PORTLAND, Ore. – Portland Thorns FC will return to voluntary individual workouts at Providence Park today. Beginning next week, training sessions will take place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
The individual player workout protocol set by the NWSL prohibits media access to the stadium, limiting access to players and essential staff only. The club will provide media members footage, imagery, soundbytes and quotes following the individual workout sessions.
By allowing players, on a voluntary basis, to use team-operated fields for individual workouts, the club will be able to provide a controlled environment that ensures adherence to safety protocols and social distancing measures for players and staff.
The individual player workout protocol prohibits access to club facilities including but not limited to locker rooms, team gyms, and team training rooms. Team gyms and training rooms may still only be accessed by players receiving post-operative and rehabilitation treatment, as directed by the club’s Chief Medical Officer.
Thorns FC have been in dialogue with county and state health officials and have shared their return to training plan with them and the NWSL, which includes:
- Restricting training facility access to essential staff only, with specific staff listed in the plan.
- Sanitization and disinfection plans for all training equipment and spaces, including disinfection of any equipment used by players (balls, cones, goals) between every session.
- Completion of a Standard Screening Assessment survey by each player prior to every arrival at the training site, and temperature checks upon arrival at the facility.
- Staggered player and staff arrivals and departures, with designated parking spaces to maintain maximum distance between vehicles.
- Player use of personal protective equipment from the parking lot to the field, and again on return to the parking lot.
- Staff use of the appropriate personal protective equipment throughout training, while also maintaining a minimum distance of 10 feet from players at all times.
- Hand washing and disinfectant stations for required use before and after individual workouts.
- Clubs will have the use of the outdoor fields at their training facility, divided into a maximum of four quadrants per field. A maximum of one player per quadrant may participate per training session with no equipment sharing or playing (passing, shooting) between players.
- An Emergency Action Plan for all COVID-19 related issues.
The league-wide moratorium on small group and full team training remains in place through, and including, Friday, May 15.
