To our GSSA families:
GSSA suspended all activities on March 13th and again March 24th with the goal of restarting our spring season and completing our mission of providing soccer to our community. We took this approach in coordination with our city partners with the intent to restart the season as soon as possible.
However, because of a variety of factors stemming from the coronavirus pandemic, GSSA's board is now taking the regrettable step of canceling the spring 2020 season. While we realize this will be a great disappointment to some of our families, we also want to be sensitive to the situation at hand.
Our first priority is the health and safety of everyone involved. We understand that other recreational associations in the area may choose to complete this spring season, even if that means playing well into the summer. We also recognize that although restrictions on assembly are being lifted - and many businesses are slowly reopening - many of our families will not be ready to participate either because continued health concerns or because of spring and summer schedule conflicts (including vacations). GSSA believes an extended season (and compressed schedule) would cause a major logistical problem with player participation and game schedules.
GSSA is a small nonprofit organization that relies solely on registrations to pay its bills. When a season starts, GSSA has spent or allocated nearly all of the revenue collected to uniforms, medals, trophies, equipment, and fixed costs such as North Texas insurance.
However, with the decision to cancel the season, the GSSA board has voted unanimously to offer a refund to our members. Both these decisions will make it challenging for the association to make ends meet this year. However, we feel it important during this unprecedented crisis to give back what we can to our members - because without you we cannot achieve our mission.
GSSA is offering refunds in the following 3 levels:
- Youth recreational players U15 - U18 will receive a 100% refund because their season never started.
- Youth Recreations players U4 - U14 & Adult Coed players that paid full-rate registration will receive a $50 refund.
- Youth Recreations players U4 - U14 & Adult Coed players that received a discounted registration will receive a $25 refund.
The process to refund our members will begin May 4. Please be patient with us as it may take a few weeks to get the refunds to you. If you would prefer to donate your refund to GSSA, we would greatly appreciate it. Just reply to this email and tell us you would like to donate and we'll send you a donation receipt.
These past few months have been a trial for us all, and we're not out of the woods yet. There are certainly encouraging signs, however, not least of which is the willingness of so many people all over our community to accept short-term hardship in service to the greater good. If we all remain resolute and keep up the good fight by behaving responsibly and adhering to public health guidelines, we'll more quickly find ourselves back on the soccer fields and living more normal lives.
Stay home and stay safe.
Sincerely,
Zachary Weaver
President
Grapevine Southlake Soccer Association