Winter Storm: All weeknight practices at schools cancelled

Update: 8:30 pm Sunday, 20 December

Fairfax Public Schools has cancelled school through Wednesday 12/23, with the holiday break beginning on Thursday. As a result:

  • All house and travel practices at the schools are cancelled for the entire week.
  • House and travel practices scheduled at Hoop Magic will be held as scheduled though players should check with their coaches.

CYA activities at the schools will recommence on Saturday January 2nd.


Fairfax County has issued a Winter storm watch for this weekend in anticipation of a snowstorm starting late Friday night and possibly continuing through Sunday morning, with predicted snowfall of 4 to 12 inches. Obviously, if such a snowfall does occur, it will have a major impact on scheduled CYA house and travel basketball games on Saturday and/or Sunday.

CYA Basketball has an existing procedure on how we handle such snowfall events (go to the Basketball/News or Gym Closures tab of the CYA website www.chantillyyouth.org to see this policy). On weeknights we simply follow the school board’s decision on closing the schools for recreational activities. On the weekends, this is more complicated as the school board may not make a timely decision on whether or not to close the schools. Moreover, we have some games at the Hoop Magic basketball facility, which does not close due to snow.  The CYA Board is thus faced with making our own independant decision on whether or not to cancel our house games (held in the schools and at Hoop Magic) at some point during the day due to hazardous conditions (FCYBL not CYA decides whether or not to cancel travel games).
 
How will you know if your child’s house basketball games are cancelled on either Saturday or Sunday? Follow one or more of the steps below before leaving for your game:
 
1. Check to see if FCPS has decided to close the schools for recreational activities. This information can be obtained by watching the FCPS channel 21 on Comcast, Cox or Verizon; by calling the FCPS emergency information (800-839-FCPS (3277)) or the gym closure hotline (703-324-5264); or by going to the FCPS emergency website (http://www.fcps.edu/news/emerg.htm). Parents/coaches are encouraged to sign up for the Fairfax Co. message service that can be broadcast both to an email address and a cell phone (go to https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/cean). If the schools are closed for recreational activities, then all CYA games in school gyms (but not necessarily Hoop Magic) are cancelled.
 
2. Check the CYA website (www.chantillyyouth.org). Information on gym closures will be posted on both the main page and here on the Basketball page as soon as we know what the schools are doing or have made an independant decision to cancel games at the schools and Hoop Magic.
 
3. Check your email. CYA will send out a mass email to all participants as soon as a decision is made either by FCPS or by CYA to cancel games. Note that early games may proceed as scheduled with later games being cancelled as of a particular time.
 
4. Check in with your coach. If you are still uncertain as to what is happening, call your child’s coach. Coaches should check in with their league administrator (as well as doing the above) to find out what the situation is. League administrators should check in with the Boys or Girls Commissioner. If games are cancelled during the day, coaches should call all their players.
 
Remember that all Saturday games could proceed as scheduled (if the snow is light), all games could be cancelled at the start of the day, or games could be cancelled starting at a particular time. The decision on Sunday games will be made based on the weather conditions prevailing Sunday morning.
 
The decision to take your child to a game (or let your high schooler drive themselves to a game) is ultimately in the hands of the parent. If you feel that conditions are unsafe, then by all means keep your child at home and contact the coach to let him/her know. Safety should be our ultimate concern.

 

UPDATE.....
  • All CYA Basketball activities at Fairfax County Public Schools are cancelled for Saturday, December 19.
  • A decision will be made Saturday morning about games at Hoop Magic on Saturday.
  • No decision has been made yet for CYA Basketball activities on Sunday, December 20.

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Contact

CYA Office
14810 Murdock Street
Chantilly, VA 20151
703.376.8337
sports@chantillyyouth.org

CYA Fieldhouse
14810 Murdock Street
Chantilly, VA 20151
571.529.6545
fieldhouse@chantillyyouth.org

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