Written by Shaila Mehta
Throughout the pandemic, high school varsity and junior varsity sports have been put on hold, which has made it difficult for students applying to colleges as athletes.
According to new guidelines released by the California Department of Public Health, no competitions will be allowed before January 25th, although that could change when the authorization date comes, which is January 4th. This authorization will depend on the state’s COVID-19 case rates and the per county statistics as well.
Only a handful of states have restricted youth sports as a result of COVID-19, California being one of them.
The California Interscholastic Federation canceled fall competitions for 2020 and rescheduled important fall sports to the winter session, which was scheduled to begin on December 12th. However, that date was postponed until January 1st, 2021. Most likely, that date will get postponed again in light of the state’s most recent guidance.
“It’s a surprise because they said there would be no word before Jan. 1,” CIF San Diego Section Commissioner Joe Heinz said Monday night. “But this is par for the course. I guess some news is better than no news. We would have liked to get this in October.
“We still have a chance to play. We have guidelines to work with. We’ll have to see what impact this has.”
Many youth clubs in Southern California have become fed up with the restrictions and traveled to Arizona or other states to practice and play, despite the guidance stating that Californians shouldn’t be playing sports out of state. A judge today issued a ruling allowing San Diego restaurants to reopen their doors, invalidating state regulations that said otherwise. Perhaps youth sports can hope for that same outcome if the state doesn’t allow them to resume soon.
