Indoor sports activists won a swift and comprehensive victory on Thursday in a legal agreement with the state of California that will remove the state’s additional restrictions on sports such as basketball, volleyball and wrestling.
The deal, which will allow all sports to operate at the same level of reopening using protocols similar to college and professional gambling, came in response to a lawsuit filed last month in San Diego County by two high school football players. His lawyer, Stephen C. Grebing, managing partner of Wingert Grebing in San Diego, said the deal will allow all sports to compete in counties with adjusted case rates below 14 per 100,000, possibly as early as Friday.
“Indoors, (the requirements) will be very strict,” said Grebing. “But they will be allowed to play.”
Student-athletes in all but a handful of 58 California counties will be permitted under state rules to play indoor sports. However, local counties and school districts will still have the option to cancel the deal, Grebing said. For most athletes and coaches in counties with case rates between 7 and 14 per 100,000, they will be subject to the same weekly testing requirements as high-contact outdoor sports.
In the bay area, only the counties of Contra Costa, Solano and Sonoma do not meet the standards to avoid mandatory testing.
California will only provide free trials for high-contact outdoor sports athletes and coaches, as described in this week’s new guidelines. For newly approved indoor sports, athletes and coaches will have to schedule tests through their insurance providers or a private company that Grebing said he agreed to provide free trials to all indoor sports participants across the state.
Masks will be required for all coaches and staff, as well as players on the bench – but not during the competition, said Grebing.
Up to four spectators per player would probably be allowed, although details are still being finalized, said Grebing.
Two days of negotiations followed the state’s first offer for a deal Monday night, Grebing said.
He informed a group of basketball coaches in the Bay Area about the development just hours after receiving the initial deal offer Monday night.
Frank Knight, the Moreau Catholic men’s basketball coach at Hayward, was on that call Monday night. He is teaching this week, during a trip to Hawaii and said he knew something was going on when his phone started ringing on Thursday morning.
“I got up to teach my class from 8 am to 6 am,” said Knight. “While I’m teaching, my phone is exploding. Everyone is calling. I’m like, ‘They must have agreed to play basketball’ ”.
Two weeks ago, Knight did not believe there was any chance that high school basketball in California would be played before the end of the school year. But he said he changed his mind after hearing Grebing speak during a Zoom videoconference with Bay Area coaches on February 22.
“He came and all he did was say, let me tell you about the discussion we had with San Diego,” said Knight. “It probably took about seven minutes. After that, the next day, I went to Moreau. That was the first time I was in my office in about 350 days. I cleaned it up. I woke up in the morning and packed up. I went to school as if it were normal. ”
The San Diego case was filed in the name of Nicholas Gardinera and Cameron Woolsey, two senior football players, who argued that their rights to equal treatment were violated when professional and college athletes were allowed to compete under certain protocols, but not young athletes and high school.
After an initial decision in favor of athletes last month, similar lawsuits have been filed by indoor sports athletes in several other counties in the state, including San Francisco, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties in the bay area.
Breaking in San Diego 👀 pic.twitter.com/8jgys4bU3A
– Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) March 4, 2021
Dr. Kevin Shea, director of sports medicine at Stanford Children’s, said that indoor sports carry more risks than outdoor sports, but he endorsed at least a limited return on indoor sports.
“Outdoor sports (they are safe), perhaps with some restrictions on what we do,” said Shea. “Indoor sports, I think we have to look closely at them. You may have to limit fans in the stands at home. Athletes, when they are participating at a high level, allow them to potentially take off their masks, but not while they are off the field ”.
Steven Dyer, a male basketball coach at Campolindo High in Moraga, said that tomorrow he will have his team on the court if it gives the green light. A year ago, Campolindo beat De La Salle to win the Northern California Division I championship and advance to the state DI final.
The state title game was canceled two days after the De La Salle game because of the virus.
“I’m still a little confused about the details of how this is going to work,” said Dyer on Thursday. “But, yes, you’re going to have very little hope so I think a lot of hope now that we’re going to have a season. I am really hopeful that our group this year will have some kind of season. ”
Dyer said he began to feel optimistic as football coaches moved forward in an attempt to return to the field. The two-month campaign ended on February 19, when the state announced that the guidelines would be loosened to allow outdoor sports to return to competition.
“A lot of people with indoor sports were a little discouraged by the announcement a few weeks ago,” said Dyer. “But I thought, ‘This is probably the first step.’ I’ve been on these coaches’ calls for the past few weeks with the Bay Area Coaches Alliance. Just hearing some of the people talking gave me more hope that there will be a season. ”
Knight said he has not seen his entire team since the Mariners lost to Monte Vista in the North Coast Section playoffs last season.
“It’s really an opportunity for children to do something they like to do,” said Knight. “Go out and have fun because really at this point, it’s really for them and their entertainment. There will be no state championships. There will be no league championships or section championships. It is as if this year you are really playing in the purest form of the game. ”
Let Them Play CA, the group that has led the fight for the return of youth sport in California, gives a press conference to announce the deal scheduled for 10am on Thursday.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.