Dear Toca Parents, Players, Coaches and friends,

Because of the kind and thoughtful responses from dozens of families and hundreds of visits to our website regarding my thoughts I am here writing you again. Not only because I continue to miss all the daily soccer training and weekly soccer games that we lost but because we need to stay in touch so here we go again...

In 1 week we have learned as much about this Pandemic as 1 year of soccer so that's why I titled this message with one of Theodore Roosevelt quotes "Believe you can and you are half way there" and also because I strongly believe that this weekend is our half time report and next week we will play our most important half of this game and hopefully we will not have to play this tough game for tooooo long at this intensity (please do not think we are done yet since we have weeks until we can be together but we will start seeing some light at the end of the tunnel and it will be clear next week that we will win this game!!!).

1. "A fool with a plan can outsmart a genius any day" (T. Boone Pickens). This is why we talk about tactics in soccer and about staying organized as a team before each game. As you all know we are in much better shape when we come to practice during the week, we do our drills, play our position, prepare your uniform and backpack before the game, come to the correct field and on time to warm up and be ready to compete. This week scientists changed their game plan because they have noticed that having your uniform ready and using the appropriate uniform is better than not having a uniform or sharing between players (using a mask will be your uniform for the next Pandemic so now you can create your own uniform at home but in the future you will need to buy the good quality ones to have it ready for the next more competitive tournament). The game plan for us at home requires us to make a plan for each day and make sure to schedule time for school work, for exercise, for fun and for rest.

2. "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" (JFK). I continue to ask myself every day what can we do and this week we also realized that we were doing something without knowing it. We are staying home. We also knew that we were missing something and those asymptomatic patients have probably had a major role (much more than we thought) ... so this bring another great point, we should never count any player out of the team because those players that seem not to be that important for the team now were probably key players and we can only see how much they were contributing to the success of the team when we look carefully. Every day that you were complaining that you are not making a difference by staying at home, that you are on the bench and not contributing to the game you think you are not helping but you were wrong since now we know that you were making a huge difference for the team: to avoid the spreading of the disease and changing the course of the problem staying home is key. Thank you very much for staying home, for being part of the team and helping us to finish this game and the season together. In a few more weeks, months or years you will be playing the game on the field and we will be watching, the future is all yours.

3. "It's not that I am so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer" (Einstein). Stick to your team and keeping making an effort, you will see that you can make a big difference for the team and the team will get better with players like you. We are getting better every hour, every day and every week and having all players on the team stick to the problem has made a huge difference. Stay longer, we will get smarter and better.

4. "You can always change your circumstances by changing your attitude" (Eleanor Roosevelt). Stay positive, keep training, stay connected, social distance is not isolation. We will continue to stay in touch thru Zoom, email, texting, video conference, social media or calling each other and we will keep connected because the team is always there and this Pandemic will not dissolve it.

5. NYC Governor Cuomo during his daily briefing to NYC today said the success of NYC will depend on 4 very important players: "Hard Work", "Perseverance", "Mutuality" and "Community" and we have practice all 4 every week and every soccer season and this will also help us to get thru this Pandemic.

I have no doubts every day that I wake up that we will get thru this!!!!. So PLAY SIMPLE, have a plan for today and each day, keep staying at home today that you are making a difference, be perseverant today-tomorrow and for 3 more weeks, change your attitude today and stay on the team today so tomorrow you will continue to be part of your Club and your community. We all need you and we all need each other.

Thanks for reading this long message again. Every coach, every player, every friend and family member I have talked to thru the distance is eager to see each other at the field again now but is willing to make an effort for a few more days and weeks so we can continue to keep the team and Club together thru new channels and we can continue to think, remember and talk about the great friends we have found in each other every day. The rest are just details.

Best, Christian