High school fall sports looking more likely to start in 2021

When two of the largest school districts in the state announced Monday, July 13, that they would begin the 2020-21 school year with online learning only in schools – two of the biggest dominoes fell pertaining to whether high school athletics will return with fall competition in late August.

More and more, it is looking likely that the California Interscholastic Federation will decide July 20 to push fall sports back to at least January.

If they do so, it would likely closely mirror the move made by the California Community College Athletic Association which announced July 9 that fall sports will not be played until February, at the earliest.

The Los Angeles Times reported Monday that Dr. Barbara Ferrer, director of the Los Angeles County Health Department, said "Team sports that don't allow for physical distancing aren't permitted to start up again."

Considering Fallbrook Union High School and schools in southwest Riverside County belong to the CIF Southern Section, that means as of Monday, teams from LAUSD will not be available for competition in the fall. Period.

At Fallbrook Union High School, a CIF San Diego Section member, Superintendent Dr. Ilsa Garza-Gonzalez presented the district's plan on how to safely resume in-person classes on Monday night, though she acknowledged there was no guarantee of what the situation will actually be when classes are set to begin again next month.

"What's in place today may change next week, may change in August, may change again in October," Garza-Gonzalez said at the Board of Trustees meeting.

Garza-Gonzalez said the information she was presenting at the meeting "will facilitate either our ability to open traditionally once it is safe and we're allowed to do so or the ability to smoothly move into 100% online learning while still maintaining instruction," Garza-Gonzalez said.

Again, even if Fallbrook High moves forward with in-person learning at the school, it's unlikely that sports would resume on schedule, given SDUSD's decision to close campuses when school is scheduled to begin.

Scripps Ranch High School football coach Marlon Gardinera hopes that parents will be given the opportunity to decide whether their kids will play sports in the fall in San Diego County.

Gardinera's Let Families Decide (https://www.letfamiliesdecide.org) says, "Our state, our school boards, superintendents, and principals have tough decisions to make, and we know they have our children's best interests in mind. However, when schools reopen, we want to let families decide if our children can return to high school sports. Help us send a clear message to officials and shift responsibility and the assumption of risk to the people who know what's best for our kids' physical and mental health."

Gardinera said as the parent of two athletes and a coach, he thinks it's time to let kids compete.

"I understand the amazing lessons high school sports offer our kids," he said. "So, the idea of my kids, my team and 800K+ other kids being sidelined was making me crazy.

"My thought was simple. If I get to decide whether or not my sons' go back to school when they reopen, why don't I get a say in whether or not they play high school sports?"

Even if Gardinera's movement gets traction, the decision on whether or not to start high school sports on time will still land in the laps of state CIF commissioners.

According to LAUSD and SDUSD, their decision to go to distance learning surrounded the recent uptick in new COVID-19 cases in the state.

"One fact is clear – those countries that have managed to safely reopen schools have done so with declining infection rates and on-demand testing available. California has neither," according to the statement issued by LAUSD and SDUSD. "The skyrocketing infection rates of the past few weeks make it clear the pandemic is not under control."

However, another major school district in CIFSS, Orange County, announced on Monday that schools would reopen on time and neither masks nor social distancing would be required.

However, the 4-1 vote by the Orange County board flies in the face of guidelines set by the county's Department of Education and "aren't binding on the county's 27 school districts, which have their own leaders," according to the Orange County Register.

A week earlier, Orange County high schools were told by the Orange County Department of Education to postpone summer athletic programs.

With San Diego and Los Angeles high school districts taking themselves out of the mix as far as athletics go, it leaves Riverside County and local school districts to decide how they will proceed in the fall.

Perris Unified School District, which oversees Paloma Valley and Heritage high schools, has already announced they would also start the school year in virtual classrooms. Thus far, Temecula and Murrieta have discussed hybrid models of learning, with students on campus at varying levels and numbers. There has been little discussion about athletics, other than restrictions regarding on-campus training.

According to various sources, if the CIF decides to move sports to 2021, they would likely resume with fall sports from January to March, winter sports from February to April, and spring sports from April to June.

Athletic directors at Fallbrook and southwest Riverside County high schools were contacted for this story but did not respond before press time.

Lexington Howe and Associated Press contributed to this report.

Jeff Pack can be reached by email at [email protected].