Weather Cancellation Policy

Soccer is an all-weather sport. We will generally play under rainy conditions. Unless you receive official word of game cancellations due to weather, teams should report to the field. As you know, the weather changes quickly in this area. We will not play games when lightning enters the area or if the weather makes the fields unsafe. We clear the field for until 30 minutes after the last lightning strike has been spotted. GHSC will make this decision.

We cancel games due to: (1) lightning, driving rain, or other conditions making play dangerous or impractical or (2) ground so wet that play be unsafe or will damage the fields, (3) temperature or wind chill below our published limits.

We don’t cancel merely because it’s raining or snowing unless it puts the field at risk of damage. Announcements will be emailed, posted on our facebook page and post at the top of this site as soon as a decision is made.  Green Hills Soccer Club advises that coaches and parents call their teams phone tree so that word of last-minute cancellations can be spread quickly.
The President or the Board Member of GHSC in charge of that days game will cancel games at GHSC fields after consulting with the Field and Maintenance Chairman and the Chairman of the Referee Committee for reasons outlined below. All efforts will be made to have a decision at least 1 hour before game starting time, but it may not always be possible maintain that 1 hour interval with the first games of the day. The goal of this policy is that both teams of games will have a clear understanding on whether the game has been canceled and to avoid situations in which one team comes and its opponent does not.

The judgment to cancel or to suspend games because of miserable weather will be based on a combination of cold, wind and rain or can be made because the field conditions are to poor for safe play or to use them would unreasonably damage the fields. When games are played on fields with poor or unsafe conditions, it often will cause irreversible damage to the field. It takes months, sometimes years, for the field to get back into a quality playing condition.

Typical reasons that the fields may be closed, even if bad weather has passed, include persistent snow on the ground and rain that has been so pervasive that the fields cannot be drained in time and would be torn up through use.

Depending on the situation, it is possible that only one or two hours’ worth of games are canceled (e.g., a light snow that will melt off or a passing thunderstorm), rather than a whole day’s worth of games.

If games are canceled due to weather, GHSC will re-schedule them as soon as possible and notify coaches of the new date and times.

Authority of the Referee. The referee of a game may suspend play on his or her sole judgment due to poor weather or adverse field conditions, even if the GHSC fields have not been closed. During games, any referee hearing thunder or seeing lightning will suspend or cancel play on his field. Players and spectators will be asked to clear the field and seek shelter.
If games are more than half over, they should be considered complete. Other games may be resumed after the weather has passed. There will be a 30 minute wait until after the last lightning or thunder before play will be resumed.

Games, once restarted, must end at least 5 minutes before the next scheduled game on that field. This implies that interrupted games, which are being played on a field that is also scheduled for use in the next time-slot, will need to be rescheduled for another time or must resume play on an unscheduled field, subject to the availability of the referee.

During practices, any coach hearing thunder or being informed that thunder was heard will tell the players to clear the field and seek shelter in vehicles, and will inform other coaches so that all practice at the facility is stopped. Practices that are one half or more completed will be considered complete; kids should go home and not wait for a restart of practice. Coaches should not leave until last child has gone home. There will be a 30-minute delay after last occurrence of lightning (or thunder) before practice is restarted.

Upon the suspension of play, teams must go to their vehicles.  Do not leave the site until games or practices have been canceled.