Dear Rush Families:
I want to express my gratitude to all our players, parents and coaches for their extraordinary efforts in complying with protocols and guidelines in training and games as we continued to manage the risks associated with COVID-19. We will be vigilant in our approach and seek out the best medical data from the City, County and State Departments of Health in determining the best course of action when it comes to training and playing games on a weekly basis.
A number of concerns have been expressed about Rush continuing to offer certain programs as a part of its training methodology and playing opportunities that are perceived as a greater risk to membership. Examples of some of these programs include:
- Goalkeeper training
- Club Passing into training and games
- Guest Playing in training and games
- Players traveling out of State to participate in Rush National Select events
- Players participating in Olympic Development Program and National events
The concern that all these programs share in common is the possibility of players bursting the "rush training/playing bubble", potentially making the team training and/or playing environment less safe. It is our determination that even without these programs, there are too many variables that are outside of our control. We have players coming from different cities, counties and school districts, all with varying ordinances, mandates and protocols. There are many students who are experiencing schools virtually and some that are attending in person. The perceived "training bubble" is porous at best, given all the potentially unique variables that naturally define the everyday lives of our families.
While we are unable to control all the variables we are incredibly pleased that the care, concern, diligence and responsibility of parents to monitor their children and communicate openly and honestly with the club has kept us in a relatively secure environment where we continue to manage risk to the best of our ability. Adherence to protocols by players, parents and coaches in training and games; monitoring and withholding players exhibiting symptoms from training; open, honest and immediate communication when players have potentially been exposed; immediate testing and isolation; are all measures our membership have actively pursued to ensure the safest environment possible. You are an active and integral part of the solution to managing the training and playing opportunities at Rush Wisconsin. We are so grateful for your perseverance and resolve to strictly adhere to these standards.
Rush Wisconsin will continue our commitment to maintain/enforce protocols and make the best decisions based on the medical data available to us but, we will do so with the goal of managing safety while maximizing playing and training opportunities for our players. There has been and will continue to be circumstances that will necessitate limiting playing and training opportunities in deference to safety protocols. This could adversely impact some of the programming available and endorsed by Rush but availability and access will be made on a case by case and weekly basis.
As always, we wholeheartedly support the decision of our player/s and parent/s who might deem any of these opportunities as unsafe for their children and/or family and choose not to participate.
Wishing everyone the very best in training and games for the remainder of the season and above all stay safe and be well.
Sincerely,
Ben John
Technical Director, Wisconsin
Rush