Public health officials in Santa Clara County have agreed to allow student-athletes to participate in school sports and clubs simultaneously this spring, as part of easing COVID-19 restrictions.
But they seemed to be sending mixed messages this week about what is allowed, leading to more confusion on Thursday night to the youth athletics community lobby to bring the kids back to the field.
“There is a lack of follow-up on what is said and done,” said Mike Wharton, a Santa Clara youth sports father. “Families are making decisions about what will come out. Without this clearly stated, it is difficult to understand what you can do. ”
Instead of announcing the policy change in a written statement, it came during a meeting of the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday night. So the updated guidelines released on Thursday night did not address the change, saying that sports he must be restricted to a cohort.
A Santa Clara County official said Thursday night that the confusion stems from the California Department of Public Health’s restrictions on cohorts, which are recommendations, not orders. Although county officials are allowing participation in various activities, the state strongly recommends that people limit meetings to one team.
The policy change didn’t come to light until a meeting of supervisors, when Dr. Sara Cody, a county public health officer, told board members that children would be allowed to play on more than one outdoor sports team .
His answer came in response to a question from the chairman of the board, Mike Wasserman, who said he received a “ton of questions” from people who practiced high school and sports in clubs.
“For outdoor activities only, people can play on more than one team,” said Cody. “I think we clarified this several weeks ago, but just clarify again that it is correct.”
But a county ad on Thursday updating the COVID-19 policy referred to state guidelines in a section that deals with youth sports. The state continues to recommend that the participation of athletes and coaches during training and competition be limited to one team and “avoid participating with more than one team in the same season or period”.
Wharton, who coaches the Little League and youth football, said he wrote to Wasserman on Thursday night for clarification. Wharton said the supervisor suggested that county officials did not have enough time to reflect on the change when submitting the updated guidelines.
Wharton said he read the guidelines three times.
“There is nothing there that gives you any guarantee that everything is fine” playing on several teams, he said.
Central Coast Section Commissioner Dave Grissom, whose office runs high schools in Santa Clara County, said on Friday that he planned to tell member schools that it would be up to them to impose guidance on playing on two teams simultaneously.
“Our position is that we have the constitution and statute that we are required to follow,” said Grissom, noting that the California Interschool Federation, the state’s high school regulator, has lifted rules that prohibit student-athletes from playing in high school and in sports clubs at the same time.
“Although CDPH strongly recommends that children be part of a team, according to the CIF rules, children can be on multiple teams and that is for schools to enforce as they wish.”
Grissom said a sports director told him about Dr. Cody’s comments at this week’s board meeting.
“I finally had enough strength yesterday,” said Grissom, “that I sent an email (to the county) that was basically titled, ‘Old Question. This is a question that you have already answered, but I think I need to ask you one more time. ‘That was,’ Can kids play on a club team and a high school team? ‘
“I get the answer late yesterday afternoon and all it says is the most recent guidance, and I say, ‘Wait a minute, this is the CDPH guidance.’ I could almost recite to you what the CDPH’s orientation is. Why not answer the question? ”
Grissom is not the only one thinking about it.
The confusion started on February 12, when CCS executives alerted Santa Clara County high schools that their athletes were prohibited from competing on two teams based on a county guideline.
The CIF had announced two days before that it would waive its rules for the rest of the academic year on the issue of playing sports in high school and in clubs at the same time.
Although the California Department of Public Health’s youth sports guidelines state that athletes should stick to the same group or sport, state officials said they would not require CIF to follow the recommendations.
However, Santa Clara County officials, who enacted some of the nation’s most stringent coronavirus regulations, told high school officials at the time that they would follow the guidelines of the state department of public health.
If county officials changed the policy “several weeks ago,” as Dr. Cody said, people in the youth sports community were unaware of this, some said on Thursday night.
A statement to the Bay Area News Group on February 12, county officials said they were banning children from playing on two teams to reduce the risk of transmitting COVID-19 in youth sports.
“For the same reason, the county does not allow young people to participate in multiple cohorts at the same time for extracurricular activities, regardless of whether these activities are athletic or non-sporting,” says the statement.
“This rule was designed to limit mixing and reduce the spread of COVID-19 so that children can safely return to school. This is the County’s top priority for young people. ”
This is not the first time that county officials have left sports administrators, coaches and athletes confused.
In late January, county officials angered the youth sports community by mistakenly telling school superintendents that they would restrict groups to stay at least 25 feet away. Such a rule would have effectively stopped participation in almost all sports.
A day after the announcement, county public health officials said they would abide by state guidelines on social distance on playgrounds.
Nelson Gifford, football coach and athletic director at Palo Alto High, said on Friday that he is happy that children will not have to choose one team over another.
“There was definitely a lot of anxiety between my community and communities across our league and section,” said Gifford, “where you have children who have made commitments (with clubs) and are always saying that we want children to keep their commitments.
“High school sports start and they don’t want to give up on either group. Being able to do that is wonderful. It is great for children. If the kids are happy, I’m happy. I don’t care how we did it. ”
See the Board of Supervisors meeting with Cody’s statement about allowing participation in various sports below: