Indoor high school sports earn big victory in state
Athletes subject to testing until each county reaches colored tier assigned to their sport
Indoor sports proponents scored a swift and sweeping victory Thursday, winning a legal settlement with the state of California that will remove restrictions on sports such as basketball, volleyball and wrestling.
The settlement, which will allow all youth and high school sports to operate under essentially the same reopening threshold as those in college and professional sports, came in response to a lawsuit filed last month in San
Diego County by a pair of high school football players. Their attorney, Stephen C. Grebing, managing partner of Wingert Grebing of San Diego, said the settlement will allow all sports to compete in counties with adjusted case rates below 14 per 100,000 once it is finalized, possibly as early as today.
“Indoors, (the requirements are) going to be pretty rigid,” Grebing said. “But they’re going to be allowed to play.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom declined to comment on the settlement Thursday, but Secretary for Health and Human Services Dr. Mark Ghaly said new guidelines would be released in the coming days. Attorneys for return-to-play advocates said they had “been assured” that Newsom had “signed off” on the new guidelines.
Student-athletes in all but a handful of California’s 58 counties will be allowed under state rules to play indoor sports. However, local counties and school districts will still have the option to opt out of the agreement, Grebing said.
That will be of greatest concern to coaches, parents and athletes in Santa Clara County, which has built a reputation as one of the strictest in the nation. Last month, when Newsom opened the door for high school football to return, Santa Clara County was slow to approve.
Sue Phillips, the girls’ basketball coach at Archbishop Mitty High School in San Jose, voiced that sentiment Thursday. After saying the settlement was “wonderful news,” she quickly added: “As you know, we still need to hear our directive from Santa Clara County powers that be.”
All indoor sports athletes will be subject to testing until their county reaches the colored tier assigned to their sport. For example, basketball players must be tested weekly until their home county’s adjusted case rate falls below 1 per 100,000, the threshold for the yellow tier.
California has only committed to providing free testing for athletes and coaches in high-contact outdoor sports. For indoor sports, athletes and coaches will need to schedule tests through their insurance providers or a private company that Grebing said agreed to provide free testing for all indoor sports participants statewide.
Let Them Play CA founder Brad Hensley said the organization had partnered with the 11:11 COVID Project, a company Hensley said does testing for Walmart and Disney employees, to provide free PCR tests to athletes across the state.
Masks will be required for all coaches and staff as well as players while on the bench — but not during competition, Grebing said.
Up to four spectators per player could be permitted, though the details were still being finalized, Grebing said.
Two days of negotiations followed the state’s first offer to settle Monday evening, Grebing said, adding that he brought the news to a group of Bay Area basketball coaches hours later.
Frank Knight, the boys’ basketball coach at Moreau Catholic High School in Hayward, was on that call Monday night. He is teaching classes this week while on a trip to Hawaii and said he knew something was happening when his phone started buzzing early Thursday morning.
“I got up to teach my 8 o’clock class at 6,” Knight said. “While I am teaching it, my phone is blowing up. Everybody is calling. I’m like, ‘They must have made it OK to play basketball.’ ”
Two weeks ago, Knight did not believe there was any chance that would happen this school year. He said he starting thinking differently after hearing Grebing speak during a videoconference with Bay Area coaches on Feb. 22.
“He came on and all he did was say let me tell you the argument we made with San Diego,” Knight said. “He probably took about seven minutes. After that, the next day, I went to Moreau . ... I commuted to school like it was normal.”
The case in San Diego was filed on behalf of Nicholas Gardinera and Cameron Woolsey, two senior football players. They argued their rights to equal treatment were violated when professional and collegiate athletes were allowed to compete under certain protocols but not youth and high school athletes.
Following an initial ruling in the athletes’ favor last month, similar lawsuits were filed by indoor sports athletes in a number of other counties around the state, including San Francisco, San Mateo and Contra Costa. As part of negotiations to settle those lawsuits, Grebing said, the plaintiffs are asking for local health officials to commit to following the state guidelines and not institute stricter local orders.
Dr. Kevin Shea, the director of sports medicine at Stanford Children’s Hospital, gave his endorsement for at least a limited return of indoor sports.
“Outdoor sports (are safe) with maybe some constraints on what we do,” Shea said. “Indoor sports, I think we have to look carefully at them. You may have to limit the fans in the stands indoors. The athletes, when they’re participating at a high level, allow them to potentially have their masks off but not while on the sidelines.”
Steven Dyer, the boys’ basketball coach at Campolindo High School in Moraga, said he’d have his team on a court tomorrow if given the green light. A year ago, Campolindo beat De La Salle to win the Northern California Division I championship and advance to the D-I state final that was canceled because of COVID-19.
“I am still a little fuzzy on the details of how this is all going to work,” Dyer said Thursday. “But you go from having very little hope to I think a lot of hope now that we’re going to have a season.”