Local league athletes up and running next month
SCCAL sports calendar features three eight-week seasons
Let the games begin. Well, at least, the races.
The Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League on Wednesday released a schedule to the Sentinel stating high school athletics will take place during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in February. High school sporting events have been on hold since mid-March.
The athletics plan calls for three eight-week seasons — two weeks for practice and six weeks for competition. It includes SCCAL members Aptos, Harbor, San Lorenzo Valley, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Soquel and Mount Madonna as well as Pacific Collegiate and Kirby, and South County schools Ceiba, Watsonville, Pajaro Valley, Monte Vista Christian and St. Francis.
“The board of managers was committed to giving the best access to most of the kids and that’s what this is,” said Bob Kittle, SCCAL commissioner. “The board of managers was not worried about playoffs, but giving them opportunity and experience.”
Season 1 features one sport, cross country. Practice starts Feb. 1 and competition begins Feb. 15.
Season 2 will have swimming, track and field, girls golf and girls tennis start in mid-March, even if the county is still in the purple tier of the state’s re-opening plan. Boys and girls volleyball and football are slated to begin if the county can drop to the orange tier.
Season 3, set to begin in April, features boys golf and boys tennis in the purple tier, baseball, softball and girls lacrosse in the red tier, boys and girls water polo, boys and girls soccer, and boys lacrosse in the orange tier, and boys and girls basketball and wrestling in the yellow tier.
“We’re looking forward to get the kids out there in a safe way,” Kittle said.
Spectator attendance will follow California Department of Public Health guidelines. Social distancing and masks will be mandatory.
“That will evolve,” Kittle said of the guidelines.
Scotts Valley, as well as other county schools, has cameras set up in its gymnasium and on its football field and are looking to livestream events for a fee, if football and indoor sports can be played.
The athletics plan, which was also approved by superintendents, principals and athletic directors, is more than two months in the making. St. Francis and MVC, both members of the Pacific Coast Athletic League, last week sent the Sentinel statements that they were joining the SCCAL for the spring of 2021.
Dr. Mitchell Salerno, MVC’s head of school, said South County schools met with PCAL President Tim McCarty last week to discuss the possibility of leaving the league for a limited stretch.
“The Central Coast Section playoffs weren’t of primary concern,” Salerno said. “Of prime importance to us was: one, getting student-athletes to compete in a safe way; two, honoring the PCAL and do the right thing; and, three, having the chance to play for a championship.”
Kittle said championships will be held for all sports that traditionally have one. Scheduling is currently being addressed by the SCCAL. Schools will be a multi-tiered equity league in some sports and pieced together by geographic proximity in others.
Salerno thanked Kittle for extending an invitation to compete with SCCAL programs.
“I’d like to see our kids play,” he said. “That’s the hope. The kids need it; they really need it. But it’s all dependent on the Department of Public Health.”
David Knight, Watsonville’s cross country coach and distance coach on the track and field team, said he hadn’t told his athletes about the SCCAL season as of Tuesday night because he didn’t want to get their hopes up … again. The season has been hit with multiple delays due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.
“We’re cautiously optimistic,” he said. “We see the light at the end of the tunnel. There’s hope.”
Knight said his runners have been training on their own since the pandemic hit.
“This will give us an opportunity to show off all the hard work we’ve been doing,” he said. “We’re excited as a team and looking forward to competition.”
Watsonville star senior distance runner Layla Ruiz said she’ll appreciate this season. She’s unsure if she’ll focus solely on academics in college or continue running competitively.
“I want to do great but I want to have fun doing it because this may be my last time running,” she said. “It’s my senior year and it feels really good knowing it’s actually going to happen. I had always hoped but I didn’t want to be overly optimistic. Back in March, when track was cut short, I thought, ‘Oh, we’ll be back in a month,’ and it never came or happened.”
SLV principal and SCCAL president Jeff Calden, also an assistant coach on the Cougars’ football team, said the SCCAL Board of Managers had two goals with the three season schedules: keep the games in county and be ready for CDPH announcement to move forward.
“It’s a big deal for people to understand, it’s not a go right now,” Calden said of sports like football, basketball, and baseball and softball. “We’re still in purple. There are some people calling it ‘Deep Purple.’ “
Still, Louie Walters, Scotts Valley’s athletics director and Falcons interim football coach, said the schedules are a shot in the arm.
“It’s a great victory,” he said. “We’re only going to do this where the kids are safe. We want to get the kids out doing things.”
Student-athletes at county public schools have yet to step foot in a classroom this year. They’re still doing distance learning.
Asked if he thought there would be any backlash from parents who want their kids on campus for education rather than athletics, Walters suggested patience.
“There’s backlash in everything in the world,” Walters said. “We’re not going to do this if it’s not safe for the kids. That’s the key. Kids need sports now. There’s so much going on for them, mentally. They need to interact.”
Jeremy Kain, a standout distance runner for the Falcons, is getting ready to apply to colleges and is eager to get some races recorded to show how much he has improved.
“It’s not like a full season,” he said. “We won’t be going to Fresno or L.A. for big races, but a season is a season. Honestly, I don’t know what I’m more excited about, getting to compete again or getting to train with the team. Running solo, sometimes it’s hard to motivate. I’ve been putting in the work though.”