California high school sports moved back to December or January
Jul 20, 2020, 11:02 AM
Two footballs sit on a field-goal post on Thursday, April 6, 2017 at Basha High School in Chandler, AZ. (Tyler Drake/Cronkite News)
(Tyler Drake/Cronkite News)
The California Interscholastic Federation announced Monday that the schedules for high school sports throughout the state would be modified, with sports most likely starting in December or January.
As a release from the CIF put it, “It is anticipated that most Section start dates will commence in December 2020 or January 2021.”
On Sunday, CIF executive director Ron Nocetti acknowledged to the Associated Press that the federation might have to make that difficult decision because of the coronavirus pandemic.
“Obviously that’s not the direction I want to go. It would create a lot of overlap, forced choices. It would make it very difficult obviously to play multiple sports,” Nocetti said. “But the goal is to offer a season, if at all possible, for all of our student-athletes.”
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The decision will almost certainly affect the recruiting calendar for Pac-12 member schools like Arizona and Arizona State. The Sun Devils’ football roster is littered with players from California, and “Cali Devils” is a commonly-used call sign for players the coaching staff targets from its western neighbor.
It’s not clear whether Arizona is heading in the same direction, but the rise of coronavirus cases in the state doesn’t portend well for getting high school athletes back on the field on time. Statewide decisions on returning to in-person learning activity could have athletic consequences, too.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
