San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
SOCCER PLAYERS, PARENTS CALL FOR GAMES TO BEGIN
Presidio youth league organizes protest, urges state action
These soccer moms — and dads — have had enough.
Their kids have been running drills and practicing with their youth soccer leagues — both activities permitted under state health guidelines — but when will they get the green light to actually play?
The battle over youth sports, not just soccer, may become the next reopening fight in California, with most of the nation allowing sporting competition to resume.
Tension over guidance from the state has been brewing for months. And on Saturday it boiled over into a rally in downtown San Diego, where roughly 250 youth players, their parents and coaches demanded Gov. Gavin Newsom lift health rules that restrict children from playing games.
“They need the camaraderie,” said Tanya Ruiz-davila, 35, of Imperial Beach, who was at the event with her two soccer playing daughters. “We can’t live in fear. This virus is everywhere.”
Ruiz-davila, like many of the protesters at Waterfront Park outside the County Administration Center, said she wanted to open safely with rules in place.
The protest was organized by the Presidio Soccer League, which runs 48 leagues in San Diego County.
The nonprofit organization
says it has a plan to get children back into competition. While not yet finalized, it calls for several safety measures including temperature checks, staggering game times, asking just one parent per family to attend each game, providing hand sanitizer and requiring masks of players both on and off the field, as well as everyone else in attendance.
“We don’t want to just throw kids out there,” said Bob Turner, executive director of the Presidio Soccer League. “It will be a controlled situation.”
Attempts to reach Newsom’s office for comment late Friday were unsuccessful. Guidance from the California Department of Public Health, last updated in August, says youth athletes can exercise as long as they are at least 6 feet apart — meaning just about every sport is off the table.
Guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also last updated in August, said it is still important for youth and adult athletes to reduce physical distance between players and keep 6 feet of space between players when possible.
“The more people a participant interacts with, the closer the physical interaction, the more sharing of equipment there is by multiple players, and the longer the interaction, the higher the risk of COVID-19 spread,” it reads.
Many at the protest argued outside sports should be allowed and that it was detrimental for children not to get the type of exercise and fellowship that youth soccer provides. They also said it was folly to permit outdoor playgrounds to open but not allow youth sports to go forward.
However, there are other factors than just the love of the game that affect California’s future decisions. The youth sports industry in 2019 was valued at $19.2 billion, said a report from Massachusetts-based Wintergreen Research. More than just membership fees, the firm said the market includes venue rentals, equipment, travel and construction of sports facilities.
Presidio leader Turner said he was aware there was a financial need for many clubs to get revenue, or risk shutting down. But he said his primary motivation in being there was helping children to maintain healthy lifestyles and keep them engaged in activities with positive role models.
A secondary concern is teenage athletes who could miss out on college scholarships without a showcase or the ability to continue to sharpen their skills.
Shannon Cafagna, 45, of Poway, said she was worried about players from other states having an advantage over Californians because they are now playing. Arizona allowed youth sports to resume in late May.
Her son Reese, 15, has dreams of playing professionally. His room is covered in posters of Manchester United, one of the top teams in the English Premier League.
“I wouldn’t care what league,” he said about the many options, including Major League Soccer in the United States. “I just want to play.”
The visual representation of the rally was mainly children, who held signs that said “Put us in coach,” “Let us play” and “Save Our Sports.”
One of the more impassioned speeches given on the steps of the county building came from Abbie Colton, 17, of La Costa Canyon High School. She said the chances of her being able to attend senior prom are probably nil, and her last year of varsity soccer may also be squashed.
“California and (its) laws are stripping away from me things that I will probably remember for the rest of my life,” she said.
Not being able to play was having an impact on the younger kids, too, parents said.
Gino Mingo, 55, of Scripps Ranch, joked he was the Michael Phelps of estrogen because he was swimming in it with five daughters at home. He knows a thing about or two about playing sports as a former professional football player, with much of his career spent with the British Columbia Lions in the Canadian Football League.
“We need to free these kids up to play,” Mingo said. “It’s infuriating to me that we will up open beaches, Home Depot and restaurants. We take care of the adults and make sure they are doing well, but our kids are sequestered?”