CIF announcement reveals Covid-19 reversal key in sports resuming

Well, the speculation is over. It is just a question of are you in the “I’m happy,” “I’m 

relieved,” or “I’m triggered” crowd.

I’m guessing most people are relieved but there’s probably a mixture of triggered 

and happiness.

The California Interscholastic Federation, which is the state’s governing body for high 

school athletics, said on Monday that state-level events will be held in the spring semester. 

That news means that there is no chance whatsoever that sports will happen in the fall in 

lieu of the coronavirus pandemic remaining highly prevalent. For full details on the 

rescheduling of events, refer to a story released in the Napa Valley Register, courtesy of 

sports reporter Gus Morris:

https://napavalleyregister.com/sports/high-school/high-school-sports-cif-postponing-start-

of-2020-21-sports-season-until-december-or-january/article_aa24df9d-8671-58b9-

b817-cdd48b87889e.html

Long story semi-short, instead of having the uniformity of fall, winter and spring sports 

seasons, fall sports seasons will take place either in late-March or mid-April. Spring 

sports will also include basketball, which is traditionally held in the winter, will be held 

in May. The only question is how truncated will the seasons be?

The CIF contains ten sections, including the North Coast here in Napa Valley, CA. In the 

NCS, the first day of fall sports season will be Dec. 14 while spring sports are slated to 

begin practicing between Feb. 22 and Mar. 15.

That scenario translates into the summer session, in a sports context, being pushed into 

December and January. The caveat is that there remains no guarantee that sports will take 

place in the 2020-2021 school year. The purpose of the announcement is to give guidelines 

of student-athletes returning to competition if the situation of the pandemic improves. The 

reason high school sports are not given the green light to return is because positive tests for 

Covid-19 along with deaths continue to be on the rise at a significant rate. Everyone has 

their theories but I’ll hold that topic for another conversation. Most schools in California 

will begin the school year via distance learning, to the delight for some and consternation 

of others.

High school sports came to a halt in March as the 2020 spring sports season were in their 

beginning stages. Under strict guidelines, offseason workouts, specifically for fall sports 

such as football, resumed in June.

There are a handful of things that I unpack from this decision. For openers, I have avoided 

writing sports commentaries as it pertains to Covid-19 because I’m not a health expert and 

nor will I pretend. There are only so many different ways I can write, “For the (insert 

random day), there are no live sports.” So, I have killed time compiling NFL Dream 

Teams. Who knows, I might get ambitious and branch out to NBA and MLB Dream 

Teams. I know that those teams have about 46 readers but I feel better after writing those 

stories as opposed to “another pandemic day without sports” story. I guess that I escaped 

the media industry at the right time.

I’m not a high school parent yet but I have two incoming sixth graders and an eighth grader, 

all of which are involved in sports. The first thing that stands out is I can understand the 

reason not to have sports return yet. This virus is raging and needs to be contained. However, 

I’m happy that the CIF is not going full-on “cancel culture,” like too many things in this 

country. If they did that, yours truly would have spewed venom and had numerous hot takes. 

Youth sports are personal to me.

At least, the chance of sports returning is still in play. Kids need to have that hope. With 

distance learning, shelter in place, etc., their collective morale has been sapped. I don’t worry 

about the kids that are underclassmen because they have another year for a chance to return 

to normalcy. I don’t worry about the seniors that have college scholarships awaiting them. 

I don’t worry about the fringe scholarship kids that needed a strong 2020-2021 athletic 

season to get a scholarship because talent gets noticed at some point.

Which kids am I worried about? The ones who have not had the academic light bulb 

illuminate yet. The number of those kids is greater than you think. Keep in mind, most 

youngsters will not play a sport competitively after high school. However, sports are the 

reason these kids tow the line with their behavior. Sports are also the reason they at least 

achieve the minimum on the academic front. For the ones that are underprivileged, the 

coach is the parent figure they lack at home. Therefore, sports is their sanctuary and the 

reason they stay out of mischief.

If no sports happen, athletic departments lose money hand over fist. Keep in mind, though 

all sports are vital, football carries the financial clout to support every other sport. In a 

nutshell, football is the dog, other sports are the tail.

Here’s hoping high school student-athletes have the chance to fulfill the latter of this 

description. The reality of the matter, like it or not, is that stiff-arming the coronavirus is 

what will be the key that unlocks the door on the return to sports for youngsters.