COVID-19 UPDATE – June 1st, 2020

As our community enters Phase 1 of reopening this week, we know many of you are wondering what youth volleyball options we will have available through the summer.   We understand that many of you are ready to get back in the gym, while others are still concerned about moving to quickly … and we will try our best to accommodate those differing viewpoints.  The road back to youth sports the way we are used to it, will definitely take some time for everyone.

Currently we are waiting for both OHA and OSAA to give guidance on next steps for starting youth sports and volleyball specifically. In our discussions with Oregon Health Authority, they have not approved volleyball in Phase 1.  We are told it will likely be authorized in Phase 2.  As soon as we have confirmation of Phase 2 guidance, we will post an update here.

We are also in regular contact with the school districts within the OSAA, and waiting for many school facilities to make determinations on what kind of outside groups they will allow in their gyms during the summer.  Additionally, we are waiting to find out what OSAA will decide regarding Fall Sports, which will definitely play into our decision regarding Fall Middle School League.

As you can see, we are unfortunately still in a wait and see type position regarding summer and fall programs.  We want youth sports to return to our communities as soon as is safely possible.  We will continue to work with OHA and OSAA to determine next steps for youth sports.  We hope to have another update by mid-June.

COVID-19 UPDATE – April 12, 2020

As all of you know, school in Oregon has been canceled for the remainder of the year, and guidelines around the safety of larger gatherings remain largely unknown at this point.  The safety of our players, families and coaches remains our first priority, and because of that we are indefinitely suspending the 2020 Spring Youth League Season.  We are extremely disappointed that we cannot get things under way as planned, but these are seriously unprecedented times.
We wish full refunds for Spring participants were possible, but unfortunately that is not a reality.  As with most spring youth sports, we have already incurred a variety costs in the way of uniforms, equipment, and services.  Being a small business, we simply do not have the funds available to give everyone a full refund.  However, we remain committed to providing everyone the same level of service you’ve come to expect from us.
Starting on Monday, April 20th, we will be issuing non-expiring full credits towards a future YVBA program (Spring League, Fall League, Summer Camp or Academy).  Those will be provided to everyone in the way of a coupon code (sent out individually by email) that you can use during registration of a future program.  Additionally we will be adding a 5th grade option to our Fall Middle School League, and looking to add more Summer programming including the possibility of changing the Spring League to a Summer League this year.
We recognize this pandemic has affected all of us in ways we could not even imagine or plan for.  We know some of you may be without work, struggling to put food on the table, and unsure of what the future holds.  If you are in a dire situation, we can issue a partial refund to get some of those funds back into your hands.  We will handle those on a case-by-case basis, and ask that you reach out to us at info@yvbaoregon.com with subject line [Spring Refund] by Sun, April 19th, if that applies to you.  But we encourage everyone who is able, to accept the credit towards a future program, as that is how we will be able to provide partial refunds to families truly in need.  You do not have to do anything to accept the credit, that will be emailed out to you the week of the 20th.
We hope everyone is staying healthy, safe, and active when they can.  This is such an uncertain time for all of us, but we remain confident that we will get through it together and get back to life as usual.  Hopefully with a better appreciation for our loved ones, and the activities we enjoy.
Thanks so much for your patience and understanding with this truly unique situation.
YVBA Oregon

COVID-19 UPDATE – March 19th, 2020:

This week Governor Brown issued a revised order that all Oregon schools will stay closed until April 28th in an effort to stem the spread of this outbreak.  This news will clearly cause a postpone in the start of our Spring League program, as use of the schools in each area is a major part of our program.  We remain optimistic that this will only delay us by about a month, and our program can extend into the summer a few weeks.  Currently our plan is to start the Spring League program May 11th  …. basically pushing the dates back by one month.

We know this is not the most ideal way to start a Spring sports program, but these are unusual and unprecedented times.  We know that once life is allowed to continue on as normal, kids and families are going to want these activities in place, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure our program is available when that time comes.   We hope everyone is staying safe, healthy and sane in this social distancing pause in our lives.  We will be even more excited to see everyone in the gym when life is allowed to get back to normal.

COVID-19 Update:

We are excited to get the new 2020 Spring League season under way soon.   While we are nearly a month from the scheduled start, we wanted to reach out to everyone and address our current approach to the COVID-19 school closures and postponements of sporting events.  We are watching both the local and nation wide response very closely, and will be following all OHA and CDC recommendations.

As it stands right now, we do not plan to cancel the 2020 Spring League season, as our start date is not until April.  However we do understand that this remains a very fluid situation, and that stance could change in the coming weeks as new information comes in.   At this point, some of the school districts in our area have closed through the end of Spring Break, and we expect most other districts to follow suit.  Additionally, USA Volleyball has recommended that all tournaments and large events be postponed/canceled until March 22nd, and we’re currently following that guidance for our club volleyball program still in session.  We hope things begin to return to normal by April.

As we move forward into this uncertain time, we will continue to communicate with you when we have any new information.  For the time being, we are working with schools/facilities on gym times when they reopen and are beginning to build teams and schedules.  Please expect a delay on any team/schedule information, as that will almost certainly be running a bit behind schedule given the current environment.

We want you to know, the health and safety of our players, coaches and community are of the upmost importance to us.  We are in full support of all the safety measures being put in place to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in our community, and will make all our decisions with that as our focus.   Stay tuned for updates on our website and social media.

Stay safe and stay healthy!