California issues longawaited guidelines
California details which sports are allowed in each tier, delay continues through Jan. 25
More than four months since the last update, the state of California has finally announced new guidelines for youth sports, potentially offering a roadmap for a return to play for high school athletics.
The California Department of Public Health on Monday issued its muchanticipated updated guidelines for youth sports, ending a wait since Aug. 3. The new rules detail what sports are allowed under California’s fourtiered restriction system and give specific dates for a potential return to competition, among other items.
Under the new guidelines, competition between two teams will not be allowed until Jan. 25 at the earliest, but the return-to-competition date will be reassessed on Jan. 4 based on how virus transmission trends in the state. Counties will also need to clear their regional stay- at-home orders, currently in place for most of the state, before they can return to competition.
The new guidelines also lay out which sports are permitted to return under each of California’s colored restriction tiers. Those tiers, in descending order are purple (widespread), red (substantial), orange (moderate) and yellow (minimal). Marin County is currently in the purple tier.
Counties in the purple tier are allowed to conduct outdoor sports such as cross country, golf, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field, among others.
In counties in the red tier, outdoor sports including baseball, cheerleading, field hockey, girl’s and women’s lacrosse and softball are allowed.
Counties in the orange tier are allowed to hold outdoor sports like basketball, football, boy’s and men’s lacrosse, rugby, soccer, volleyball and
water polo. Counties in the same tier are also allowed to hold some indoor sports, such as badminton, gymnastics, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field and volleyball.
And finally in the yellow tier, indoor sports allowed include cheerleading, basketball, soccer, wrestling and water polo.
The guidelines also state that “all sports permitted in lower tiers, are also permitted in higher tiers.”
This new guidance does not apply to college or professional sports but does apply “to all organized youth sports — including school- and community-sponsored programs, and privately- organized clubs and leagues — and adult recreational sports (hereafter youth and adult sports).”
These new guidelines don’t immediately change much for the vast majority of the state, which currently has 54 of 58 counties in the purple tier, but it does finally allow schools, teams and leagues to begin making preparations for a potential return to competition.
Back in July, the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school sports, condensed the calendar from three seasons to two and pushed the start of Season 1 (football, volleyball, cross country and field) back to December. Then on Dec. 1, the CIF announced that it would be delaying the start of Season 1 back further, saying it did not expect to receive updated youth sports guidelines from the state that would allow for a return to competition until at least Jan. 1.
The complete list of updated guidelines can be found online at cdph. ca.gov.