phillipsburg littleliners_2020 pop warnecovid19r.pdf
Phillipsburg Little Liners
Youth Football and Cheerleading
Phillipsburg, NJ
For Immediate Release
Phillipsburg Little Liners cancel fall football and cheer in the interest of safety
Phillipsburg, NJ – Sunday, August 2, 2020 –CNJPW announced their cancellation of the fall tackle football and cheerleading programs.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Little Liners program regretfully has made the decision to cancel the 2020 football and cheer season. This decision did not come easily. The Central Jersey Pop Warner League (CNJPW) announced last night that they were canceling tackle football this season. Previously and up until that time, the season was a “go” with a delayed practice start to align with our starting date. We invested thousands of dollars in preparation. Since last Thursday, the league changed their decision and are now offering only 6 or 7 man modified flag games. They feel this is safer than tackle programs. Cheer has a modified plan for practice only, and a possible spring season option.
Our directors, Jim Hanisak and Kevin DeGerolamo made a decision last night that we do not feel this is the way to proceed this season. It does not make practical sense in regards to our athlete’s safety. The Covid plan would still need to be in place and as far as we’re concerned not playing or cheering this season is the safest option for our children, coaches and fans. We would prefer to be an organization with zero reported cases. This decision while difficult, ensures we are not putting our youth, volunteers or fans at risk. All registrations will be refunded by August 25th that were prepaid.
In addition to the local decision, CNJPW indicated the following key points drove their decision league wide:
· We have only received 5 plans for COVID return to play from our associations.
· A true concern is from associations about teams visiting them and not following CDC Guidelines.
· Some teams can just about pay for their equipment, how are they going to pay for sanitizers and other equipment to provide a sanitary environment?
· Some towns don't have enough people to handle their game day situations and now to be able to follow CDC Guidelines there is a greater burden on them.
· Tackle football with players sweating, spitting and the chance of not running into someone which is very slim, does not even have a hint of social distancing and is a plan for disaster
· We are also still in the middle of a Pandemic!
· Teams can’t secure fields for practice
· Our goal this year to assure that everyone participating from board members, to coaches, to team moms, to student demos, to the people taking temperatures and completing COVID paperwork, participants and anyone else is safe from COVID and we have 0 cases.
The Phillipsburg Little Liners will continue to offer K-8th grade football and cheerleading in 2021. The Phillipsburg Liners Club remains a non-profit organization is always looking for help from the community to field many positions and sponsorships. To become a sponsor, volunteer, board member or coach, contact the Little Liners organization at [email protected]
For more information visit www.phillipsburglittleliners.com.
Follow the organization:
Twitter: @LittleLiners
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/littleliners/
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