Start of high school sports pushed to 2021. Winter, spring seasons at same time
At least there is clarity as to when sports in the Central Section are expected to begin.
In a move that was widely anticipated, the California Interscholastic Federation announced on Monday that high school sports won’t happen in the fall.
Fresno-area coaches had mixed reactions, from relief there’s still hope for interscholastic competition in the 2020-21 year to dismay that multi-sport athletes will have to make hard choices.
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.
The Central Section, the CIF’s arm in the central San Joaquin Valley, released its plans of when seasons will start, condensing three seasons into two in a six-month window. Traditional winter sports basketball, soccer and wrestling slide into spring.
Football will maintain an 11-week season beginning Jan. 7 then go into four weeks of playoffs beginning in late March.
Other traditional fall sports — cross country, volleyball and water polo — slide into the same winter window.
The Central Section office said the summer period will be extended from when the school year begins in August to December when the fall sports season begins — and only if state and local health officials say it’s safe.
Under the new calendar, summer period for all sports started Monday and will last until Dec. 12.
Coaches react
“I think in these crazy times we’re doing the best we can,” Madera football coach Kenny Paolinelli said. “I’m glad we can give some positivity, and I know it’s preliminary until these COVID-19 cases slow down and the health department lets us practice.
“There is hope for everybody and hopefully we can get back on the field and give our boys a chance to play football. It’s better than nothing.”
Dejon Kelly, who is in his first season as football coach at Kerman after four years at Firebaugh, said the delay “stinks, but I’m thinking positive about the situation.
“This will be great for my staff to get to know my new players better.”
Hoover coach Rustin Pickett said, “Our student-athletes will be excited that it’s not canceled. We have a great opportunity to overcome a crazy 2020 thus far.”
Lament for multi-sport athletes
In the new sports calendar, the traditional winter season overlaps with spring.
Central Valley Christian football coach Mason Hughes is not in favor of that.
“It’s terrible disservice to our multi-sport athletes who play a traditional winter and spring sport,” he said.
“I would have gladly sacrificed some football games to give those winter and spring athletes a chance to play both sports they love. A baseball and basketball player is going to be hard-pressed to play both. Coaches in those sports are going to have a lot of work to do.
“I understand why CIF created this plan and I understand how difficult this must have been, but a football season with 11 weeks to play 10 games and then four more weeks of playoffs seems too much to me in this setup, and not enough support for the winter and spring sports.”
New commissioner
Managing the new schedule is a challenge for new Central Section commissioner Ryan Tos. Jim Crichlow retired from the post after last school year.
“Obviously, the situation we have all been in has been constantly changing and therefore these plans have also changed as the weeks and months have passed,” Tos said in a statement. “As a new commissioner I have a debt of gratitude to the other section commissioners and state office staff that have been working on this long before I transitioned into this position.
Why just two seasons?
Tos said the alternative — three distinct seasons in a six-month window — was less palatable than playing fall seasons in the winter.
“The overlap between the seasons in a three-season model would have been very challenging for three-sport athletes while also dramatically shortening the seasons for those students that only play one or two sports,” Tos said.
This story was originally published July 20, 2020 at 2:41 PM.
