This has been a rough season rain-wise for us. You would think I would have had more time to be active, but of course all my kids are in something now and volleyball and football aren't stopping for the rain. Soccer on the other hand... While we have dealt with cancellations and reschedules, this has been extreme. While we should be at the end of the games, we are sort of in the middle. My 11 year old is on two teams and pretty much will have on average a game / day from now until the end of October (provided it doesn't rain again). It seems like the main issue are the fields which I've heard as both preservation of them as well as prevention of injuries. How do climates that have lots of rain deal with it? Assuming you don't have access to indoor facilities, do they have seasons where they just don't play much or do they play in and around the rain?
In the Pacific NW we get a lot of rain and soccer will only be canceled due to thunder, I know if a few fields they will shut down due to the condition but reschedule on another field, I am noticing more newer fields are going turf as we also deal with snow and are having more winter games in the area
We've run into the same issue in Illinois many seasons (frequently in the spring). The local park district owns our fields -- all grass -- and is extremely protective of them, so we lose games and practices. My son's club recently helped the PD make some improvements and, as part of the deal, we've been given theoretically better access. We'll see if that means we get to use the fields when they're wet next spring. Turf fields are the best answer, but we've priced those and they're beyond the club's means (and the PD doesn't seem to have any interest in adding them, or maybe lacks funding). Our kids play on turf as often as not when they play in Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, ..., and only lose games to lightning.
My son's team has never played on turf before last week, because rain forced the hosting club to change fields. It was a disaster. This wasn't the good turf either. It was closer to a futsal court in hardness. They looked terrible. Worse game of the season by far even though they eeked out a tie. Very hard to get used to for one game if you never practice on it.
Turf is a very loose term. Some teams consider almost carpet like field, due to worn surface and low quality of turf, to be called "turf field". I am surprised coaches lack knoledge in proper shoes for the surface. Some of those turf fields should not be played in cleats at all
I've said this since August, the worst rain I've seen during a soccer season...that I can ever remember. It started this summer, tons of weather-related issues (3 rain delays, 1 heat-related postponement). Then, it just continued. No doubt about it, the reason for all the issues is grass fields. I work with a club that has an all-grass complex. It also floods there. We've had multiple weeks cancelled. No where to train. Any time there's turf involved, no cancellations, unless thunder/lightning. Many clubs, youth leagues, or schools don't have the staffing to rehab a grass field that's been beat up from playing/training in the rain. A school I used to work with also had a fungus come in from the rain coming there, it's made the field look worse than it's looked in 5+ years. Killed tons of grass. Baseball is one of the only other sports that will have issues with the weather. Football won't, they can run on the ground and the ball is in their hands. It's not been too kind of a fall for baseball, I've seen that from my coaching friends and/or friends' kids trying to get fall games in.
Both grass and turf have their pros and cons… The one thing I’ve noticed is that most/many grass fields are poorly designed, if really “designed” at all…mostly just big, flat pieces for land…plant some grass, throw up a few goals, paint some lines…of course, they flood all the time and drain like crap… A properly constructed and thought out grass field (crowned with drainage system, etc) might compare favorably to a turf field (in terms of availability), but they are far and few between…(at least in my parts)…
Big time. Very few have runoff spots off the fields. Very few have a rotation of their fields, either how they use them OR how they can lay the fields out in the space designated for fields (move goal mouths, make field big/small, etc.). Shoot, many are lucky to even mow their fields regularly.