High school football camps in Irvine going on as scheduled with strict limitations

Northwood High players warm up before a game last September. (File photo: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone)

Amid uncertainty about when the high school football season will start, camps will begin Monday at the five high schools in the Irvine Unified School District, according to Mark Cunningham, district athletic director.

While the coronavirus pandemic and rising infection numbers in Orange County and throughout the state and country is causing concern this week, Cunningham believes the district is taking proper safeguards to allow the camps, including football camps, to begin at Portola, Northwood, Irvine, University and Woodbridge.

Officials at each school determine which sports camps it will have to start out. High school sports have been shut down in the district since March.

Beckman High School, located in Irvine, began its athletic camps on Monday, June 22. Beckman is part of the Tustin Unified School District.

“We feel for the first week, the guidelines and protocols we have in place after all of the research we’ve done, the investment and identifying those things hopefully with everyone following will create as safe an experience as possible for both our athletes and for our staff,” Cunningham said.

Camps were originally scheduled to start Monday, June 22 before being delayed until Monday.

There will be limitations, at least for the first week.

Football teams will have to go at least the first week without using footballs. The same protocol goes for baseball teams, which won’t be able to use baseballs; water polo squads, who won’t be able to use water polo balls and basketball teams, which won’t be able to use basketballs.

Officials are concerned about the transmission of germs, Cunningham said.

“You can not have a ball go from one player to another where they both touch it,” Cunningham said.

“No balls will be allowed the first week and then we will evaluate as we go each week. We want to make sure as we go into this camp, and we are going to be closely watching it, that we are indeed adhering to the protocals and guidelines which are to make sure the kids have masks on, the coaches have masks on and that we’re socially distanced and we’re sanitizing properly and we believe if we can do that and do it well, then we can re-evaluate.”

There will be three phases in the initial week of camps.

“We would look at a conditioning phase and then an individual skills phase and a weight room phase,” Cunningham said. “So the kids have probably not been doing very much at all for over 100 days. We don’t want to get a bunch of injuries. So we’re phasing it in and we think if we can do light conditioning to help them get back into shape, light weight lifting and then an individual period where we work on individual skills of their sport, this is a good way to start.”

During high intensity workouts, the athletes masks can be removed but instead of a social distance of six feet between athletes, 10 feet would be preferred, Cunningham said.

“There’s always going to be concerns, I’m not going to say there is not,” Cunningham said. “But I feel really good about what we’ve done as a district to ensure these kids are going to be as safe and the staff is going to be as safe as possible following the guidelines and protocols. Yes, there is a spike and it’s positively concerning. But I think if we adhere to everything that is mapped out, we’re going to be fine. If not, we’re going to shut it down.”

Players will be kept to groups of 10 and will be work with the same group of athletes and coaches.

“For the entire camp, the coach has to be with those athletes,” Cunningham said. “You can’t go to a different group. If a kid did get it (the coronavirus), it would only be that group of kids who would have to be tested and quarantined, not the entire group.”

CIF Southern Section Commissioner Rob Wigod said Friday that CIF state and Southern Section officials intend on providing an update on fall, winter and spring sports on Monday, July 20.

Most football teams are scheduled to open the season on Friday, Aug. 21. But that opening date does not appear likely.

“My gut feeling is it will probably start in January,” Cunningham said of the football season.

If the January scenario for the start of sports becomes a reality, Cunningham said it’s possible that the fall, winter and spring seasons would be 12 weeks each.

“You could have all three seasons, obviously there would be a reduction in the number of games because of the time frame, but that would still allow for playoffs,” he said.

Cunningham said he believes the time was right for the Irvine camps to start.

“It could have been an easy decision to say, ‘let’s just wait one more week’ but I think the thing that is important is the mental aspect for both the coaches and athletes to see each other and be around their friends,” he said. “They’ve been locked up and not able to socialize at all, so getting back with their teammates, even though they are still going to be sociallly distanced, I think mentally that’s going to be a really positive thing.”

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