Return closer as orders get lifted
Youth sports inched ever closer to a return in California on Monday when the state announced it was lifting the regional stay-athome order in place for a majority of the state’s population due to improving COVID-19 conditions.
During a press conference, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that effectively immediately all counties in the state would revert to the colored-tier system. Youth sports in the purple tier — golf, cross country, track and field, tennis and swimming and diving — are cleared at the state level to begin competition.
Individual schools still have the final say if or when sports can begin competing and local health departments could also choose to follow stricter guidelines than those put out by the state. But clearing the stay-at-home order was one of the more substantial hurdles that prep sports needed to clear in order to return.
Newsom also added in his press conference that the tiers would be reassessed on Tuesday.
Under the current CIF traditional season format, cross country would be the only sport that could return to competition in counties in the purple tier.
However, other sports could be
joining soon. The MCAL, among other leagues in the North Coast Section, is currently discussing rewriting its schedule to allow other purple-tier sports to be permitted next month. These talks are preemptive in anticipation that the NCS Board of Managers will vote on Friday to grant leagues autonomy to create their own schedules.
MCAL Commissioner Susie Woodall said on Monday that the league would have a clearer idea of what next steps would be by Thursday when the league is set to continue discussions.
“We’re not going anywhere until after we meet on Thursday,” Woodall said.
High School 1327 head cross country coach Robyn Berry was thrilled about Monday’s news. And while she acknowledged there are still details to be worked out — like where races will be held, the format of meets and how transportation will work — she felt like there were finally positive steps taken towards a return to sports.
“All we’ve done so far is plan around the blockades and today we got some actual things that weren’t blockades,” Berry said.
“This is a great day,” she added. “We’re getting good news. We can actually plan now. … Just the idea of having things to move forward with, it’s so needed for the athletes.”