Falling forward to spring?
California, New Mexico made those changes
With the coronavirus pandemic not letting up, will the Arizona Interscholastic Association move high school football from fall to winter or spring? That could be an option after seeing neighboring California and New Mexico announce such delays.
The California Interscholastic Federation announced Monday that the 2020-21 high school sports year won’t begin until December or January. How does that impact Arizona?
The California plan is having football practices beginning in December, first games in January and championships finishing up April 17 with baseball, softball and track and field wrapping up in late June.
Will you see some top football players leaving for Arizona, especially those planning to early-enroll into college?
With the coronavirus pandemic not letting up, will this be a strategy the Arizona Interscholastic Association adopts after seeing neighboring states — California and New Mexico — mov
ing football from the fall?
New Mexico announced last week that football will be played in the spring.
AIA Executive Director David Hines reiterated in a video interview last week the state’s intention to keep fall sports with modifications, hinging on what steps Gov. Doug Ducey takes on opening schools.
“I do not think Arizona should follow suit,” Mesa Red Mountain football coach Mike Peterson said. “For one, and selfishly, how do you coach a team when you have football coaches who are also wrestling, track, and baseball coaches? Not to mention forcing kids to choose a sport.
“However, you won’t run out of kids, at least in bigger schools like ours. Unfortunately, again, they’ll have to choose. But you will run out of coaches, because so very many are counted on to coach multiple sports.”
Southern Arizona football coaches, led by Canyon del Oro’s Dustin Peace, are urging the rest of the state’s coaches to follow suit and push for a move to the Arizona high school season to the spring.
“It would make a lot of sense to be on the same timelines as our two neighbors (California and New Mexico),” Peace said. “Imagine the ability for college recruiters to actually be at games during their offseason.
The CIF also announced that it will allow high school players to compete o their club teams during the 2020-21 school year, suspending that rule.
Football doesn’t have club tackle football at the high school level, but 7-on-7 passing tournaments could become big in the fall in California.
Should the AIA also open it up to allow kids sitting at home while taking online classes a chance to compete in club sports during the 2020-21 school year because of the pandemic?
“Very bold move to allow club sports,” Peace said. “All I can say is everyone has to remember that football is one of the few sports that does not have a club option. So if we don’t have a season, or reduced season, that is it for 98% of the seniors they never get to put on pads.
“We plan to practice in the morning to avoid field conflicts and this would allow kids to play other sports if they wanted to. Games would be tricky but just an obstacle that can be worked out.”
Kingman Academy coach John Morgando said he could see a scenario in Arizona, where there is a delay in football until later in the fall, possibly a regular season shortened to five games, finishing before Christmas and start the winter sports like wrestling, soccer and basketball in January.
“I worry if you overlap too many seasons, too many players are forced to choose a sport and from an educational perspective that would be a lot of students and teachers missing class time for sports all at once,” Morgando said. “I think this decision can be delayed until later with hope that COVID cases and hospitalizations will go down to more manageable levels to justify having sports and returning to some semblance of normalcy.”