Williams' senior selson in limbo
VCUSD plans to revisit sports topic during Wednesday's meeting
Infielder Carson Williams’ last three at-bats with Vallejo High occurred on March 11, 2020 against Pinole Valley.
He doesn’t know if those will be the final three at-bats of his high school career.
The Redhawks did not know it at the time but that was the fifth and final game of the season as high schools throughout California postponed and eventually cancelled spring sports due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Vallejo Unified School District has not ruled out sports for the rest of the 2021 school year but the district’s principals voted not to take part in Tri-County Athletic League events and the conference moved forward with its schedules. Vallejo and Jesse Bethel were the TCAL’s only two schools to vote no.
The Vallejo school board meets Wednesday and one of the items on the agenda is sports’ potential return.
Monday, Superintendent William Spalding released an opinion editorial to the Times-Herald with this statement:
“Many have advocated for student-athletes to return before this ‘red’ tier since it is not classroom instruction,” he wrote. “We may restart athletics ahead of that, but when and how needs to be carefully considered. Reopening athletics specifically needs to be done in the context of how we reopen schools to other student groups. All students should be afforded the same opportunity when it comes to reintegrating back into a school setting. There is a comprehensive plan in the works for safe, sustainable, and responsible return to conditioning, practice, and play.
“The implementation of this plan is being fully flushed out with each school’s athletic direc
tors before we move forward. That plan will be soon shared with the Board of Trustees at an upcoming meeting.”
For now, Williams and his teammates continue to play the waiting game.
Williams, 17, who has been on the varsity team since freshman year, is the team’s projected third baseman, pitcher and first baseman. He is expected to be one of the team’s top hitters and hurlers — if the season ever gets off the ground.
“I’mjusttryingtobepatient and see it through,” Williams said.
Williams said he has a net at home and has been hitting off a T.
“Right now, I’m trying to get back into shape,” he said. “I just want to be ready in case I get that call.”
James Williams, Carson’s dad, has reached out
to school district officials several times but said no one has been completely transparent with answers. Other times, he’s struggled to even get calls returned.
“The frustrating part is there is they have not been forthcoming with information,” he said late last week.
On other campuses, there has been plenty of excitement as non-contact sports like baseball had a path to return after clearance from the State of California. Solano County agreed to follow the state’s lead as well.
Neighboring schools like Benicia, St. Patrick-St. Vincent and American Canyon all plan to play baseball this spring. The county’s other schools in Vacaville and Fairfield are all moving forward too.
James Williams has even considered transferring his son to a neighboring school to finish out his senior year but he was informed by the North Coast Section that wouldn’t be an available option.
“It wouldn’t be allowed except in inter-city transfer,” James Williams said. “I could only transfer him to Jesse Bethel but they are not offering baseball either. Any transfer to schools like Benicia or American Canyon would not be allowed.”
Pat Cruickshank, the commissioner of the North Coast Section, told the Times Herald that “if the program has been discontinued at the school, students could transfer and use the discontinued hardship transfer for immediate eligibility, once the waiver is processed.”
However, students can only play at the school they are enrolled at, Cruickshank added.
James Williams said it’s frustrating to see all of the neighboring schools starting practice while Vallejo Unified kids are in limbo. Carson Williams knows a number of players at the other schools due to travel ball play with Northern California Dream. Travel ball is
not expected to start up until the summer so that’s currently not an option.
If there is not a season, James Williams is not sure how this might have affect Carson’s ability to get recruited and receive a scholarship in college.
“You’re talking about 30 games, maybe a little more,” he said. “He just won’t get that same exposure. He’ll go to junior college, which he might have anyway, but he might have gotten a lot more attention.”
James Williams said he believes that VCUSD has not been forthcoming about information regarding sports because the district does not want to see more students transfer.
“I think they are scared of kids transferring,” he said. “They want as many kids enrolled as possible. They’ve dealt with declining enrollment for some time now.”