Sac Joaquin Section to allow leagues to create schedules; push for all sports in red tier
In a big step to allow all high school athletes to have a chance to play sports this school year, the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section voted 47-10 in a Board of Managers Meeting to allow each league to create its own sports schedule for the rest of the year.
“It creates flexibility in a time that is unprecedented so we can find ways to get kids participating again,” Sac-Joaquin Section Commissioner Michael Garrison said in a news conference on Wednesday.
All sports from all seasons can be played from Feb. 1. to June 12 (if allowed by county health officials and county tiers) with the exception of football, which must end by April 17.
The reason football must end by mid-April, according to Garrison, is the CIF Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) said there “needs to be a period of time of rest between when students end contact and when they start.”
With this move, the section eliminated playoffs for all sports. They previously eliminated then Season 1 (cross country, football, volleyball, and water polo) playoffs in December.
The only sport in Stanislaus County that is officially allowed to begin competition is cross country after state health officials gave the green light for return to competition on Monday.
In a major development, Garrison said the section is advocating for all sports to be played while in the red tier, which increases the possibility of football, soccer, and volleyball (orange tier) and basketball and wrestling (yellow) happening this year.
Stanislaus County is firmly in the purple tier, averaging over 60 cases per 100,000 residents and a 14.2% positivity rate. To get into the red tier, the county needs to average four to seven cases per 100,000 and 5% to 8% positivity rate.
The chances are slim for Stanislaus County to get into the red zone soon, a county official estimated this week, let alone into the orange or yellow tier in time for those sports to be allowed by April or May.
Golf, swimming and diving, and tennis may all possibly begin soon as all four are allowed in purple tier.
Track and Field is also allowed in the purple tier but doesn’t make sense for the sport to be in-season at the same time as cross country as some runners do both sports.
Central California Athletic League Commissioner Ed Felt said he is meeting with the six CCAL athletic directors on Thursday to create the schedules. Felt said after the schedules are created, they would meet with the principals and then the district superintendents for final approval.
The CCAL and Western Athletic Conference (WAC) have also discussed creating “parallel” schedules so there could be non-league games or non-league teams can play each other if one school has to cancel due to COVID-19 protocols.
The CCAL is made up of Modesto and Turlock schools while the WAC has Ceres High and three Modesto schools (Beyer, Davis, and Johansen), among other schools further away.
Leagues are recommended to create anywhere from six-to-10 week seasons, according to Garrison.
“We just want to get our kids out to compete,” Garrison said. “Some coaches have said as long as they get one game in and it’s their rival, it’s worth it to them.”
Dual-sport athletes will have tough decisions to make because per state heath guidelines, athletes should “refrain” from competing with more than one team at the same time.
Garrison said the section met with Sacramento Public Health officials and they recommended athletes quarantine for 14 days when moving from one sport to another. Other county health departments haven’t made recommendations yet, Garrison said.
While there was good news in the Sac-Joaquin Section, athletes in the Bay Area were dealt a crushing blow with new health restrictions created by the Santa Clara County health department.
According to Mercury News reporters Darren Sabedra and Evan Webeck, health officials are “prohibiting” any practice or competition between two teams and the county is requiring at least six feet of distance among participants, even within one group.
Traveling out of county for athletics is also prohibited in Santa Clara County.
