Commissioners examine youth sports options

CCS, NCS say adjusting HS sports calendar has been discussed

Commissioners from the Central Coast and North Coast sections said there is some interest within their ranks to reorganize high school sports calendars but added there is no hurry to make any determinations until they receive more guidance from the California Department of Public Health.

The CCS’s Dave Grissom and Pat Cruickshank of the NCS said some league representatives have discussed playing lowerrisk outdoor activities such as golf and swimming early in 2021, with higher- risk sports such as football, basketball and indoor volleyball coming further down the line.

Grissom said adjusting the sports calendar will be discussed at the CCS’ executive committee meeting on Jan. 14. If there are adjustments, Grissom said, the section would have to finalize those arrangements prior to the start of the sports’ season.

Both sections, though, will wait until the state’s new directives on youth and high school sports are released on Jan. 4. No high school sports will start until at least Jan. 25.

“We kind of pushed the pause button,” Cruickshank said. “A lot of our schools are in finals this week and we have two weeks of winter break and holidays. It just felt like it was the best for everybody concerned to kind of take a deep breath, push pause and let’s see what they release on ( Jan. 4) and then we’ll kind of go from there.”

As of Tuesday, 55 of California’s 58 counties were in the

most- restrictive purple tier as coronovirus cases throughout the state have skyrocketed to recordsetting levels this month. Eleven counties in the region, including Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo and Santa Clara, are now under stay- at- home orders.

In the purple tier, the only high school sports

that would be allowed are badminton, cross country, golf, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field. Ron Nocetti, the California Interscholastic Federation’s executive director, said this week, though, that his office has advocated for high school sports to be played in the red and purple tiers.

Regardless of when these sports get underway, if they’re even able to begin, their postseasons will almost assuredly be adversely affected.

Grissom said the CCS committee also plan to discuss whether to hold section playoffs for the sports in Season One. Foregoing the time it takes to complete section and state playoffs might allow individual leagues to finish their seasons as normally as possible.

Grissom said practices for certain sports could start as soon as Jan. 16. He is also curious if football teams could even start to practice by the middle of next month using current

cohort regulations, and has reached out to the six health departments that the section encompasses for clarification.

Cruickshank said he met with league commissioners Thursday

“So, we’re going to take all this information we have, take what gets updated in the first week in January and then we’ll try and make the decision that’s in the best interests of all of our students,” he said.