CIF Southern Section still expected to make Tuesday statement on status of fall sports championships

Those hoping for an update from the CIF Southern Section on 2020-21 high school sports will not have to wait much longer.

An announcement is still expected Tuesday on the status of the Southern Section’s fall sports championships, Commissioner Rob Wigod said during Thursday’s Executive Committee meeting.

Wigod said he expects to release the update at 9 a.m. Tuesday, with a news conference to follow at 1 p.m.

Wigod noted that many rallies to bring back high school sports, under the banner of “Let Them Play,” are scheduled for Friday at 4 p.m. Edison, Huntington Beach, Marina and Corona del Mar high schools are some of the locations where the rallies, which have been organized by parents, are scheduled to take place.

High school sports have not taken place since mid-March of 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. In July, the Southern Section announced a modified sports calendar for the 2020-21 school year.

“The conversations are a little more difficult right now, certainly with what we’ve seen the last few weeks, going backward as significantly as we have,” Wigod said. “With the stay-at-home orders and things like that, there are different conversations. Our hope is that we can see some things turning in the other direction.”

Wigod said the Southern Section has been in contact with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office, as well as the California Department of Public Health, regarding its youth sports guidelines and the associated color tiers.

All but four of California’s counties, including all of Southern California, are in the purple tier for reopening that indicates “widespread” risk. The only Southern Section fall sport that currently can be played in the purple tier is cross-country, which could begin competing in a dual-meet format as soon as Jan. 25.

“What we asked for is not what we necessarily got,” Wigod said. “There has been an ongoing dialogue.”

Wigod said the factors in Tuesday’s announcement include if schools can have viable league play, as well as travel concerns among the seven counties in the Southern Section.

“If championships do have to be canceled, then what that does do is free up additional time for our schools to try to play games,” he said. “We would run those seasons until the end dates that were there for championships.”

Executive Committee endorse girls’ beach volleyball

The CIF Southern Section Executive Committee voted 22-0 at Thursday’s meeting to endorse girls’ beach volleyball as a Southern Section sport, beginning in 2021-22.

It would be a spring sport.

The recommendation moves on to membership schools to approve, before coming to a vote at the CIF Federated Council meeting on Feb. 4-5.

Baseball and softball games could be capped at 28

By another unanimous vote, the Executive Committee voted to recommend that baseball and softball game numbers be capped at 28 for a season.

Tournament games would count toward that total.

The final vote on this item also comes in February.

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