CIF Delays Start, Cancels Fall Regional, State Championship Dates

The California Interscholastic Federation announced that all fall practice and competition start dates are on hold until the state health officers present official COVID-19 guidance.

Over 800,000 student-athletes, their coaches, and parents have awaited news as to when they could return to full practices. With the intended start date for the 2020/21 high school athletics season at risk due to a surge in COVID-19 infections across California, the California Department of Public Health postponed all updated youth sports guidance, forcing CIF Commissioner Ron Nocetti's hand at delaying practices anticipated to start December 7.

It has been eight months since the coronavirus shutdown sent high schoolers to remote-learning and four months since the CIF rearranged seasons, playoffs, regionals, and finals for all sports. Coaches and parents have cried that the CIF's new system will severely impact practice space, but now the consensus is to make it work to enable any season at all. The delay in start dates doesn't mean there will not be athletics in the winter and spring of 2021.

Not yet.

Parents have taken to social media using the hashtag: #letthemplay along with sharing photos of their athletes at play. As of this report, 51,000 families have shared support of their high school athletics. Questions abound why it is safe for professional athletes to take to the fields and courts, and yet student athletes are consistently left out. Meanwhile, coronavirus case counts across the country have skyrocketed in recent days, compounding the argument.

The CIF is staying the course of reshuffling start dates, the first of which is changing the dates for fall playoffs. It is unclear how far into summer they are willing to push championships, which may affect spring dates. The latest date in the previous list for spring (season 2) sports was June 26, for Track and Field championships.

According to CIF's statement, boys volleyball will be moved to Season 2 to avoid losing a second full season, and an updated Season 2 calendar to include boys volleyball will be posted in January.

Some changes in the already ever-changing season include moving boys' volleyball to season 2, they said. In July, the CIF released a tentative schedule, starting with Regionals and Championship dates. With a reshuffling due to COVID-19, the fall sports —renamed Season 1—would include Volleyball (Boys & Girls), Water Polo (Boys & Girls), Cross Country, Competitive Cheer, Football, Field Hockey, Gymnastics, Skiing, and Snowboarding. Spring sports —renamed Season 1—would include Badminton, Soccer, Swimming & Diving, Tennis (Boys & Girls), Wrestling, Basketball, Golf (Boys & Girls), Baseball, Softball, Track and Field, Competitive Sport Cheer, and Lacrosse.

Boys Volleyball was the only Season 1 sport mentioned in the current release.

"The CIF does not expect (the state department of public health) will issue any guidance allowing for schools to return to full practice and competition until after January 1, 2021, at the earliest," a spokesperson for CIF stated. "Thus, all full practice and competition start dates are officially on hold until that updated guidance is issued."

The CIF Southern Section has yet to release a statement as of this report.

"The CIF is confident that this decision is a necessary and reasonable action" for all of their schools and their athletes, they said.

The revision is a proactive move to show the flexibility and time needed to return to practice and competition when the state's public health department allows.

More information will be released soon. In the meantime, Nocetti offered this statement:

"The CIF is confident this decision is a necessary and reasonable action for our member schools, student-athletes, and school communities in light of the current statewide crisis."

Read also:

OC High School Coaches Navigate Return-To-Play Guidelines

SoCal Sports Advocates Challenge Gov. Newsom To Let Kids Compete

Tell us about your high school athlete in comments, or by emailing your Patch editor.