One Bay Area league plans to have all sports play this year
There are no easy solutions to solve the high school sports dilemma amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, but administrators keep trying.
This week, one of the South Bay’s largest leagues made its latest calendar revision, aiming for student-athletes in all sports to have some sort of a season.
The Santa Clara Valley Athletic League — a 14-school conference that includes the likes of Wilcox, Milpitas, Palo Alto and Los Gatos — has adopted a three-season calendar that moves some sports that state health officials say can be contested in the most restrictive tier in California’s reopening system to Season 1 while moving sports deemed higher-risk such as football to later in the spring.
The reorganization, which states there will be no Central Coast Section or California Interscholastic playoffs, comes at a time when coaches and parents are desperately lobbying to get kids out of their homes and back onto playing fields before the school year ends.
Other leagues across the Bay Area are expected to announce their revised models soon.
But the clock is ticking — and it’s ticking fast.
Here is how the SCVAL’s plan, approved by the league’s Board of Managers, would work -- provided the sports meet tier guidelines and stay-at-home orders are lifted:
Season 1
Purple-tier sports: Boys and girls cross country, girls golf, girls tennis and boys and girls swimming and diving.
Voluntary conditioning: Can start now.
First practice: Feb. 1 First competition: Feb. 15, pending stay-at-home order Last competition: March 26 Cancellation date: Sport will be canceled unless it can start by March 1. If the delay is because of the stay-at-home order, competition can be extended until April 5.
Season 2
Red-tier sports: Field hockey, gymnastics
Orange-tier sports: Football, boys and girls soccer, badminton**, girls volleyball**
Yellow-tier sports: Competitive cheer
Voluntary conditioning: Can start now, but Season 1 athletes cannot participate until that season concludes
First practice: March 1 First competition: March 15 Last competition: April 23 (Football must end by April 17, per CIF guidelines)
Cancellation date: March 29 (Football’s cancellation date is March 15)
** Season will move to Season 3 if it does not receive clearance for Season 2.
Season 3
Purple-tier sports: Boys and girls track and field, boys tennis, boys golf
Red-tier sports: Baseball, softball, girls lacrosse
Orange-tier sports: Boys lacrosse, boys volleyball, boys and girls water polo
Yellow-tier sports: Boys and girls basketball, wrestling
Voluntary conditioning: Can start now, but Season 1 or Season 2 athletes cannot participate until that season concludes First practice: April 5 First competition: April 19 Last competition: May 28 Cancellation date: May 3
Our reaction
Pro: It’s a comprehensive plan that provides hope — even at this late date — that there might be a few weeks of competition for all student-athletes. Given all they have been through for the past 10 months, that is not a bad thing at all.
Con: It’s another blow for traditional spring-sport athletes who have already lost nearly a full season because of the pandemic. A six-week season this spring coupled with a few games or meets last spring is rough, especially for the current seniors.