The upcoming high school sports season will have a decidedly different look after the State CIF Office approved a modified 2020-21 interscholastic schedule while society continues to navigate the dangerous waters of the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.
The modified schedule compresses three seasons into two; it’s not a perfect solution but it makes an attempt to keep all sports together for the upcoming school term.
No sport has been left out. Coaches and student-athletes alike have something to look forward to.
But they have to wait a while.
Health guidelines permitting, the fall season is projected to start with practices in mid-December and games in early January. The spring season will run from April through June.
Because of the schedule compression, several sports will switch seasons. There are other considerations: tryouts for one sport will overlap not only with tryouts of other sports in the same season but overlap with sports in the other season.
But what sports student-athletes may have to pick from may pale in comparison to allocations for facility usage.
Exactly where practices and games will be played is perhaps a bigger issue.
Boys and girls water polo and boys and girls volleyball now find themselves in the same fall season while soccer (boys and girls) joins lacrosse and track and field as spring sports.
That’s an extra team in the pool and an extra team on the court in the case of water polo and volleyball and two extra teams on the football field for soccer, lacrosse and track. Double those numbers if junior varsity teams are considered and triple those numbers if novice teams enter into the picture.
It’s a potential headache for schedulers, but most coaches are simply happy that, for the moment at least, there appears to be a new season.
“I’m happy that CIF was able to put together a plan to keep all sports playing during these unprecedented times,” Castle Park girls lacrosse coach Chris Kryjewski said.
“As for lacrosse having soccer with lacrosse and track will affect field usage, the numbers for student-athletes will be affected in different sports. Hopefully, coaches can work together to allow players to play multiple sports and have good athletic seasons that they can enjoy.
“During these times we truly need to all work together to give our student athletes a fun experience.”
Jason Murphy, boys soccer coach at Bonita Vista High School and a former athletic director at the school, is familiar with the existing crush of field usage. Lack of fields might be a better description, he suggested.
“It’s going to be a logistical nightmare for BVH,” Murphy explained. “Having the little amount of space that we do and no lights to help push some different sports practices into the nighttime, I don’t know how we’re going to make it work. With track and field, two lacrosse teams, five soccer teams, three softball teams and three baseball teams there just isn’t enough space to make it work.
“Even if we share as much as possible, what are we going to do on game days, which also throws in scheduling issues. One solution would be to use Southwestern College as much as possible. Even with some extreme flexibility by all coaches involved, it is going to be a major problem. I’m all for keeping athletics going, we need it, the students need it, I just personally believe it’s going to be very complicated to try and pull off.”
“Obviously, having boys and girls water polo in the same season is going to present some issues, especially for pool space and for coaches who coach both genders,” Mar Vista water polo coach Chad Kavanagh said.
“Having multiple games a week for each gender would make coaches unavailable to coach and train the other team. Are we going to be able to share pool space or train genders together?”
There are a lot of unanswered questions.
Keith Quigley, who coaches coed roller hockey at Bonita Vista High School and boys lacrosse at Olympian High School, said it will definitely be interesting to seeing how the modified schedule works out.
“Now that some sports have been moved into a different season, fall or spring, I feel for those athletes who may need to make a decision on what sport they’re going to participate in this upcoming season,” he said. “I’m hoping there won’t be too much of an issue regarding field space for practices and games. Things are different right now, so whatever we need to do to keep the student athletes and coaches safe, we’ll then we must follow that protocol.”
New section commissioner Joe Heinz made an appearance on KUSI-TV following the State CIF Office’s July 20 announcement. He remains upbeat that solutions can be found and, while it obviously will be challenging, is eager to chart a course forward.
“These are challenging times in our state and country and I think for all of us the goal is to get back to a sense of normalcy and getting the schools back in session,” he told the television viewing audience.
“We spent countless hours working with the 10 section commissioners, our state executive director Ron Nocetti and associate director Brian Seymour on a plan that is most realistic based on our current situation in the state California. Not putting unrealistic dates out there but hopefully a timeline that works. Obviously, it’s going to come with some challengers moving three seasons into two but it’s a plan we’re going to move forward with.”
Above the rim
Basketball, a longtime winter sports fixture, now finds itself as a spring sport in the modified CIF schedule for 2020-21. The section playoffs are scheduled to end on June 12; the state playoffs have a June 19 end date.
Contrast that with the traditional schedule of training camps opening in mid-November and the section playoffs ending in late February or early March.
The Sweetwater High School boys basketball team will be out to prove it belongs in the upper echelon regardless of whichever season it plays.
The Red Devils finished the 2019-20 season with an overall 18-10 record, 10-2 in South Bay League play as the league runner-up to the San Ysidro Cougars, but did not earn enough power rankings points to qualify for the San Diego Section Division II playoffs.
Sweetwater was bumped for the final berth in the playoff bracket by the Point Loma Pointers, who were awarded the No. 16 seed with a 12-13 regular season record.
The Patrick Henry Patriots, a team that finished 13-14 in the regular season, received the No. 15 seed.
The section selection committee’s decision seemed prophetic after the Pointers upset the top-seeded Bonita Vista Barons, 58-57, in the opening round of play.
The Devils took a seven-game winning streak into their final regular season game, a 96-77 home court loss to San Ysidro.
And that proved to be the end of the season for the National City team.
The top-seeded Cougars would go on to post a thrilling 71-59 win over second-seeded Coronado Islanders in the Division III championship game.
The Devils will be battling a number of factors other than the playoff selection process in 2021.
“It’s going to be interesting with all the sports at the same time,” Sweetwater boys basketball coach Jesse Aguirre said. “After what happened to last year’s seniors, in the spring, I believe schools like Sweetwater will have to share athletes and understand even more the importance to the athlete who plays more than one sport.
“This year is all about the student-athletes and trying to make the best of it for the seniors. I want happy faces in our gym every day. We can deal with schedules and tournaments as it gets closer. If it’s possible we will still have our tournament as well.
“Facilities will be a huge issue this season. The gyms are used for testing a whole lot in the spring and end of school activities as well. However, I believe everything depends on our governor. No feet on campus means no sports, either. Fingers crossed that doesn’t happen. Health first!”
