High school football and other outdoor sports could resume play in many parts of California for the first time in nearly 12 months, the state’s Department of Public Health announced Friday morning, culminating in a long-running battle for return-to-football supporters. match .
Football, baseball, softball, soccer, water polo and lacrosse are among the sports allowed to start competition next Friday in any county in the state with a per capita case rate of less than 14 per 100,000 inhabitants – currently 27 out of 58 state counties, including all counties except Contra Costa and Solano, in the bay area.
Indoor sports have been left untouched, with no convincing evidence that they can be done safely. High-contact sports that have been approved to play must also adhere to the new guidelines, that is, a weekly testing regime.
Dr. Tomás Aragón, the state’s public health officer, cited declining infection rates across the state as a key factor in the timing of the announcement, which advocates of return to gambling have been anticipating throughout the week after almost two months of negotiations.
“Youth sports are important to our children’s physical and mental health, and our public health approach has worked to balance these benefits with the risks of COVID-19,” said Aragón in a statement. “With case rates and hospitalizations declining in California, we are allowing outdoor competition to resume, with modifications and measures to reduce risk, in counties where case rates are lower.”
Some low-contact outdoor sports, such as cross country, have already started in California. But the decision is especially crucial for the state’s football teams, which high school officials say will have to start a season by April 17 for next year to start on time. Now, many of California’s nearly 87,000 football players must have time to qualify for at least a five-game season.
Football players, as well as athletes who play rugby or water polo, should also be tested weekly if their municipality has a case rate above 7 / 100K, with tests that will be provided by the state. This is because these sports “will likely be played without a mask, with close contact and face to face for more than 15 minutes”. Although the CDPH requires athletes to wear masks when possible, he said he would not extend his mandate beyond reason during the competition.
Other sports defined as moderate contact, such as baseball, softball and cheerleading, will not be subject to the test requirement, but have been recommended for athletes in all sports.
By lifting the ban on outdoor sports, Governor Gavin Newsom also paved the way for the spring seasons to start on time in baseball, softball and lacrosse – all of which had their seasons interrupted last year with the initial round of closings of the coronavirus.
While indoor sports such as basketball and wrestling remain unlikely to happen this spring, supporters of the return to the game were enthusiastic about the outcome, but exasperated by the process.
“We are all ecstatic about the children,” said De La Salle football coach Justin Alumbaugh on Friday morning. “We will see many children doing something they love in a healthy way. That is why we have done the work that we have done. It wasn’t just about football or something. It is about several daughters out there. It was about a lot of kids out there. … From the bottom of my heart, I think that many children will be very, very happy, very, very soon. ”
The battle now moves on to local health officials, who can still restrict competition beyond the recently relaxed state rules. A source close to the discussions said there may be “one or two” counties that implement rules that are stricter than the state, but it was unclear at the time of the announcement.
For example, Santa Clara County last month released its own youth sports guidelines that aligned with the state, although they were under the purple category, but explicitly excluded non-purple sports. The same set of rules also requires 6 feet of distance at all times – difficult to enforce in sports like football – and prohibits all indoor athletic activities. Although the CIF last week lifted the ban on competing simultaneously with two teams, Santa Clara County maintained its rule by restricting students to a single group in addition to its classroom.
Although almost everywhere in the bay area received an immediate green light on Friday, most of southern California has yet to meet the requirements.
Where are the cases below 14 / 100K?
Sierra 0, Plumas 3.8, Modoc 4.5, Mariposa 4.8, Trinity 6.4, Yolo 7, Del Norte 7.3, Humboldt 7.5, San Francisco 7.9, Marin 8.8, San Mateo 9.1, Santa Clara 10.1, Santa Cruz 10.4, Lassen 10.5, Calaveras 10.6, Napa 10.7, Nevada 10.9, Amador 11.1, Tuolumne 11.7, El Dorado 11.8, Imperial 11.9, Placer 12, Siskiyou 12, Butte 12.2, Alameda 12.4, San Luis Obispo 13.7, Sonoma 13.9
Where are the cases above 14 / 100K, but below 20 / 100K?
Shasta 14.4, Contra Costa 15.3, Solano 15.5, San Diego 15.6, Orange 16, Lake 16.5, Madera 16.9, Los Angeles 17.6, Glenn 18, Mono 18.4, Sutter 18.4, Sacramento 18.7, San Bernardino 19, Yuba 19.3, Fresno 19.8, Tehama 19.9
California high school athletes have been excluded since March, but the return to game campaign started for real this winter, when it looked like many sports wouldn’t return, perhaps until the next school year.
When Brad and Kristen Hensley launched Let Them Play CA on New Year’s Eve, it was just a Facebook group with a few hundred passionate members. Six weeks later, his membership had increased to 60,000, Hensley registered the group as 501 (c) (3), and he raised more than $ 25,000 in donations.
Patrick Walsh managed to conduct some distance training with his players at Serra High School in San Mateo, but the uncertainty of when his team – and all others in the country’s most populous state, with about 3 million young athletes – would see the field again competitive started to give him panic attacks, he said. Then, on December 20, he launched the Golden State High School Football Coach Community, which over the next two months would collect crucial data presented to the governor’s office.
Walsh’s counterpart at the powerful De La Salle in Concord, Justin Alumbaugh, boarded, and in Southern California, also Ron Gladnick, football coach at Torrey Pines High School in San Diego. Eventually, the coaching community grew to more than 900 members across California.
The Walsh coaching community and Hensley’s parent group converged, Walsh credited to an act of faith.
In February, the two groups frequently met with officials from the Newsom office and the California Department of Public Health. But even after direct meetings with Newsom and Dr. Mark Ghaly, the state’s chief health officer, advocates of returning to the game were rebuked with a timeline that seemed to grow further, despite public assurances that the state intended to do so. with student athletes back on the playing field.
What started as an effort described as already in the fourth period, quickly became a two-minute exercise.
The groups split into six “sealed teams” with specific missions, said Walsh, a reference to US special forces units.
The most important thing was to obtain proof that sports could be practiced safely. Inspired by a similarly successful coaching effort in Texas that led to a full season at Lone Star State last fall, Walsh summoned Alumbaugh to collect data from the coaching community. The main objective was to show that their distance training was safe – among more than 1 million points of contact, they tracked 13 cases in athletes and coaches until training, according to their data, which were reported by themselves and not scientific – but they also discovered an apparently devastating impact that the sports stoppage had on their children.
Their survey of California coaches found that about nine out of ten reported increases in student-athletes who dropped out or were academically ineligible, or were incarcerated or expecting a child. About eight out of ten said there was an increase in the number of student-athletes who joined a gang.
A group of coaches from East Bay highlighted their children’s experiences in less affluent areas of Oakland and Richmond. At Skyline High School in Oakland, coach Joe Bates lost a player due to armed violence last fall and said it was becoming increasingly difficult to keep his student-athletes engaged. Richmond coach George Jackson called the streets of his city a “wild west”, with children riding rampant on motorcycles who previously enjoyed extracurricular activities.
Hensley’s parent community was tasked with compiling data from other states that happened while California was on pause, and Kristen led the effort to win a letter of support signed by 70 doctors across the state, focused on the mental health effects of kids.
Supporters of returning to the game said they were involved in giving their children a voice in Sacramento, where they felt that no one was lobbying young people in California over coronavirus-driven health restrictions. Most children in California haven’t returned to the classroom or the playing field since last March, while college and professional athletes continue to play and other businesses continue to function.
Finally, it was time for Gladnick, the Torrey Pines coach, to become the children’s legislative lobbyist. With a frank Twitter account and persistent outreach, Gladnick won the bipartisan support of dozens of state senators and members of the assembly.
With a successful Ave Maria in their back pocket, California football coaches are now calling on their colleagues from other sports to follow their example. Walsh, Alumbaugh, Gladnick and their community of more than 900 coaches have seasons to prepare, which means that football coaches are unlikely to be able to lead any longer. But they hope to pass on their manual and continue the fight.
For high-contact indoor sports, such as basketball, even more than a half-court bell may be required.
State health officials have been reluctant to move forward with indoor sports, which have less data to support their safety. While some studies claim to show little or no broadcasting in the field in outdoor sports, there have been a series of outbreaks traced back to indoor sporting events, including nearly 100 cases of an unsanctioned basketball tournament in Placer County.
According to the modified California Inter-School Federation calendar, the men’s basketball and volleyball seasons are scheduled to start in March with a possible postseason in June (the women’s volleyball season is scheduled to end in April, probably not played). ). It is not yet known whether health officials gave in time for a season to be played.
California is one of 26 states that has postponed its winter basketball season to 2021, according to the National Federation of High Schools, but it is one of seven where the game has not yet started. Likewise, he was one of 24 to delay his wrestling season and is one of 14 who have not started competitions, according to NFHS.
In the fall, California was one of 15 states to delay its football season until 2021, according to the NFHS. By mid-February, however, all states except California, Hawaii, Maine, Rhode Island and Connecticut had scheduled the start of their season.
Finally, this week, California football players – and thousands of other student-athletes – were given the green light. Now, the return to game movement will attempt to transition its success from the football field to hardwood.