October 8, 2020
Dear Club and League Representatives:
As you may know, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recently issued an Emergency Order Under MCL 333.2253. All athletes must wear a facial covering during trainings and competitions. Athletes must also practice social distancing, at all times, except when they are in active participation during trainings or competitions. In addition, MSYSA Return-To-Play Guidelines state that all team officials and spectators must wear facial coverings at all times upon arrival to, departure from, and during MSYSA activities.
MSYSA’s Return-To-Play (RTP) Guidelines, and our Fall FAQs, includes changes to the attendance restrictions. In brief, for outdoor sports competitions (in Michigan), the live audience must be limited to the guests of the athletes, with each athlete designating up to two guests, or the event must comply with gathering requirements of section 1(c) in the MDHHS Emergency Order Under 333.2253. If local health department (LHD) orders exist that have stricter attendance restrictions, teams/clubs are expected to adhere to the respective local orders.
On October 2, 2020, MSYSA implemented a ‘3 Strike’ Policy as it relates to compliance with MSYSA’s RTP Guidelines. (e.g. players, team officials, spectators not consistently wearing facial coverings, etc.) An online form (RTP Violations) is now available on our website for coaches, managers and club/league officials to report violations. Referees should promptly submit reports of MSYSA RTP violations on game reports.
A first offense (‘Notice/Warning’) will be shared with an offending team’s club and/or affiliating league. The club/league must provide acknowledgement of receipt (to MSYSA) within 48 hours, including how they plan to address the situation with the offending team. At this time, ‘Notices/Warnings’ will not be posted on MSYSA’s website. However, ‘Second Offenses’ by the same team will be posted on our website and result in a fine imposed by MSYSA. Fines must be paid to MSYSA prior to the team’s next scheduled match. Any fines collected by MSYSA will be donated to charitable organizations. A ‘Third Offense’ by the same team will result in forfeits and the immediate removal from a league/event schedule is likely. The MSYSA RTP violation information on our website, now presents players, parents, teams and clubs the opportunity to make advanced, pre-match decisions on choosing whether or not to participate against teams that are having difficulty on complying with MSYSA’s RTP Guidelines.
Finally, a few rule changes were adopted by MSYSA’s Board of Directors on September 28, 2020. To read/review the specific rule changes, please click here.
Please continue to monitor our website and social media platforms for updates.
Sincerely,
Thomas Faro
Executive Director
