ATLANTA - Atlanta United will return to individual workouts Wednesday and and Friday, with three separate sessions each day.
Each session will involve six to seven players to allow the maximum amount of space needed for players to comply with safety protocols in place. The MLS's league-wide moratorium on small group and full team training remains in place to at least Friday, May 15.
Major League Soccer announced last week that as of Wednesday, players may start training on outdoor team facility fields for voluntary individual workouts, in compliance with health and safety protocols created in consultation with medical and infectious disease experts.
Atlanta United
Per league rules, Atlanta United said in a statement it submitted a plan to MLS outlining their health and safety protocols, including:
- 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.