CIF delays California high school sports calendars, pushing fall sports to start in January
In an announcement that came as no real surprise but no less disappointing, high school sports will not happen this fall in California, including top-flight football programs. The move is a first in nearly 100 years for a state rich in prep athletics, with nationally ranked teams, top athletes and communities that rally around campus events as the epicenter of regional pride.
The California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body for prep sports, made it official Monday morning from its Sacramento home base. The move was made as the CIF takes every step to quell the spread of the coronavirus that shuttered schools when the pandemic first hit in March.
Most California schools are closed for on-campus instruction under a mandate by Gov. Gavin Newsom because the coronavirus as of Monday morning had caused 7,697 deaths among the nearly 389,000 confirmed cases in California. The CIF said it had no choice but to delay the start of seasons by pushing the sports calendar into 2021.
This includes football, the one sport that best identifies an academic year and punctuates fall Friday nights in the country or the city.
CIF Director Ron Nocetti has been in regular contact with each of the 10 section commissioners across the state, including the Sac-Joaquin Section that includes the extended Sacramento region. In recent weeks, section commissioners and school superintendents grew to believe and understand that the pandemic was too risky to proceed with normal on-campus instruction. With no on-campus studies, few thought it made any sense to have on-campus sports. That was the case in March when the CIF canceled the state basketball championships at Golden 1 Center and the virus became a pandemic. Spring sports were canceled weeks later.
Said the CIF in a statement, “We are continuously monitoring the directives and guidelines released from the Governor’s Office, the California Department of Education, the California Department of Public Health, and local county health departments and agencies as these directives and guidelines are followed by our member schools/school districts with student health and safety at the forefront. As these guidelines change, CIF Sections may allow for athletic activity to potentially resume under the summer period rules of the local Section.”
“We’ve said throughout the process that we’ll follow the guidelines of government officials and the department of public health,” Nocetti told The Bee on Monday. “Everything we’ve done is with health and safety of the students in mind, and their families. It’s not something any of us ever anticipated, a pandemic, or thought we’d face. It’s been difficult. We have challenges. How do we create opportunities? That’s our focus.”
The CIF’s calendar announcement means that each section can announce its own sports calendar within those guidelines.
“It’s not a stunner, this news, not with what’s happened in the past few days with the rising numbers and schools not opening,” said Will DeBoard, the assistant commissioner of the Sac-Joaquin Section, based in Lodi. “We didn’t think anything would start in 2020. I know we’re all doing everything we possibly can to get every sports season in with the hand we’ve been dealt. The CIF and all its sections want high school sports to happen, and so do all of our schools, teachers, coaches, administrators, kids and parents.
“The virus is the enemy here. No one wanted to do this. Sports are super important for kids, and sports often teaches lessons that you sometimes don’t get in a classroom. But we’ve got to get kids back in a classroom before they can play sports.”
The new schedule means volleyball would conclude its section playoffs on March 13, 2021 and football on April 10, 2021. Spring sports such as baseball, softball and track and field would end regional and state championships on June 26, 2021.
Spanish Flu pandemic reminder
The 1918 Spanish Flu that was believed to have killed 50 million world wide canceled prep seasons in California. That was also the only time football was played in the spring.
World War II in the 1940s reduced some high school football seasons in California and canceled others, but schools remained in session on campus.
“The last pandemic, in the 1918-19 school year, is the only thing close to this,” said Mark Tennis, editor of Cal-Hi Sports, which has for decades ranked prep teams and whose firm has charted state history back to the turn of the century. “It’s a much different world now, of course. I just know teachers do not want to do distance learning. My wife is a teacher in Stockton.
“This is all about public health and safety, and unfortunately, the pandemic is calling the shots, not the politicians, though some will say it’s all political. I don’t believe that. I know Gov. Newsom played high school sports in the Bay Area. He wants kids to play but he wants everyone safe, too.”
High school coaches across the state were encouraged that fall seasons might happen when their programs were allowed to engage in modified, social-distancing summer conditioning drills. But hopes started to flicker when teams endured stop-and-start sessions, or stopped completely out of concern of the virus spreading, or ceased at the mandate of county health officials and school superintendents.
How do you football social distance?
In football, there is no such thing as social distancing outside a running back all alone on an 80-yard scoring romp. Football is about clusters of people, in the locker room, on the sideline, linemen in constant contact on every play and pile ups and tackles the norm.
“All it takes is for one player to get infected, and then it’s season over,” Tennis said.
Some argue that the high survival rate, especially for young people, is reason enough to continue on-campus learning and sports. The counter argument is whom the virus does especially harm: older people and those with preexisting health conditions.
“A lot of our referees and officials are older, coaches are older, and there are older teachers,” DeBoard of the Sac-Joaquin Section said. “We have players raised by older grandparents, so it’s all a concern.”
Mixed feelings, right attitude
Oak Ridge on Monday night will hold a ring presentation ceremony in El Dorado Hills for what it anticipated would be the official start of its defense of winning the 2019 Sac-Joaquin Section Division I football championship.
Instead, Trojans players, coaches and fans were hit with the CIF news, making for a mixed day of emotions.
Oak Ridge team captain and 2019 Bee Player of the Year Justin Lamson said attitude is the key in dealing with the unknown.
“We’re going to still prepare for the season happening, making adjustments as we go during this weird time,” the Syracuse-bound quarterback said. “We’re all frustrated. We want to play our senior seasons with fans. But we can only control what we can control, and that really hits home here. We can’t control COVID-19, but we can work hard, be ready, be safe. I don’t care what month we play football or who we play. We just want to play.”
Coaches shared the sentiment.
Said Winters coach Daniel Ward, “Don’t care if the football Friday nights are in the fall, winter or spring this year. Just want the kids to be able to experience the emotions and pride that comes along with playing high school football.”
Said Granite Bay coach Jeff Evans, “Pushing the season back will be a big adjustment for everyone. Coaches and players are creatures of habit, so having to adjust will definitely be strange.
“That said, there is so much real strife and struggle in the world that it would be negligent of us to bemoan having to move a football season back a few months. This actually works as a great opportunity for people to learn that the real world is much larger and there are far more important things than pushing back a football season. It is through these moments that we teach the kids to be humble and thankful for what they have and for the opportunity to get to do what we love to do.”
Evans added, “It is important for people to learn that there is real sacrifice for the greater good and our small part in this is to accept whatever decision is made and make the best of it. The people in charge are looking out for the well being of the students and that is exactly where the focus should be. When they give us the go to return, the Grizzlies will be ready. “
Will players transfer out of state?
With no football in the fall, might blue-chip prospects consider moving out of state to salvage a season? Some have considered it before reality hits.
Bobby Piland, Jr. is a two-time Bee All-Metro lineman, a rising national recruit entering his junior season at Rocklin High.
“There’s also no guarantee that there will be a winter-spring football season,” said Bobby Piland, Sr., father of the player. “I’d love to be able to take my kid somewhere else to play this fall, and he’s been contacted by several out-of-state schools, and people have made ridiculous offers, but I’m not willing to spend thousands of dollars to do that, and I’m not sure I want to ship my boy off to another state for four or five months and not get to see him.”
He added, “we’ve talked to several recruiters, and frankly, every single one of them told us don’t move. They know what they’re getting in Bobby. I’m really hoping we don’t lose the spring.”
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 9:05 AM with the headline "CIF delays California high school sports calendars, pushing fall sports to start in January."