their kid might get COVID-19 will increase. As sports continued to start back up, however, it was doubtful whether this would increase the risk of COVID-19 among players. Participation in sports has shown that it improves a person’s mental state as well as a person’s physical state. Sports have been shown to lower cases of depression, but with sports, on pause, the cases of depression have gone up. Ecnlgirls.com found that from 124 clubs that have returned to play, representing over 90,000 players, 71 clubs, 57%, had started to play soccer that involved contact or unrestricted play in training or competition. 100% of the clubs said they had a plan set in place to reduce the risk of COVID-19. A total of 325 positive cases were reported. Of those cases, 282 positive cases were found in players and 43 positive cases in staff. Of those 325 cases, 1 case was said to be traced through contact in soccer. That means your child probably isn’t going to get COVID-19 from soccer.

If you plan on going out and playing soccer with friends or family for fun, just remember, for youth and adult organized sports practices or training (non-game activities), group sizes cannot go over 25 people per group, either inside or outside. Group count includes everyone that is there which means a coach or coaches also count. Make sure to follow the rules and stay healthy.