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EDEN PRAIRIE SOCCER ASSOCIATION

GAME CANCELLATION POLICY

Soccer is an outdoor sport; we play in the rain, we play in the cold, and sometimes we play in the snow.  Still, the safety of players and coaches is a prime concern. Visible lightning with audible thunder within 30 seconds – at the soccer fields or during soccer play will automatically result in a cancellation of all games being played at that time. Subsequent games to be played later that day will be cancelled separately if weather conditions continue.

Due to rapidly changing weather conditions and in keeping with the Eden Prairie Soccer Association’s desire to minimize the total number of weather cancellations, advance notice of weather cancellations may not always be possible. It is recommended parents and children always show up to the field unless they have received notification from their coach, team manager or other Association official.

Criteria For Cancellation

1. Due to field conditions or safety concerns: Either the city or Eden Prairie Soccer Association Board may declare the soccer fields “unplayable”.  Most often this is due to the fields being excessively wet, however, it could also be due to extreme dryness, ice buildup or snow accumulation. Playing on fields which are excessively wet or dry can damage or kill the grass and potentially require fields to be left unused for several months of recovery.  Smaller accumulations of slush or snow would not be a concern and soccer would not be cancelled, however, larger amounts of ice, slush or snow could create a concern for safe soccer play and necessitate a soccer cancellation.
2. Due to Weather:
As an outdoor sport soccer is played in less than ideal conditions including falling drizzle, rain, sleet and snow. However, the presence of visible lightning with audible thunder within 30 seconds - at the soccer fields and at the time of play (with or without falling rain) creates a safety concern and necessitates a soccer cancellation. Bad weather can move through Minnesota very quickly, therefore, advance notice of weather cancellations may or may not be possible. 

Cancellation Procedures

1. Due to field conditions or safety concerns:
If the City decides to declare fields “unplayable” this decision will be made by 3:00 on weeknights and by 3:00 on Friday for Saturday & Sunday sessions. Check the Eden Prairie Soccer Association website for Field Conditions status at the bottom of the HOME page.

Note that the Association plays most of it's games (divisions A through E) at the Flying Cloud field, but the high school "G" division plays at both Miller and Franlo parks.  For that reason, games may only be cancelled at specific locations.  Please be sure to check if games are cancelled at the location where you are expected to play.

The President/Vice-President or Director of Referees will call or e-mail the Commissioners of all impacted divisions and the "Field Conditions" section of the EPSA web site will be updated as well. If the cancellation will impact all divisions the President/Vice-President may go ahead and email an Association-wide cancellation notice. The Commissioners will email all coaches, team managers and players in their division with cancellation information for their division.

2. Due to Weather:
“Advance” cancellations: If the Association President or Vice-President is able to declare a weather cancellation in advance, this determination will be made no later than one hour before the scheduled soccer start time.  Information will be posted on the web site as well.

Coaches and Team managers are not allowed to declare “advance” weather cancellations.

The procedure for notifying association members is as follows:
a. The President/Vice-President or Director of Referees will call the impacted Commissioners and Director of Referees.
b. The Commissioners will attempt to email the coaches, team managers and players in their division with cancellation information for their division.
c. If a parent, coach or manager has not received a cancellation notice, players and coaches are expected to show up at the fields where they will learn if games for their division have been cancelled.

“On-Field” cancellations: If a weather cancellation is not made more than one hour before scheduled soccer start time an on-field cancellation may be needed due to changing weather conditions. If changing weather conditions raise hope that the visible lightning with audible thunder within 30 seconds will pass before scheduled start time the “on-field” cancellation declaration will be delayed until start time. On field cancellations can be declared by a Division Commissioner, Director of Referees, Referee Supervisors or individual referees. If coaches, parents or players believe an on-field cancellation is necessitated, they should raise their concerns with the Division Commissioner or Referee Supervisors. If an “on-field” cancellation is declared, it will immediately apply to all teams on all fields in the division.

a. The Division Commissioner, Director or Referees, Referee Supervisor or individual referee will notify coaches, parents and players.
b. Division Commissioners and Referee Supervisors will notify all teams/fields in the division. All parents and players should be encouraged to leave the fields as quickly as possible or they assume personal responsibility for any issues.  Since weather conditions change rapidly, any weather cancellations on a Saturday do not apply for divisions with start times later in the day and coaches/players in later start time divisions should assume they are playing until notified that their particular division has been cancelled.

Rescheduled Games

If a scheduled Refereed game is cancelled prior to starting, the Association will try to reschedule that game with a Referee if there remains a practice or bye week that a particular division has scheduled. This is not always possible, but efforts will be made to try and make it happen.

In addition, a team sometimes misses a game because they have a conflict with play on a particular evening. To reschedule, the two coaches should agree on a day and time and confirm with the Presidentand Field Director to determine if and where a field is available. If this is a make-up of a Refereed game, the Referee Director will also need to be included in this request.

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