Local club Lionsbridge FC details its return in ‘little bit different’ year
As the state continues to reopen, sports fans can look forward to getting back out and attending games.
Lionsbridge FC, a USL League Two soccer club on the Peninsula, announced that it will return for the 2020 season.
“Obviously it’s been a challenge to get everything reset and ready to go for a season that will look a little bit different than what we’re accustomed to. But I think it’s going to be great,” club co-founder
Mike Vest said.
For a while, there was concern about whether or not the club would be able to have a season at all. But with Gov. Ralph Northam’s Phase Three guidelines, which stipulate that indoor and outdoor recreational sports activities can return as long as mandatory requirements, such as maintaining physical distancing where practicable and limiting the number of spectators, are followed, the club was able to put together an eight-game slate, with the first
game on July 17.
Games will be held at Bailey Field at York High, instead of the usual venue at Christopher Newport University. The club, which typically averages about 1,500 fans per game, will be able to host up to 1,000 spectators at each match in accordance with Phase Three regulations.
The players have been back at practice since midJune, getting together in small groups for training and conditioning. The majority of Lionsbridge’s players live in the Hampton Roads area, with most of them being college-aged or recent graduates. Many haven’t played a competitive game since their college season ended last year.
According to Vest, everyone with the team has been excited to return.
“We’ve had so much interest and excitement from the coaches and the players that we already had. … Everyone hung with us. That’s been helpful,” Vest said.
The team has worked closely with Riverside Health System to ensure that players stay as safe as possible and mitigate the threat of the coronavirus while returning to play.
“They’ve been instrumental in getting us to this point, making sure that we’ve got the right protocols and procedures in place for all that we need to be considering at this point,” Vest said. “It’s been a long layoff for a lot of these guys from a health standpoint, so Riverside’s been terrific in helping us make sure we’re doing everything the right way.”
Vest has been happy to see fans continue to support and get excited about the team, even amid all of the uncertainty with COVID-19.
“We’ve had such great support the last two years,” he said. “We’ve always had great crowds, and the community support around the team is more than we could’ve ever hoped for.”