COVID-19 UPDATES
June 18th, 2020
Dear SSC Members,
We’d like to start out by thanking you for the patience you have shown and for all of the support we have received in the form of registrations for the summer season. We are excited to reconnect through sport and eager to get back on the field safely! Registration remains open for the summer season in most of our regions and many programs are nearing capacity.
As we work towards our eventual summer opening for outdoor leagues throughout Southern Ontario, we would like to share our general return to play guidelines for our programs. Sport-specific guidelines will be available as program schedules are posted. You can expect to see changes in your sport in the following areas:
- Mandated disinfecting of shared equipment
- Effective social distancing in and around the games
- Expectations relating to player behaviour and interaction
- Guidelines that address facility-specific requirements
Please note that responding to this pandemic has been and continues to be a fluid process and adjustments to any of these guidelines may come at any time. We will do our best to ensure that the steps we are taking are effective and relevant. Our ability to demonstrate that we can play safely and in a manner that satisfies local health authorities is critical to your opportunity to play organized sports in the future. We need your support!
May 20th, 2020
Dear SSC Members,
We hope everyone is continuing to stay safe and healthy.
As per Premier Ford’s messages from last week, the Province of Ontario has taken a first step towards ‘restarting’ the economy. Many storefronts are reopening for business, parks are opening up and some physical sport activities are now allowed (tennis and golf!).
We are optimistic about these recent announcements, and we are working hard on our plan for safely returning to play. We remain hopeful for a return to team sports in July, and we are targeting that timeframe as a real possibility.
What does this mean for my SPRING registration?
Spring programs are still on pause. Once we have more information, start dates may be moved to July. This will be done on a sport by sport basis.
What does this mean for my SUMMER registration?
We remain hopeful that summer programs will still be possible. Once we have more information, we will communicate that to you.
What does this mean if I have registered for both the spring AND summer?
Once the return to play timeframe is solidified, we will be assessing the total capacity and available weeks of play. We will communicate again with you at that time.
What does this mean if I have NOT YET REGISTERED?
Registration for summer programs remains open online and although we cannot guarantee exact timelines, we will ensure full value is received.
We appreciate your ongoing patience. Like you, we await more information from our provincial government and we will update you once it becomes available. We will ensure all registrations are honoured and that full value is received in the form of an extended season, rescheduled games, and/or SSC credits.
We look forward to updating you once more information is available and hope to see you playing soon!
Keep playing!
Your SSC team
May 6th, 2020
Dear SSC Members,
On behalf of the Sport & Social Club, we hope you, your family, and friends are all doing well and staying safe. Thank you to all of you for the extraordinary patience you have shown us in recognition of how particularly difficult our position is as a club whose mandate it is to bring people together. Your well-wishes and acts of charity have gone a long way to buoy our spirits and give us purpose to find new and exciting ways to bring us all together.
As of today, all Sport & Social Club programs remain paused as we wait for social distancing restrictions to be relaxed so that we can once again come together to play. While public discussion around COVID-19 has begun to shift to our society opening-up, we are still dealing with a great deal of uncertainty relating to the specific steps that will need to be taken by and for a club like ours.
Despite our limited capacity, our team is working through a variety of scenarios so that we can appropriately initiate play when it is declared safe to do so. We are regularly communicating with our community partners and advocating for clear return to play guidelines from them. Undoubtedly, as we all do our best to return to “normal” it will be important to remain open to the idea that our leagues are going to feel a little different, at least for the foreseeable future.
With all that said, we remain optimistic that we may be playing at some point this season. As much as we would like to provide more definitive information at this time, we are asking for just a bit more patience from you. We will be in touch as soon once we have concrete information regarding these next steps.
Thank you for your understanding and please continue to take care of yourselves and your family members.
APRIL 1, 2020
Dear SSC Members,
We have appreciated hearing from many of you regarding how much you are missing your weekly Sport & Social Club games. Your support means so much to us and we look forward to getting you back to being active and socializing with your Sport & Social community as soon as possible.
We hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy. We urge you to continue to follow the advice from public health authorities with respect to hand washing and physical distancing. The sooner we get through this, the sooner we will all be playing again.
We wanted to reach out to all of you to provide important updates:
Reduced Staffing
In order for the SSC to withstand this crisis, we have been forced to temporarily lay off the vast majority of our full-time and part-time staff. Our capacity to serve you is now greatly reduced. We apologize in advance as our response time to emails or phone calls will be far slower than usual. We appreciate your patience.
Spring and Summer Programming
We have heard from many of you that you will be more excited than ever to return to play when this is all behind us and we remain hopeful that the vast majority of our spring and summer seasons will go ahead as scheduled. Until we have more information, we are unable to answer specific questions relating to exact start dates, extensions or any other registration-related changes.
We want to assure you that any program registrations that are delayed will receive full value in the form of league extensions and/or credits. Please note all credits are good for 18 months, can be shared amongst your team, or may be transferred to friends and/or to other cities where our leagues operate.
We are monitoring all registrations on a program-by-program basis. You can follow the decision timelines for your program here.
Spring INDOOR Programs:
It was announced yesterday that Ontario public schools will be closed until May 4th. Thus, certain indoor programs have already been affected by delays or cancellations. If your program falls into this category, we will be reaching out to you in a separate communication over the next few days.
Spring OUTDOOR Programs:
It is our understanding that yesterday’s city of Toronto announcement does not currently apply to small gatherings for youth or adult sports, but rather was cancelling permits up until June 30th, specifically related to major events and large gatherings (i.e. Pride Parade, Jazz Festival).
Why Credits?
Like you and your family, the Sport & Social Club has been trying to navigate the health and economic stress caused by this pandemic. Despite the fact that leagues are not operating, our organization has invested heavily in the infrastructure, facilities, and other upfront costs associated with these future programs. We have not been reimbursed for these costs and current government assistance programs do not help us in this area.
By issuing credits to our members, we are doing our best to provide you with full value for your registration while also ensuring the SSC is able to be sustained through this crisis. Sports WILL return and we will be here to get you and your teammates playing again when this is all behind us.
Future Communications and Online Opportunities
- We will be in communication directly with you, once your specific programs are affected. Refer to this link for the specific date that applies to you.
- We may send occasional updates from Sport & Social Club partners with deals or opportunities that we feel may provide some value or fun for you while we are all self-isolating.
- Be sure to keep an eye out for our esports league opportunities – coming soon! We are hoping to bring you some fun (and free) games to play online.
- Lastly, we encourage you to join our free Keep Playing Challenge on Facebook for some light-hearted fun throughout the day
The Sport & Social Club is entering our 25th year of serving you, our loyal and supportive players. During this incredibly tough time with so many of us facing very real personal challenges, we thank you for your continued support and understanding. We care deeply about our members and we are doing our best to navigate this crisis so we can be ready to serve you and get you playing again soon.
Keep playing,
Your Sport & Social Club team
MARCH 25, 2020
Dear SSC Members,
Thank you for playing with the Sport & Social Club this winter. As a result of the restrictions implemented by all levels of government and public administration in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the decision has been made to formally cancel the balance of the winter 2020 season.
As stated in our previous COVID-19 update, and due to this necessary cancellation, we want to ensure you receive full value for your registration and thus we will be providing you with a credit for the prorated portion of the season you were unable to play.
- For full teams, this credit will be applied to the team captain’s SSC profile.
- For individual registrants, this credit will be applied directly to your SSC profile.
- These SSC credits will be valid for 18 months (through September 30th, 2021).
- Your credit will be added to your SSC account by Thursday, March 26th and can be viewed in your profile by clicking “SSC Credits” on the right-hand side of your profile.
- If you have not yet registered for our spring and summer seasons and wish to lock in your spots, registration remains open online and please feel free to use these credits towards any new registrations. If there are any delays or cancellations for the spring/summer seasons, we want to assure you that you will receive full value in the form of season extensions or SSC credits once we are able to get you playing again.
We appreciate your understanding of the unprecedented circumstances that we find ourselves in. Your participation in our leagues is what makes the SSC community great and we look forward to helping you to keep playing again in the very near future!
We wish you and your friends/family/teammates the best during this challenging time.
Keep playing!
Your Sport & Social Club
MARCH 13, 2020
Dear SSC Members,
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to navigate through this difficult and unprecedented situation. The goal of the Sport & Social Club has always been to be the best part of your day by providing programs that are safe, fair, and fun for our community. Our top priority is to ensure the safety of our community.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, the Sport & Social Club has made the decision to pause the current season for ALL programs/events for 3 weeks (with the goal of returning to play on April 6th, 2020).
We will continue to monitor the situation and base all future decisions on the recommendations of the public health organizations in our regions.
While the situation is constantly evolving, we are hopeful that after this brief hiatus, we will be able to return to play and have as many games made up as possible. While the status of your remaining games is unclear, we will provide all teams with an update regarding the potential completion of your season by Friday, April 3rd, if not sooner.
We thank you in advance for your patience and understanding while we work through the logistics associated with this situation. We respectfully ask that you hold off on any questions regarding potential make-up games/compensation until the picture becomes more clear on April 3rd.
We will continue to provide updates via email and our COVID-19 updates page.
We encourage all members to protect themselves and others by following the recommendations provided by the Public Health Agency of Canada.
While this is a difficult time for everyone, we know that sunny skies and brighter days are on the horizon and we are looking forward to getting back on the court/field/ice so that we can all keep playing the sports that we love and help make our community great.
Sincerely,
Your Sport & Social Club
MARCH 12, 2020
Hello SSC Members,
As we are faced with a constantly evolving situation with the COVID-19 outbreak, we want to ensure we are keeping you up to date regarding the status of SSC games and our procedures. We are monitoring this situation on an hour to hour basis.
We have created an update page for the most up to the minute information regarding your SSC programs. Check it out HERE.
As of this moment, SSC games are going ahead as scheduled, but we ask that all players adhere to the following expectations:
- If you are feeling sick or experiencing flu-like symptoms, STAY HOME. Please do not attend your game.
- Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds BEFORE and AFTER your game.
- Do not touch your face. Players with long hair should tie it up to avoid having to constantly touch your head/face.
- Do not share your water bottle and avoid touching the area you drink from.
- Do not high five or shake hands with teammates or opponents. Don’t worry, you’re not being rude.
- Clean and sanitize equipment before and after games. We are working to provide sanitization supplies at facilities where equipment is stored and with onsite League Ambassadors. We appreciate your patience as we work to distribute these products to all venues/staff.
Understanding that attendance may be an issue for some teams, we have made the decision to relax our forfeit policy. AS LONG AS YOU NOTIFY YOUR OPPONENTS IN ADVANCE, no team will be subject to a forfeit loss if they are unable to field a team. Scores instead will be recorded as a 0-0 tie. If you do not notify and do not attend, you will still be subject to a default loss.
If you are unable to field a team for an upcoming game, please contact your opponents to let them know. They can then make the decision if they would like to use the time, or if they would prefer the night off as well.
The Sport & Social Club exists because of the value and connections built through sport. We do not want to lose this important part of our lives, but we want to be smart and safe as we continue to navigate this challenging and unprecedented situation together.
We will reach out again if there are additional updates.
Sincerely,
Your Sport & Social Club
MARCH 11, 2020
As we are well into flu season and with the recent outbreak of COVID-19, your Sport & Social Club wants to ensure members protect themselves against these illnesses. The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has assessed the public health risk associated with COVID-19 as low for Canada but there are ways you can help reduce the risk of infection.
A few important Sport & Social Club related ideas to keep in mind:
- Leagues will continue as planned unless otherwise communicated by the SSC. That being said, participation in SSC games is optional and if you do not feel comfortable attending, do not feel forced to attend your games.
- Please do not attend your game if you are experiencing flu-like symptoms. If your team’s attendance is in jeopardy due to high numbers of absences from illness, please reach out to your opponents, as well as the SSC team as soon as possible.
- For the time being, we ask that all teams please avoid the tradition of pre and post-game handshakes. An air high-five or team cheer is a great replacement!
- Finally, remember to take care of yourself and others by washing your hands thoroughly, covering any cough or sneeze (into the bend of your arm), not sharing your water bottle, and staying home if you are sick.
Please consult your local public health organization for further details on COVID-19 and it’s prevention/treatment or call the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Information Service at 1-833-784-4397.
Sport & Social Club wants to continue to be the best part of your day and thus we wish to ensure the community we create for you is safe, fair, and a fun place for every player to be a part of.
We will continue to communicate any ongoing updates, as they become available. If you have any additional questions or concerns regarding SSC games, please reach out to us at info@sportsocial.club.
Sincerely,
Your Sport & Social Club