CIF update planned Tuesday; commissioner outlines factors in decision making process

Fans gather for a Woodbridge football game at University in August 2019. (File photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

CIF officials are continuing talks with officials at the California Department of Public Health concerning guidelines which affect the future of high school sports, CIF Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod said during a virtual meeting Thursday of the group’s executive committee.

The meeting, conducted on Zoom, was open to the public and the media.

Wigod is scheduled to provide a complete update for the section on Tuesday morning. He is expected to announce whether there will be CIF playoffs for the first group of spring sports. Other subjects could be discussed.

As it stands now, cross country could start Jan. 25 if the county’s stay at home order is lifted, Wigod said. Other sports planned by CIF officials in the first session from February through March are traditional competitive cheer, cross country, field hockey, football, gymnastics, skiing/snowboarding, girls volleyball and water polo.

However, under guidelines from the CDPH, counties would have to be in specific tiers in order for the sports to occur. Wigod indicated he is hopeful there could be some changes to allow that to happen.

“…. What we asked for is not what we necessarily got, so there has been ongoing dialogue with the governor’s office, the California Department of Public Health and there are other efforts going on,” Wigod said.

“(Friday) there is going to be a pretty big rally (at high schools), they’re trying to make it state-wide with parents organizing a group called Let Them Play to continue that dialogue with the governor’s office and the California Department of Public Health and trying to make sure it’s in the forefront of these conversations about getting the students back to playing sports.”

Wigod acknowledged during the meeting that challenges remain. Coronavirus cases continue to surge throughout the state and Orange County remains in the most restrictive purple tier.

“The conversations are a little more difficult right now certainly with what we’ve seen in the last few weeks going backwards as significantly as we have and the stay at home orders,” Wigod said. “It’s our hope we can see some things turning in the other direction. Obviously, we feel there can be some movement on some of these initial recommendations about the sports and the different categories or colors they were placed in.”

Wigod also talked about the update coming Tuesday.

“We talked about as soon as these guidelines came out we would wait until Jan. 19 to announce the status of our fall sports championships,” he said. “So we’re prepared to do that on Tuesday. There are factors that we needed to consider and we’re still considering all the way up until the decision has to be final, like can our schools have viable league play.

“Another factor that is going to be very, very important is the travel. Will schools be allowed to travel among our seven counties in the Southern Section footprint? So if we’re having a girls volleyball championship tournament, is it going to be possible for a school in Ventura County to travel to Riverside County or a school from Orange County to host a school from Santa Barbara County.?

“So those will be issues that obviously have to get clarified as well with the travel and for the one sport in the purple tier, cross country, which can if the stay at home order is lifted, could actually begin competing on the 25th of January, in a dual meet format. If they’re going to try and host multiple team events, they have to go to their local health authority and ask for approval to host a local event with more than a dual meet kind of format.

“Are we going to be able to have a location at Mt. SAC where we have arranged for our championships? Are we going to be allowed to have that location host schools from seven counties?

“The one thought that if championships do have to be cancelled, then what that does do is free up additional time for our schools to try and play games, to play league and or non-league games or other contests that they haven’t been able to play to this point. We would run those seasons until the end dates that were there for championships. For example the latest end date for fall sports championships, for football it was April 17, our cross country date is March 27, our volleyball date is March 20 and water polo date March 20.”

Wigod said the scheduled spring sports running from March to June (badminton, baseball, basketball, competitive sport, cheer, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and field, boys volleyball and wrestling) are still in place. But like the first group of sports, counties would have to be in specific tiers for them to take place, according to the CDPH.

“We have several sports in purple tier for the spring and one of the things that’s kind of encouraging in one respect is that all of the spring sport purple sports were sports that were shortened and had to be cancelled last year, so at the time spring sports begin, the spring sports in the purple tier are going to be able to start, provided the stay at home order is not there anymore,” Wigod said.

Wigod said he realizes the challenges from the pandemic remain but intends to maintain an “honest and open conversation about where we are, which is in a very difficult spot. The dates that our holidays took place and the surge that we experienced from those holiday dates is maybe still with us a little bit, but we do know vaccinations are coming and inoculations are coming.

“We do know that things hopefully will start to turn in the other direction and I think our student athletes deserve our very best effort in doing everything we can on behalf of them and trying to maintain an honest conversation, not mislead them or have them believing in things that aren’t necesssarily going to happen or are not necessarly true, and I don’t believe we’re doing that.

“We’re trying to be very open and honest with student athletes first and trying to keep them motivated in some way and keep them active and trying to keep them still looking for an opportunity that may come, and until that time runs out, I think that’s going to be our message.”

Wigod said Tuesday’s update will be released at 9 a.m. and then he expects a press conference to be held in the afternoon.

-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com