FC Dallas and North Texas Soccer Club became the first professional teams to return to training in North Texas with the resumption of individual workouts at the team facility on Monday.
The players are allowed to train four players per field at the FCD complex to allow the maximum amount of space needed for players to comply with safety protocols in place. Workouts are voluntary and so far we’ve not heard of anyone not participating.
The sessions run twice a day Monday through Wednesday. After a Thursday day off, there are morning sessions on Friday and Saturday with another day off Sunday. Not surprisingly, the sessions are closed to both the public and the media.
Locker rooms, team gyms, and team training rooms are all still prohibited from use with the exception of gyms and training rooms that can still be accessed by players receiving post-operative and rehabilitation treatment, as directed by the club’s Chief Medical Officer.
The league-wide moratorium on small group and full team training remains in place through Friday, May 15.
Training Protocols
The FC Dallas health and safety protocols was approved by MLS along with local authorities. The protocols include:
- 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.