Local athletics brace for COVID disruption
YUMA — As the impact of novel coronavirus continues to ripple throughout the state of California and into the Imperial Valley, that impact that will be felt in local high school sports with a decision by Yuma Union High School District to temporarily halt all travel to California.
The Yuma Sun reported Wednesday that after several meetings, YUHSD decided Monday to cancel all school travel to California after California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared the state of emergency.
Initially the travel ban was only through the end of YUHSD’s spring break (April 4), but it has since been extended indefinitely according to reporting by KYMA.
The ban won’t have much immediate impact for Valley schools. Softball games between Cibola and Imperial (scheduled for tomorrow, weather-permitting) and Cibola and Southwest (on March 30), have been venue swapped to Arizona, as has an Imperial/Cibola baseball game, as YUHSD hasn’t at this time imposed any hosting restrictions.
Additionally, San Luis will not be attending this Saturday’s Desert Classic Relays track meet at Central Union High, as it typically does.
So far there has been no concerted movement by local districts to impose similar restrictions on Valley schools or to otherwise disrupt athletic life.
Victor Cruz, athletic director for Imperial High School, said that some thought had been given to ensuring that IHS teams avoided traveling to “high risk” areas, but that concerns about the virus had “not affected [scheduling] in any way at this time.”
Brawley athletic director Billy Brewer and Central’s Sandy Noujaim each said that their school districts hadn’t yet handed down any sort of policy pertaining to COVID and sporting events, but both acknowledged that the subject had been raised at an AD meeting held in Imperial on Wednesday.
“Everything is being looked at,” said Brewer “There’s nothing yet, but it’s changing day-by-day.”
Though uncertain if more draconian measures will be implemented, Brewer did claim that there has been an increased emphasis on sanitation for Wildcat athletics, with hand sanitizer being available at all games and practices.
Whatever decisions are made with regard to combating COVID will ultimately be made locally. According to outgoing CIF-SDS commissioner Jerry Schniepp, there are no plans to impose blanket restrictions across the section.