City Of Summit: No, Kids Shouldn't Have Been Practicing On Field

SUMMIT, NJ — What's wrong with these pictures? A whole lot, according to the city of Summit.

A resident of the town was passing by Tatlock Field on Butler Parkway around 3 p.m. Wednesday and noticed what looked like an organized sports practice for an hour.

The kids weren't wearing masks, noted the resident, and were standing close together.

He said he saw "soccer trainers working with a group of six to eight girls at a time, no masks, no social distancing, just complete disregard for anyone's safety. The girls seemed to be 12 to 14 years old and the soccer practice went on for over an hour, and these girls were then replaced by a new group of girls to train. They took up a whole half field of the soccer field."

He added, "And at one point a small group of boys asked them how long they would be, and they said at least another hour with this group and then another session afterwards."

While the state is slowly starting to allow various recreational facilities and stores to reopen, it's doing so with careful rules in place.

The resident sent the photos to Summit Patch, asking if the practices were allowed.

"It is not allowed," said a city spokesman. "I wish they would have called police."

The city fields are open for passive use, but not for use by teams or trainers, she clarified.

The city never closed its local parks, as some local towns like Westfield did for a few weeks. However, state guidelines say that people should not congregate in groups of 10 or more, and should practice social distancing 6 feet apart.

"If citizens see teams or a trainer holding practice," said the spokeswoman, "they should contact the police non-emergency number at 908-272-0051."

Tatlock Field is adjacent to Washington School, but is run by the city, not the school district.

The concerned resident said smaller groups couldn't use the field for passive relaxation, because of the practices. "This was definitely not just recreational," he said. "The players were at a good level, clearly dressed and equipped to practice, had athletic bags with them on the side which they went to for water breaks, and the coaches were working hard with them. They took up half of the entire field and did not let anyone else on, as I did hear a small group of boys ask them, only to be told they were using it and had another session right afterwards. "

Residents debated the matter on Facebook on Thursday.

In early May, Gov. Phil Murphy allowed state and county parks, including parks run by Union County, to reopen for passive recreation only. Individual municipalities like Summit were allowed to come up with their own plans for local parks.

Summit and statewide coronavirus statistics

As of Wednesday night, Summit had confirmed 197 residents who tested positive for coronavirus. There have been five new cases reported since this past Friday, when the total was 192. Sixteen residents have passed away from the virus, eight of them associated with long-term care facilities.

As of Wednesday, 10,767 New Jersey residents have died from coronavirus, and 150,399 have tested positive for the virus. That update included 168 new deaths in 24 hours and 1,670 new positive tests.

The death rate had reached a peak on April 30, the day that 460 New Jerseyans lost their lives to the virus in 24 hours, or one person every three minutes. The daily increase in fatalities has begun to gradually decline, but state officials have said their reopening has to occur in phases to avoid a new spike in infections.

This week, Murphy began announcing future plans to reopen businesses, facilities, and day cares in phases.

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