Soccer showcase will bring thousands to the Triangle this week. What about COVID-19?
The Girls College Showcase will be played this week in the Triangle, bringing together 6,000 youth soccer players and 300 college coaches.
While it’s a needed economic boon for the area, it raises a question: play during a pandemic? Coronavirus cases are spiking nationwide and there are concerns about further COVID-19 spread after Thanksgiving family gatherings.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the state’s Department of Health and Human Services, was asked about the playing of the showcase during a Tuesday press conference.
“Our guidance already discourages tournaments ... but if folks are playing these kind of sporting events that are of intermediate risk like soccer they are required to be wearing masks while they are doing it, both playing it, on the sidelines and the fans,” she said.
Bryan Bachelder, director of tournaments for North Carolina FC Youth, said the proper precautions and COVID-19 protocols are being taken for the event, which will be held Friday through Sunday at WRAL Soccer Park, Wake Competition Center, WakeMed Soccer Park and other locations.
“If we weren’t confident we couldn’t do this safely we wouldn’t be doing it,” Bachelder said in an interview with The News & Observer Monday. “But everything we’ve seen says we can continue to play soccer and not pose an additional risk.”
In keeping with the directives of Gov. Roy Cooper and the DHHS guidance, all players and participants will be required to wear masks -- on and off the field -- during the competition this week unless they have a medical waiver.
“It’s like everything else during this pandemic, people have had to adjust and this will be another adjustment for these kids,” Bachelder said. “Maybe less so for the parents and coaches because they’ve already been expected to wear masks. It will be a bit of a challenge for the kids but one I think everyone would agree is worth continuing to make sure kids with the ability to be recruited are getting recruited.”
Bachelder said athletes are not being tested for COVID-19 before coming to the event. Temperature checks will not be made before each day’s competition, although parents have been asked to monitor their child’s temperature. Those who participate in the event sign and submit a “Release of Liability and Assumption of Risk” agreement concerning COVID-19. Anyone who has been in close contact with someone who has coronavirus or been advised to quarantine will not compete.
Girls College Showcase brings lot of people, revenue to Raleigh
NCFC Youth, in conjunction with visitRaleigh.com, puts on the Girls College Showcase, one of four elite events in the visitRaleigh.com Showcase Series. A year ago, it brought 540 teams and 10,000 players, and attracted more than 600 college coaches to see the Under 15-Under 19 teams compete.
“The Showcase Series is the largest annual sporting event in the Triangle based on number of teams, athletes, hotel room nights and visitor spending, and there’s not even a close second,” Scott Dupree, executive director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, told the N&O Tuesday. “It’s an event that truly moves the needle in terms of economic impact in Wake County. That’s the case every year, of course … but more than ever in 2020, when our hospitality industry is hurting and absolutely desperate for business. So the Showcase provides a much-needed economic boost in that regard.”
Dupree said the Girls College Showcase would have an estimated $6 million in direct visitor spending, including about 8,700 hotel-room nights this week.
“We have a long-standing partnership with NCFC Youth, and we appreciate all that they do to operate and manage such a massive tournament,” he said. “Their attention to detail is superb, and that’s especially important this year, with all of the health and safety protocols that have been put in place.”
The numbers won’t be as high this year for the Girls College Showcase because of travel restrictions by various states and NCAA Division I coaches not being allowed in-person recruiting or scouting at this time. Bachelder said about 350 teams would compete and that 300 coaches have registered to attend.
Bachelder said for the U17-U19 athletes, videos of two of their games will be available for Division I coaches to evaluate.
NC DHHS’s directives for spectators at outdoor events
The state DHHS on Nov. 23 issued recommendations on various sports including soccer for which close contact can occur but not be prolonged. The DHHS directive addressed the number of spectators allowed at outdoor events -- for soccer games, 100 per field. If multiple fields are being used, the limit remains the same for each field.
Bachelder said each participating athlete is being allowed two spectators for this year’s event, which should mean about 70 to 75 per field. If more than 100 spectators are present, he said, the crowd will be dispersed.
Asked about the challenges of putting on the event during a pandemic, Bachelder said, “Taking all the steps necessary to provide a safe environment. It’s from the perspective of how we designed our sites, how we schedule our games, how we line our fields, how we identify communication patterns that need to happen within our coaches and within our families.”
Bachelder said with thousands of athletes competing, there could be a positive test for COVID-19.
“Call it lucky but we’ve seen soccer to be a sport that really isn’t a vehicle for the transmission of COVID-19,” he said. “In the 250,000 to 300,000 times somebody has stepped on one of our fields we’ve haven’t seen one case of COVID that has been transmitted on the field. If there has been positive cases it has been related to a parent or a sibling.”
Bachelder said at a recent event a player had a parent who tested positive. The player then had a COVID-19 test and also was positive and the team was removed from the event.
“All the other teams that were potentially connected to that team were aware of the situation and all the kids from the connected teams went and were tested,” he said. “There were no additional positives.
“That was a parent-to-player positive. There’s still no player-to-player exchange of the virus at this point.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2020 at 5:18 PM.
