Sports take a hit as schools close down

The prospect for spring sports to return this season took a major hit with Tuesday’s announcement that Marin’s public schools would remain closed for the remainder of the academic year.

While MCAL commissioner Susie Woodall allowed that there would be a “strong assumption” that spring sports would be wiped out with the schools closed, she added “There’s nothing official yet.”

Prep spring sports — including baseball, softball, lacrosse, swimming, track, boys golf and boys volleyball — have been on hiatus for more than three weeks.

“Now that the schools have announced that it’s over, I think those chances (for a return) are very slim,” San Rafael athletic director Jose De La Rosa said. “We want to hold onto hope as long as we can but it’s going to be tough now that school is done.”

The public schools are on their spring break this week while Marin Catholic gets its spring break next week. The plan prior to Tuesday’s announcement was for the athletic directors to revisit the issue later this month.

“Next week we’ll talk when the public schools are back then table it off until our AD meeting that’s at the end of the month,” De La Rosa said. “But with the

announcements today, it’s going to be very difficult.”

In addition to the traditional

sports, spring football would also be affected by the closure. Teams are typically given 10 days of practice and coaches use that time to evaluate players and install some basic offensive and defensive

principles.

“The main objective for us (in the spring) is to evaluate the new rising juniors and the underclassmen and then see what most of the upperclassmen’s progress has been like,” Marin

Catholic football coach Mazi Moayed said. “We get some college recruiters and scouts that come out and they’ll watch some of our spring practices. They won’t be able to show up and lay eyes on some of our guys.”