The high school sports season is boiling down to a sprint and athletic directors are getting ready, or at least trying to get ready.
The coronavirus numbers have dropped low enough that high-contact outdoor sports, such as football and water polo, can start their seasons.
“This is super-exciting for everyone,” El Segundo athletic director Steve Shevlin said. “It is all hitting at one time.”
Practice time and field availability will be a big issue at some schools.
“We’re fortunate that we have field space that we can share,” Shevlin said. “It will all be used and it will get congested.”
The South Bay Athletic Association, which makes up the Bay, Pioneer and Ocean leagues, held the first of many meetings Tuesday to discuss the next steps.
The Bay League consists of Santa Monica, Palos Verdes, Redondo, Peninsula, Culver City and Mira Costa.
Leuzinger, Inglewood, Beverly Hills, Hawthorne, Morningside and Centennial are in the Ocean League, and the Torrance schools (Torrance, West, South, North) join El Segundo and Lawndale in the Pioneer League.
Shevlin said the majority of the discussion was spent on football, water polo, volleyball and soccer. Boys and girls soccer can begin playing games Saturday.
Football teams are expected to get their equipment handed out this week and hope to be ready to begin full practices Monday.
Teams are required to have three days of conditioning before putting on full pads.
The L.A. County Department of Public Health on Wednesday updated its guidelines for youth and adult sports and are now aligned with the state’s revised rules. The California Department of Public Health adjusted its guidelines last week to allow contact outdoor sports, including football, water polo, soccer, baseball and softball, to begin playing if a county reaches an adjusted case rate of 14 per 100,000.
L.A. County reached that threshold Tuesday by coming in at 12.3 per 100,000.
“Right now, everybody is planning to play (football) March 19,” West High athletic director Jason Druten said of the schools in the SBAA. “We’re meeting again (Wednesday night) to change dates around. … We’ve been given this puzzle and we have to make it fit. Flexibility will be the word of the 2021 season.”
The last revision of the football schedule for SBAA was released Jan. 12. It called for a league-only schedule that started March 19 and ended April 16. There are likely to be some changes before the schedule is finalized.
“We have to do this safely,” Druten said. “We have to put some protocols in place and make sure everybody is on the same page. We need to slow down, do our due diligence and put protocols in place so we can do this and not have to stop and reinvent the wheel.”
Football and water polo will have to conduct weekly COVID-19 testing of its athletes and coaches until a county’s case rate drops below 7/100K.
Football teams looking for games
Serra will play all of the other Mission League teams, but is looking for an opponent for a March 12 nonleague game. Coach Scott Altenberg said the opponent will likely be Long Beach Poly, but that hasn’t been finalized.
St. Bernard has openings for games on March 19, 26 and April 19. Interested opponents can contact the Vikings through Twitter at @StBernardFB.
Mary Star is looking for an opponent for April 16.
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High school sports are back, now comes the fun of scheduling games and practices - The Daily Breeze
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