[ayso45-coaches] AYSO 45 Rainout Policy

[Drew VH]

Hello Coaches and Referees,

Following up on the Email out to the Coaches closing the fields for practice
through at least Wednesday, I am taking this opportunity to remind everyone
of AYSO Region 45's rainout policy.

Practice-day field closures are generally sent out via Email and we save the
updating of the AYSO Region 45 Hot Line for game days.

The AYSO Region 45 Hot Line number is *650-964-AYSO (650-964-2976).* If any
fields have been closed, the hot line will be updated with an update on
which fields are open and which are closed. Coaches, please disseminate this
information to your teams. It would be preferable if you contact your
parents rather than have everyone call the hot line, but the latter will
suffice if necessary. A field can be closed at any time, so if they are open
at 9am, don't necessarily assume they will be open at 1pm. However, once we
close a field, it will remain closed for the duration of the day.

By 3pm on Friday, the City of Mountain View will make their determination on
whether the fields are open or not for the weekend. If they close all fields
in their 3pm message, AYSO Region 45 will cancel all of the games.
Otherwise, if rain comes later in the evening or on Saturday, it is up to
our Region to make the judgment call and this will be done by your Region's
volunteer Board Members including myself. We would then close or keep open
fields on a field-by-field basis. Our decision will be based on the
saturation of the fields and how much damage we feel that the games will
cause. Standing puddles will likely cause closure.

The presence of rain does not necessarily mean that games will be cancelled,
but note that 1 day of use can generate weeks of recovery time and we as a
region cannot afford to have fields taken off-line for any extended length
of time as practices would have to be moved or cancelled and future games
would potentially get cancelled or scheduled into the late afternoon.

Up until the region closes a field, the referee has the final word on
determining if the field is safe to play. If the referee deems that the
field is no longer safe to play on, he or she will terminate the match.

Practices: Unless the city or Region 45 has already closed a field for
practices due to rain, it is up to the coaches to make a determination on
whether their field can be practiced on *without causing damage*. If you are
in doubt, please either cancel your practice or have your players bring
tennis shoes and take your practice to the blacktop area. A lot of drills
can be accomplished on the blacktop and a backboard. Again, if the city
closes a field for any extended length of time, we are all going to suffer
as practice and game field space is already at a premium.

If games are rained out, in general, they will not be made up as there are
no extra weeks built into the schedule. Also, there are no weather related
refunds as all of our costs are basically fixed given that our labor is all
volunteer.

Thanks,
Drew.

AYSO 45 Regional Commissioner
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