Tweets by @OttawaFooty7s
Hi Footyseveners,
We hope everyone had a good holiday and we wish you all a happy new year.
As you know by now, Ottawa is under a full lockdown and indoor sports are prohibited until February 11th. With these restrictions in mind, we wanted to reach out to update everyone on how they will impact our current schedules and the next season of leagues.
Winter Season:
Providing restrictions are lifted and indoor team sports are permitted, the winter season will resume on February 11th. We have started updating schedules and will confirm the adjustments once we know that government restrictions will be lifted. The final weeks of the winter season will be condensed and likely involve doubleheaders.
Winter/Early Spring Season:
These restrictions have had a knock-on effect on our next set of winter/early spring leagues and some start dates have been delayed. Please double-check the homepage of the website for specific league information.
Our Register with Confidence Guarantee:
Registration is open for our Winter/Early Spring leagues and your team space can be secured with a 250.00 deposit. If the Winter/Early Spring season is cancelled due to Covid restrictions, registrants will have the option to receive a refund for any unplayed games.
In order to keep things manageable on our end, we'll not be accepting full team payments until we have confirmation that provincial restrictions will be lifted. For a full list of our leagues click here.
We are currently operating under the assumption that measures will be lifted in February but recognize there is a level of uncertainty. We'll continue to update you as to the status of our restart as information becomes available.
Until then, stay safe and we'll hopefully see you back on the field soon!
Andrew, Chris & Matt - Your Ottawa Footy Sevens Team
Hello everyone,
As some of you already know, the government has announced that the province will be entering a 28 day lockdown on Boxing Day. As a result team sports and athletic facilities will be temporarily shut down.
As it stands, this should have minimal impact on our leagues, with the majority of the lockdown period coinciding with our Christmas break. The league schedules that are impacted have been updated. There is also a chance the lockdown will be reduced to 14 days. If that's the case there should be very minor disruption to the league schedules.
We just wanted to give everyone a quick update on what this means for the current and upcoming leagues.
There will be no games in the current leagues until at least January 23rd and our winter leagues with advertised start dates prior to January 23rd will be delayed.
Team and individual registration for the winter 2021 season will remain open. Footy Sevens would like you to know that you can register for our winter leagues with confidence. If we are required to make drastic changes or forced to cancel any leagues we will issue a full refund.
We will send a full update on the leagues once we have more clarity on the situation. Please do not ask us for specific updates just now, as we don't have any further information at the moment.
Hopefully, this gives you the information that you need just now, and we will be able to answer more of your questions soon.
Have a great Christmas,
Andrew, Chris, Joel and Matt and Ryan
Hi everyone,
The final games of the much postponed and interrupted outdoor league season are now in the books and the first indoor leagues kicked off over the past couple of weeks. We truly appreciate all of the teams and players that continued to support the league and adapt to whatever this year threw at you, whether it was delays and doubleheaders or masks, checklists and subzero temperatures. On behalf of all of us at Footy Sevens, we'd like to say thank you for your patience and adaptability.
Coed and Men's Leagues Now Available at uOttawa Lees Dome
We have some great news. Ottawa U have given us our rental times for the Lees Dome starting in mid-January and we will be able to offer the Coed and Men's Leagues that we have traditionally offered each winter at the dome. We know that there were many of you who were waiting to see if we would be offering leagues at Ottawa U. or who we were not able to accommodate in our sold-out leagues at Carleton, Gloucester and Ben Franklin.
We have the following leagues available at the Lees Dome, starting on the week of January 18th.
Our capacity for these leagues are significantly lower than usual, as only two of the three fields at the dome will be used each hour due to the COVID-19 regulations. As you would expect, both Footy Sevens and Ottawa University will have COVID-19 protocols in place to make sure that everyone can play safely and responsibly.
We still need to get final confirmation from the uOttawa administration that their risk management team has signed off on the dome opening, but we expect to have that very soon. If for any reason, the dome cannot reopen all deposits will be refunded immediately. You can reserve your place in any of our uOttawa leagues with a $100 deposit.
We have opened team and individual registration for the leagues and you can find full details and registration on the Footy Sevens Website. Click on the team price to place your deposit and confirm your team's space in the league.
New Indoor League - Sundays at the Bell's Sensplex
We have one other new coed league, at a new venue for us. We will be playing Sunday evenings, at Bell's Sensplex in Kanata, an ideal spot for those of you that live in the West of the city. The league starts on January 10th and we have room for 2 more coed teams and 6 more individual spaces. Registration is open and spaces are available on a first-come-first-served basis. You can find full details here.
Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - Winter Season Now Online
We already have around 80 teams playing during the week at the Carleton Fieldhouse, Hornet's Nest and Ben Franklin Domes. Registration for the winter seasons, kicking off in January and February, is now open. The new season starts immediately after the end of the current seasons and team spaces are available for the following leagues:
The fall season of all of these league sold out, register now to ensure your team's space in the league. You can find full details and registration on the Footy Sevens Website. Click on the team price to place your deposit and confirm your team's place.
The Final Pickup Soccer Games of 2020
Some mild weather and six hours of shovelling meant that we have been able to offer our popular outdoor pickup games for longer than expected. All good things come to end, though, and we are switching over to INDOOR PICKUP GAMES until spring. We have the first of our indoor pickup games at Carleton University this Thursday and Saturday at the Fieldhouse. Sign-up over at the Footy Sevens pickup website.
Have a great weekend everyone,
Andrew, Chris, Joel, Matt and Ryan, the Footy Sevens Team.
We are into the final few months of 2020 and what a year it has been. Providing government restrictions are lifted, we plan to operate our indoor leagues starting mid-November. The lineup looks different from past years and there have been some changes, as some of the facilities we have called home for past winter seasons are facing a delayed reopening. As a result, our new venue this winter will be the Sooner's Megadome located in Kanata. This state of the art facility is ideal for teams who live in the West or South End of Ottawa.
Please note, we currently only have enough space available to accommodate about 30% of the teams that are currently playing outdoor soccer with us. Registration is now open and you can sign-up as an individual or reserve your team's space with $250 deposit at the Footy Sevens website.
Our Guarantee To You - If any leagues are cancelled prior to their start date or cancelled at some point throughout the season, teams will have the option to receive a credit or refund for the unplayed games (prorata).
Coed Leagues
Mens Leagues
New League Additions
As the indoor facilities reopen, we expect to be offered some additional field time. We hope that we can use this to offer new leagues and if we are, the homepage will be updated and teams will be informed. If you have registered to a league and a new one works better for your team, we are happy to move registrations to better suit you.
Individuals
There will be a small number of individual spaces available this fall. Registration is open and you can sign up through the homepage.
Looking to get on the field before the start of the Winter leagues?
With the current restrictions, we are unable to run our leagues or pickup games until November 7th. If you are looking to get out, we have a couple of options for you to get some touches in.
Volleyball
While we don't have our usual great lineup of mixed 6s volleyball, we have returned to the fantastic central location at Carleton's newly refurbished Norm Fenn gymnasium. Registration is still open and the season will resume following the 28 day lockdown. Full details and registration can be found on the Ottawa Volley Sixes Website.
You can find the full details of each league on the Footy Sevens Website.
We know you and your teams will have a lot of questions about the forthcoming leagues and what will happen. Obviously, this is a season unlike any other since the league began. Here are some FAQs about the most common ones we think you will have.
Andrew, Chris, Joel, Matt, Ryan - Your Footy Sevens Team
As some of you already know, the Province has announced that Ottawa will be returning to phase 2 of opening and team sports and scrimmages will be banned for at least 28 days starting at midnight tonight.
Not surprisingly, we are getting bombarded with questions, calls and e-mails at the moment, before we have even had much of a chance to absorb this news or talk amongst ourselves.
We just wanted to give everyone a quick update on what this means for the current leagues.
Unless was have greatly misinterpreted the announcement, you can assume that there will be no games in the current leagues until at least November 7th.
We will send a fuller update on the leagues (whether we think they will be finished, postponed or cancelled, playoffs, refunds, credits and all that good stuff) when everyone is back after Thanksgiving weekend. Please do not ask us for specific updates just now, as we don't have any further information at the moment.
Hopefully, this gives you the information that you need just now, and we will be able to answer more of your questions after the weekend,
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone,
Andrew, Chris, Joel and Matt and the Footy Sevens Team
Firstly, a heartfelt thank you to all of you who are currently organising teams for our summer/early fall outdoor leagues. Now, more than ever, the support of our captains has been essential to help us get back up off the mat after an unforeseeable turn of events in 2020. We would really like to hear from you about how your team is feeling going into the indoor season: Do they want to play? Do they want to take a break? What changes would make them feel more comfortable in playing? etc. If you have a few minutes to let us know your team's thoughts on the upcoming leagues (or on the current leagues and the new procedures and protocols), please drop Andrew, Chris and Matt an e-mail at admin@ottawafootsevens.com.
It's a little later than usual, but we have just opened our captain's pre-sale for our fall indoor leagues.
These are for the leagues running from November (after your outdoor season finishes) through to January or February.
We have the following leagues available for team registration:
Due to some of our usual venues not being available, spaces are extremely limited. We currently only have enough space available to accommodate about 20% of the teams that are currently playing outdoor soccer with us.
The captain's presale will run until next Wednesday morning when all leagues will open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.
As always you can always e-mail us or talk to Andrew, Chris or Matt at the field if you have any questions,
Take care,
The Footy Sevens Team.
Early fall in Ottawa is our favourite time of the year for outdoor soccer but we will have to close off registration for the majority of our leagues this weekend.
This is your last chance for outdoor soccer this year, and these are the final spaces available:
All of these spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis on the Footy Sevens website.
Many of you have been asking about winter indoor soccer and we can confirm that we ARE planning to run winter indoor seasons as normal at most of our usual venues and days. We are still confirming availability, protocols and procedures with the various domes and we will be posting the details of our winter leagues within the next two weeks.
I'm looking to put together a pool of over-35s pickup players with the aim of setting up a regular weekly over-35s pickup session, and hopefully a league in the future. If you (like me) are one of our veteran players that would be interested in an over-35s session rather than trying to keep pace with the 20 year-olds, drop me an email at chris@ottawafootysevens.com. Even if you can't make this week's game, but may be interested in the future, drop me an e-mail to let me know.
We already have over 40 players that have confirmed and interest in playing over-35s, and we may even be able to start a league within the next week or so if we see further interest from players or teams.
And finally, we'd like to say thank you once again to all of the players and teams who came out and played with us during the past season. The support of our captains and teams has been humbling and very much appreciated during an extremely tough year,
Yours,
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel and Matt, The Ottawa Footy Sevens Team
With September right around the corner and our summer leagues coming to a close over the next week or two, we just wanted to reach out with a reminder that registration is still open for all of our leagues. We've got a great selection of mens and coed leagues 7 days a week, OUTDOORS, with team and individual spaces in all leagues.
New This Season:
Wednesday Mens @ Immaculata HS
Wednesday Mens 11-a-Side League @ Carleton
Thursday Mens @ Immaculata HS
Sunday Evening Coed @ Immaculata HS - This league will revert back to 60-minute games for the Fall season.
In addition to our traditional leagues nights on...
Monday, Wednesday Coed at Immaculata HS - Down to our last 2 team spaces!
Thursday, Friday Coed at Immaculata HS
Monday, Tuesday, Friday & Sunday Men's at Immaculata HS
We haven't forgotten individuals either, and we have limited individual spaces for the coed and men's. Register now at ottawafootysevens.com
We continue to operate in Phase 3 of the Province's reopening plan, with all games in the leagues will operating under strict protocols to make sure that we meet the Provincial guidelines and provide a safe and controlled environment to get you back to playing the sport that you love. We've streamlined our procedures for before, during and after our games and you can find a full updated list of these COVID Policies & Procedures here. If you have questions about the COVID-19 procedures at the OUTDOOR fields, drop us an email or check out our blog post of what a game night looks like here.
To help us continue to ensure that all of our procedures and the staff monitoring them are entirely consistent we will be playing the bulk of our games at Immaculata High School (140 Main St.).
In situations where we need additional fields, Carleton University's turf fields will be utilized.
We will also only be offering OUTDOOR leagues again in the Fall season. It looks like early November will be the earliest we're able to get back inside, but will only do so when we feel it is safe and practical for all involved.
Team and Individual registrations for Indoor leagues will open when we have more clarity on Provincial guidelines for indoor sports and facility safety protocols.
What if I want to play but some of my usual teammates don't? We completely understand that, while the majority of players may be looking forward to getting back on the field, some players won't feel that it is right for them at this time. If you find yourself as part of a group that wants to play, but doesn't have enough at this time, try our forum. You can find posts for players looking for teams and teams looking for players. We've already seen a couple of teams merge their "half-teams" together for the new season. Don't forget you can also register for individual teams, and if you drop us a line, we'll make sure that we place you together on the same team.
How long will these leagues last? The leagues will begin in early September and run until the end of October.
For those of you who can't commit to a league or are looking for some additional footy, we are offering plenty of pick soccer games weekly. Check out our pickup soccer website for weekly updates and games.
We're look forward to another great season!
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel, Matt and Ryan - The Footy Sevens Team
Hey everyone,
We're about two weeks away from the start of our Fall season so I just wanted to reach out with some information regarding these leagues. We've added a number of mens leagues to our lineup, giving you the opportunity to play every day of the week.
With the cancellation of the OCSL, we've also decided to offer an 11-a-side league at Carleton on Wednesday evenings as well as a Saturday league at Immaculata. This will likely be the last opportunity to play 11aside this year, so we encourage teams who are interested to register soon as we have limited capacity. There will be divisions for both Intermediate and Advanced teams.
7-a-side leagues will be offered outdoors, Sunday through Friday, mainly at Immaculata High School (140 Main Street). We will be using Carleton University's Stadium Field if necessary. For a full list of the leagues click here.
Individual player spaces are also available everyday of the week, with the exception of the 11aside leagues.
For a full list of our other COVID regulations click here.
If you have any questions about our leagues, COVID policies or anything else, please let us know. See you on the field!
- Your Ottawa Footy Sevens Team
We've got the first week of post-shutdown soccer in and we'd like to start by saying a huge thank you to everyone that has played so far.
We have thrown a lot of procedures, protocols and changes at you for your first game back and the response we've had has been terrific. We really appreciate everyone's patience and adherence to the new rules and procedures. Whether it's been patiently waiting outside the field until the previous teams have left or while we check everyone into the facility, captains chasing down their players to make sure they are on the roster and have accepted the waiver, players respecting each other's personal space on and off the field or just listening to the directions of our staff at the field, its been important and impeccably observed.
Thank you all for playing your part in getting back on the field safely. Everyone's efforts contribute to the safety of the wider community and even if you aren't concerned about yourself, they really help to make those who are nervous about returning to play feel safer and more comfortable. Keep up the good work everyone, this is likely to be the new normal for a while.
Some of you wanted to see what the procedures were like before committing to playing again at the moment. We've published a blog-post with a series of photos to help you visualise what is happening at the field and posted a shortened "Coles Notes" of our procedures below to remind you of the procedure at the field.
Our full COVID-19 protocols and procedures can be found here on our website and must be read and observed by all players before playing.
We have been busy working away at schedules for the current league and we will be closing off registration on Monday. There are still team spots and a few individual spaces remaining to get back on the field just now. this will be the last chance to play before our late summer/early fall leagues start in September.
You can find the details and registration for all of our current leagues on the Footy Sevens Website.
Andrew, Chris, Dan and Matt, The Footy Sevens On-Field Team
It's the news you have been waiting for - we can confirm that our leagues are back and will kick off this coming Sunday!
We've got a full range of coed, women's and men's leagues and you can sign up your team right now on the Footy Sevens Website. We haven't forgotten individuals either, and we have limited individual spaces for the coed, women's and men's.
Register now at ottawafootysevens.com
Although we are excited as most of you are to be back out on the field, we are still only in the early stages of phase 3 of the Province's reopening plan and all games in the leagues will be operating under strict protocols to make sure that we meet the Provincial guidelines and provide a safe and controlled environment to get you back to playing the sport that you love. We'll have adaptations to our procedures before, during and after our games and you can find a full updated list of these COVID Policies & Procedures here.
To help us ensure that all of our procedures and the staff monitoring them are entirely consistent we will be sticking to a single venue and holding all of our initial games at Immaculata High School (140 Main St.).
We will also only be offering outdoor games this season, and have moved the start of the indoor leagues to September. Team and Individual registrations are open for these leagues.
What if I want to play but some of my usual teammates don't? We completely understand that, while the majority of players may be looking forward to getting back on the field, some players won't feel that it is right for them at this time, which is completely understandable. If you find yourself as part of a group that wants to play, but doesn't have enough at this time, try our forum. You can find posts for players looking for teams and teams looking for players. We've already seen a couple of teams merge their "half-teams" together for the new season. Don't forget you can also register for individual teams, and if you drop us a line, we'll make sure that we place you together on the same team.
How long will these leagues last? The leagues starting this week will be 8 games long and last until the first week of September.
Will you still be offering the socially distanced soccer programs? Yes, chatting to some of you this week, it sounds as if some of you don't feel ready for league play yet, but would like to continue with the social distanced training programs and soccer golf. We will be posting an updated schedule for these for next week over at our pickup soccer website.
It's been a long few months, and we are still a long way from being back to normal, but we have missed seeing you every week and we look forward to seeing you back on the field soon,
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel, Matt and Ryan, The Footy Sevens Team
The Province of Ontario announced that Ottawa will be one of the regions allowed to enter Phase 3 of the reopening plan at the end of this week.
This appears to be the news that thousands of soccer players have been waiting for, and we think that the leagues might be permitted to resume as early as this weekend!
However, the announcement was only made an hour or two ago and we are still digesting the information and looking for some further details and clarifications.
We will send an update with more details and (hopefully) confirmed start dates within the next 48 hours.
Fingers crossed!
The Footy Sevens Team
We hope you had a great Canada Day.
It looks like Ottawa is inching closer to stage 3 of the Province's reopening plan. We have also been hearing some fairly strong rumours that 7-a-side play may be allowed to restart within the next couple of weeks. It is just rumours, and nothing definite yet, but we are hopeful that our outdoor leagues may be able to start up again within the next couple of weeks.
Once we do get the green light to play, we plan to have the leagues start within a few days. First priority for getting back on the field will be given to the teams that have already rolled over winter credit to register for a spring league and then to other teams that had registered in advance. Depending on the number of games allowed on the field and field availability etc., we may see reduced capacity in some or even all of leagues, so we would advise registering your team ASAP, just in case. We know there is a lot of uncertainty and things aren't great financially for a lot of people, so we have dropped the team deposit to $100 until we have confirmed start dates for the leagues.
The pricing and number of games listed may be subject to change based upon restrictions placed upon us with regards to the number of people at the facility, number of games we can play and other safety-related protocols. To accommodate the number of teams and number of games, some games may have to be played on an alternative night or at the weekend and the league may take place over a compressed period (e.g. 10 games in 8 weeks).
Register with confidence - if any league is cancelled, postponed or any changes mean that it is no longer suitable to your team your deposit or league fee will be refunded in full.
Our guess is that leagues at indoor venues (e.g. the domes) might not be allowed to start at the same time as outdoor leagues. It could be a difference of a couple of weeks, or a couple of months. If you do want to get back out and play as soon as possible, we would strongly recommend registering for one of the outdoor league.
You can find the full list of all of our available leagues and their details and on the Footy Sevens Website.
Yes, absolutely!. If you have a credit sitting in your account from the Winter leagues, you will be able to see it and use it for payment when you login and register for a new league or for one of our soccer golf, training or fitness sessions.
For the past couple of weeks, we have offered our socially-distanced soccer golf, skills challenges and training and fitness sessions at Immaculata HS. The schedule can be found on our pickup soccer website. CTV News actually came out and filmed a news segment with Ottawa Footy Sevens players and staff about players getting back out onto the field. You can find it on our twitter feed:
https://twitter.com/OttawaFooty7s
Here's hoping the rumours are true and we get to see you back on the field within a couple of weeks,
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel, Matt and Ryan, the Footy Sevens Team.
Hi Footy Seveners,
We hope you all remain safe and well and are enjoying the first few days of summer.
Firstly, a huge thank you to all of you who have reached out with kinds words and support during these challenging times. We also wanted to take the opportunity to give you a quick update on the Spring/Summer leagues, as well as the programming we've set up to get you back on field and touching a ball.
Although we can't start the full leagues yet, we have started our socially distanced programming with a variety of sessions for teams and indviduals. This programming will continue to run weekly until we resume league play.
Click here for a full list of our soccer programming available this week
Our Adult Training Sessions run on Sunday and Thursday evenings. We have added a Goalkeeper Training Session on Thursday evening at 8pm. Although registration is for individuals, you can come out together at the same time, or even arrange a private session for just your team. If you do want to do that, drop us an e-mail at admin@ottawfootysevens.com, and let us know what you want to work on, and we'll give you some options for dates and times.
Our Exercise Classes will be led by Matt and will run three times a week at the special introductory price of 5.00+tax per session. This promotion is for this week only. Get your sweat on for cheap!
Our Soccer Skills Challenge pits two 4-player teams against each other in 5 different skills-based games such as target shooting, soccer curling, soccer battleships etc. We held our first night on Wednesday and it proved a hit with teams really finding a competitive, but friendly edge in the games. We have just posted this week's schedules and you can register a 4-player team at various kickoff times on Monday and Wednesday this week. We also have some spaces reserved for individuals or pairs.
Our Soccer Golf course at Immaculata also launched this week with a number for foursomes having a ball. You can find the early leader board of the best sores on our 9-hole, par 33 course on the Footy Sevens Blog. Getting a group of friends together for soccer golf is another great way to reunite your team at the moment. You can sign up a whole team, as an individual or with a friend or two, and we have posted sessions on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday this week.
The nets are strung and our field is now available for rent. Get your team together and get back on the field! Drop us an email for pricing and additional details.
With the expansion of provincial guidelines, we are pleased to announce the return of our youth programming beginning the week of July 6th. Click here for more information on dates, prices and details about our program. These sessions will be offered for children aged 3 to 9 and will run weekly in July and August. Unfortunately, due to the current regulations in place, our youth leagues will not be offered at this time.
Please note, these sessions will be smaller than what we've run in the past in order maintain social distancing and adhere to provincial safety guidelines.
We're now entering the third week of Phase 2 of the Province's reopening plan. While current regulations still forbid "contact" soccer leagues and scrimmages, we're hopeful that we're getting closer to a return to play. Phase 2 has a pretty big step forward, as it allowed players back onto the field in some capacity and regionalised the reopening plan which may well see Ottawa moving to phase 3 quicker than had been expected
Registration is still open for the spring/summer leagues and we'll confirm the final details once we get the green light. With this in mind, we've started work on our Return to Play guidelines and will be continuing to update the league details with the guidance of city and provincial health officials. Depending on when we get back on the field, we'll be able to confirm the length of leagues structure, start and finish dates and any changes that may need to be made to the number of games we can host, players on the field or adjustments to the price. As we've said from the start,
As we've said from the start, if anything changes and it is no longer suitable for your team for any reason, you will have the opportunity to withdraw before the season kicks-off and receive a full refund. That's our guarantee to you so that you can register in confidence even with so many details waiting to be confirmed.
As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to drop us an email.
Take care everyone, we hope to see you back on the field soon!
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel, Matt and Ryan, the Footy Sevens Team
We hope you all remain safe and well and are enjoying the weather.
Firstly, a huge thank you to all of you who were able to rollover your credit with us. It was a really significant factor in keeping the Footy Sevens ship afloat for the past few months and we sincerely appreciate it.
We just wanted to keep all of our team captains up to date with progress on getting back on the field
Phase 2 of the Province's reopening plan still forbids "contact" soccer leagues and scrimmages, so we won't be able to start the spring leagues yet. However, Phase 2 was a pretty big step forward, as it allowed players back onto the field in some capacity and regionalised the reopening plan which may well see Ottawa moving to phase 3 quicker than had been expected. It really was good news, and with things like patios and even swimming pools opening up, we are hopeful that soccer games aren't too far away. Registration is still open for the spring leagues and we'll confirm the final details once we get the green light.
Depending on when we get back on the field, we'll be able to confirm the length of leagues structure, start and finish dates and any changes that may need to be made to the number of games we can host, players on the field or adjustments to the price. As we've said from the start, once we confirm the final details of each of the leagues, if anything changes and it is no longer suitable for your team for any reason, you will have the opportunity to withdraw before the season kicks-off and receive a full refund. That's our guarantee to you so that you can register in confidence even with so many details waiting to be confirmed.
Although we can't start the full leagues yet, we have started our socially distanced programming and have a couple of options that can be played as a team.
Our soccer skills shoot-out pits two 4-player teams against each other in 5 different skills-based games such as target shooting, soccer curling, soccer battleships etc. We held our first night on Wednesday and it proved a hit with teams really finding a competitive, but friendly edge in the games. We have just posted this week's schedules and you can register a 4-player team at various kickoff times on Monday and Wednesday this week. We also have some spaces reserved for individuals or pairs.
Our soccer golf course at Immaculata also launched this week with a number for foursomes having a ball. You can find the early leaderboard of the best sores on our 9-hole, par 33 course on the Footy Sevens Blog. Getting a group of friends together for soccer golf is another great way to reunite your team at the moment. You can sign up a whole team, as an individual or with a friend or two, and we have posted sessions on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday this week.
The third option we have is our Adult Rec Training Sessions. All three sold out pretty quickly this week, and we have another three sessions available this Thursday at Immaculata. Although registration is for individuals, you can come out together at the same time, or even arrange a private session for just your team. If you do want to do that, drop us an e-mail at admin@ottawfootysevens.com, and let us know what you want to work on, and we'll give you some options for dates and times.
We are looking at possibly launching a skills challenge or soccer golf league to fill the gap until the full leagues kick-off. If your team would be interested in signing up a 4 player team for either of those options, e-mail admin@ottawafootysevens.com and let us know what nights would work for your team.
Take care everyone, we hope to see you back on the field sooner rather than later,
As we said in Friday's update, we are launching the first of our socially-distanced soccer programs. We have 3 different options to get back on the field this week and you can find details and registration over on our pickup soccer website.
Although phase 2 of the Province's reopening doesn't extend to league play or contact games, we 've got some fun options available this week at special introductory pricing.
Your team of four players play 5 different head to head games against the opposing team. Take them on in 5 different games:
We have coed team spaces and individual spaces for this Wednesday available for registration here.
Our training sessions give everyone a chance to get back on the field for socially distanced soccer training. Work on those skills that you may not get a chance to practice in the heat of a game and be raring to go for the new season! Everyone is welcome, but the session will probably be most beneficial for recreational or intermediate players.
Individual registration for Adult Socer Training Sessions on Thursday is available here.
We have designed an awesome 9 hole soccer golf course that will allow players to get out on the field in a limited capacity. Instead of swinging a club, you'll be using your feet, while being able to maintain social distancing. A perfect opportunity to knock some of the rust off those quarantine legs and perfect your precision passing before we return to full action! Play in a group with up to 3 friends, accompanied by a coordinator to talk you through the course, score your round and make sure everyone is at a safe social distance.
Individual registration for Soccer Golf on Friday and Saturday can be found here.
Later in the week, we'll be posting next week's programs, and maybe even a small skills league. Keep checking the website for updated availability.
Due to the restrictions of the sizes of the groups, registration is VERY limited and there is no possibility of increasing the capacity of any session that sells out. All spaces are available on a first-come, first-served basis and must be booked and paid in advance.
Strict COVID-19 protocols will be in place for all programs and all participants must agree to abide by the COVID-19 protocols which are published on our website. All current programs are BYOB "Bring Your Own Ball". If you do not have your own soccer ball we will have sanitised Footy Sevens Balls available to borrow for the evening.
We look forward to seeing you back out on the field again and we can answer any questions at admin@ottawafootysevens.com.
Take care and stay safe everyone,
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel, Matt and Ryan, your Footy Sevens Team
We hope everyone is still keeping safe and well and enjoying the weather.
Today is the first day of phase 2 of the Provincial reopening plan and many businesses like hair and nail salons, restaurants and bars with patios and some leisure activities will be allowed to reopen for the first time since the start of the shutdown. It's great news to see some of the other local businesses get the chance to start their recovery. Most excitingly for us, phase 2 may give us the chance to get back on the field, albeit in a very limited capacity.
We have been working on some ideas for some fun recreational programs that will allow players the chance to get out and kick a ball, but still maintain strict social distancing protocols.
The field will also be available to rent for teams looking to begin practising again under the OSA's Return to Play guidelines.
We will publish full details once we are ready to take registrations, but the health and safety of our staff and participants is our #1 priority and activities will not begin until we have confirmation from OPH that it is safe to do so. All activities will take place under strict COVID19 protocols and we have published a list of our COVID19 protocols on our website.
No, not yet, but we are getting closer. The Provincial guidelines for phase 2 expressly forbid scrimmages and league games. This week's announcement was a positive step towards getting back to playing, but we aren't at a point yet where actual games involving tackling, close proximity and potential physical contact are possible, which is why we have come up with the list of socially-distanced activities above.
We will be updating our list of measures that are currently in place. As public health advice changes and as we pass through different stages of reopening we will be refining them and we'd also like to get feedback of suggestions and measures that could potentially help to make participants feel more comfortable at this time. You can email us at chris@ottawafootysevens.com if you have any suggestions.
The protocols, when they were last updated, and the current status of play will always be posted on our COVID-19 page on our website.
Keep up the precautions everyone! We can't wait to see all of our teams back on the field, but we aren't quite there yet!
p.s. Even though it seems we are creeping towards more familiar daily lives, coming out of isolation may be a cause of anxiety for some of you. It's still okay not to feel okay and the Mental Health Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week at 613-722-6914
We hope everyone is doing well and we'd like to extend a huge thanks to those of you that are out there every day putting your own health at risk to keep vital services running and supply lines open for the rest of us. Whether you are a frontline worker who accepts risk as part of your profession even at the best of times, or a teenager working your first part-time job at a supermarket in the middle of a global pandemic, we are indebted to you and we appreciate what you are doing for us.
We don't have any more definitive information on the winter season at the moment. There still isn't any clear consensus of when sporting activities will be able to resume, so everything is still on hold at the moment until we have some concrete information to plan around.
It is still our plan to complete the winter seasons. However, with today's announcement that the state of emergency in Ontario will be extended until at least May 12th, it is very probable that the winter season will have to be shortened or even cancelled. We outlined the three potential outcomes in our last update.
If the winter season is shortened or cancelled, we will have hundreds of prorated credits of different amounts to apply to various different spring and summer leagues. Almost every single one will be different and it will be a manual process. We really want to approach it methodically and work through it in a linear manner to make sure that we don't miss anyone. So we are asking everyone if they can to wait until we are in a position to know what is happening and how much each credit (or refund) will be required for each team and individual player if we are not able to continue with any further games for the winter season.
Credit or refund?
Most of you play with us all year round. If we do have to issue any kind of a prorated refund for games that are not completed in the winter league, we would really appreciate if those of you that are able to can roll it over as payment for your spring and/or summer league season. Like thousands of other business and organisations large and small, we saw our income drop to zero in the space of 24 hours. Being able to move as many payments from winter to spring in this scenario will be vital for our leagues and our company.
Although some organisations have had to take a position that there will be no refunds given (only credits) we know that there are some of you that will be in even greater need than we are and if you need your team or individual registration to be refunded when the time comes, we can assure you that a refund will be issued, not just a credit. We just ask you to consider two things:
1. We will not be issuing credits or refunds until we know what the outcome of the winter league seasons will be.
2. If it is at all possible and you are going to be continuing to play with us at any time in the future, please rollover any potential credit for the winter leagues to future seasons. It is a lot to ask in these difficult times, but rolling over as many of these payments as possible is essential for our organisation.
Similar to the winter leagues, we don't have a definitive update on the spring leagues, but the closer we get to May, the more likely it is that the leagues will start later. We aren't going to change the league start dates at the moment, as it would just be a guess. Whatever happens, you can go ahead and reserve your space with confidence. If we do have to make changes to what we are currently advertising for our spring leagues and the changes aren't suitable for your team we will issue a full refund of your deposit before the season starts.
How quickly will games resume once the restrictions are lifted? Nothing will happen until Ottawa Public Health confirm that it is safe and reasonable to resume sporting activities. Once that happens, and assuming facility availability, we would expect to be able to restart games within a couple of days.
The city has closed its fields until June 30th, doesn't that guarantee that no games will go ahead before then? We don't actually use ANY city-run fields or facilities for any of our games. All of the facilities we use are at schools, universities or private organisations. We will start to play again once Ottawa Public Health confirms it is safe and individual facilities are available for use again.
Is the field and track at Immaculata available to use at the moment? 100% NO! Like the other fields, facilities and parks in the city, it has been closed until further notice to help to stop the spread of COVID-19, We are all desperate to be out playing and exercising again, but please respect the measures and help to plank the curve.
What is happening with the Kicking Cancer's Butt Tournament this year? We will still be holding Kicking Cancer's Butt 11 and continuing to add to the $120k+ our soccer community has raised for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, but we won't choose a date for it until after restrictions are lifted. Most likely it will become a late summer or fall tournament this year, but it will be going ahead!
What kind of a state will we find the Footy Sevens staff and refs in when we return? Some of the OFS staff have gone very P90X from the infomercials during the enforced break, and some of us have gone very Augustus Gloop from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And those of us that don't trust our partners around us with hair clippers are beginning to look like a Blue Oyster Cult reunion tour. We look forward to letting you decide who is who once we see you all back out on the field again.
Stay safe everyone,
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel, Matt and Ryan and the Footy Sevens Team
p.s. Don't forget your mental health during the current isolation: it's okay not to feel okay and the Mental Health Crisis Line is available 24 hours a day/7 days a week at 613-722-6914.
We hope everyone is keeping safe, well and social-distancing!
This is our update on the leagues as the COVID-19 preventative measures and news continues to change hour by hour and day by day.
It's pretty clear that the closures and measures aren't going to be lifted by the April 5th date that most schools, institutions and businesses had originally worked towards.
Your guess is as good as ours as to when we will get to the stage where leisure activities will resume. We know facilities will be closed beyond April 5th, but we don't know when they will reopen.
Winter Seasons
We are still assuming we can complete the winter seasons as planned. When this happens and what changes may be necessary isn't something we can confirm right now because we simply don't know ourselves. One of three things will end up happening with the winter seasons, depending on the when we can get back on the field:
1. We complete the season and all of the games - Obviously, we hope to be able to do this. It may require the finishing date to be pushed back, removal of bye weeks, or doubleheaders, or a game on another night. We'll do everything we can to try to get the seasons and the advertised number of games completed.
2. We finish the season with a shortened regular season - If this was the case and we couldn't fit in all of the winter league games we would make a call on having a reduced number of games and then playoffs, and credit teams a prorated amounted for any reduction in the length of the season.
3. The season is abandoned - This would be an absolute last resort, but it's not impossible that we could get to a point where we have to abandon the season altogether. In this case, a pro-rated credit or refund for the remainder of the season would be issued.
Everything hinges upon when we are all allowed to resume sporting and social activities. Once we know the date of when we are able to resume, we will be able for confirm the format of the remainder of the season and calculate any potential rollover of fees to spring leagues, credits or refunds. Thank you for your patience in bearing with us until we can get some clarity on the future.
Spring Seasons
The spring seasons will go ahead as planned, but there is obviously a possibility that the start date may change or the season length may be adjusted if the COVID-19 measures continue for months. Whatever happens, you can go ahead and reserve your space with confidence. If we do have to make changes to what we are currently advertising for our spring leagues and the changes aren't suitable for your team we will issue a full refund of your deposit before the season starts.
FAQs
What is happening with the Kicking Cancer's Butt Tournament this year? We will still be holding Kicking Cancer's Butt 11, but we won't choose a date for it until after restrictions are lifted. Most likely it will become a late summer or fall tournament this year, but it will be going ahead!
Take care everyone, please, please, please take social distancing seriously and support our local small businesses in whatever way you can,
We have postponed all upcoming games for all leagues for the next couple of weeks during the city-wide shutdown of facilities and activities. These games will be played and will be rescheduled later in the season.
On Friday we took the interim step of postponing the games for this weekend and we planned to see how things developed and make a decision on the rest of the leagues and games on Monday. However, the number of closures and postponements across the city accelerated rapidly as Friday wore on, and there is no point in us waiting until Monday to let teams know that all leagues will be postponed.
We absolutely plan to have these games played and the seasons completed, and we will keep teams informed by e-mail. Obviously there are a lot of unknowns in the situation at the moment but here are some tentative answers to the most frequently asked questions:
1. How long will the winter leagues be suspended for? We are monitoring the situation but the most likely date for resuming is the week of the 5th of April as that seems to be in line with most facilities.
2. Will the winter leagues be completed? Will it be the same number of games? Yes to both parts. If we are assuming a return date of early April, league end dates could be a week or two later than originally planned.
3. Will the spring seasons go ahead? Yes absolutely, but the start and the end date could be a week or two later than originally planned.
Thanks for your patience everyone.
Stay safe and don't forget how big a contribution small things like thorough and regular hand washing, social distancing and self-isolating if you feel unwell, can make to getting us all back to normal,
Andrew, Chris, Dan, Joel and Matt The Ottawa Footy Sevens Team