COVID-19 Update (6/15/2021)
Hello everyone,
We hope that you all have been doing well and that you and your families have been staying healthy and safe since we last checked in. Below you will find the latest update on the state of our next season as well as the league as a whole.
After thoroughly reviewing all of the new state and local guidelines that will go into effect today (June 15th) and talking it over as a family, we have decided to continue the indefinite postponement of our next season. While indoor youth basketball is now allowed in Orange County seeing that the state of California just moved away from its color-coated/tier-based reopening plan (i.e. the “Blueprint For A Safer Economy”) to the new “Beyond The Blueprint” framework, it is still unclear what guidelines (if any) need to be followed in order to run a full-scale indoor youth basketball league at this time, but if they are anything like the ones that needed to be followed while the state was still operating under the"Blueprint For A Safer Economy" model (click here to view the state’s previous guidance on youth & adult sports), we unfortunately do not have the resources or the personnel to carry out these guidelines at this time (i.e. providing COVID-19 testing for all coaches and players above the age of 12 before practices and games, enforcing social distancing/no-contact requirements at practice, limiting the gym to 50% capacity or less on game day, mandating masks for all players, coaches, parents, and staff, etc.).
Even if we did have the resources and the personnel to carry out these guidelines at this time (or if it turns out that there are little to no restrictions placed on youth sports under the state’s new “Beyond The Blueprint” framework), we have come to the conclusion that we do not want to run this league unless we can run it the way that we did before the pandemic where any family could sign their child(ren) up without having to go through some major vetting process, where all of the players’ and coaches’ families could come to the gym and watch their children play on Saturdays, and where we weren’t ultimately putting our players, their families, our coaches, and ourselves at risk of getting sick by running the league. Although the risk of contracting COVID-19 has been reduced with the advances made with the vaccine, there are still risks involved in running this league at this time, especially if we resume play before children can get vaccinated and if we were to allow unvaccinated individuals to enter the gym during practice or on game day. As we have seen over the past year or so, it is hard to make predictions when it comes to COVID-19, but if we had to guess based on what we have seen all throughout the pandemic, it probably won’t be until Summer 2022 at the earliest that we could even attempt to run the league the way that we did before COVID-19, and even then there are probably going to be some adjustments that will have to be made on everyone’s part in order for us to do so.
While all of this is very unfortunate and we hate to disappoint everyone who has been eagerly awaiting for us to start back up again, we want to reassure all of you that at this time this is not the end of Orange County Shooting Stars. Although we are hesitant to set an official start date for our next season, we are hopeful that we will be able to return to the court next Summer as we previously mentioned and that things will be almost if not completely back to “normal” by then. In the meantime, we will keep all of you on our email list so that you can receive any and all updates about when and if we are able to start back up again. We will also keep this website up so that all updates can be posted on here as well. In addition to that, we will continue to read and answer all emails sent to our current email address (ocshootingstars@gmail.com) and answer all phone calls and texts on our current phone number (714) 357-0315. As we mentioned in our last update, we have appreciated all of you being understanding during this time, and before we sign off, we want to say thank you to all of you who have supported our league over the years and who helped us build the league up to what it was before the pandemic hit. Once we are able to return, we are committed to providing all of your players with a fun and safe environment to learn and enjoy the game of basketball as well as what we expect to be one of our best if not our best season yet.
In closing, we want to remind you all that all of us are part of a very special community (whether in person or apart) that we are very proud of as well as say that we truly look forward to the day when we can all come together in person again (both on and off of the court) as we have missed everyone very much during these times. If you have any questions, or if you just want to check in and say hello, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Stay safe, be well, and we will see you all in 2022. Thanks!
