CIF sets guidelines for return to school sports

Canyon Lake high school athletes, who have been patiently waiting for any news on when they may return to playing games, were finally given some direction this week from CIF, the state sports governing body.

The answer? It depends on the sport.

Football, with its intense high-impact nature, will not be returning to action until a school’s county returns to the COVID-19 orange moderate tier. That means Temescal Canyon High School, where most Canyon Lake students attend high school, will need to improve from its current purple tier, then to the red tier until it finally is eligible to play when it enters the orange tier.

The low-contact sports such as cross country, golf, swimming, tennis and track and field are able to resume their schedules while in the purple tier, with some modifications.

Red tier sports are moderate-contact outdoor sports such as baseball, cheerleading and softball.

Orange tier sports are high contact sports played outdoors and include football, soccer and water polo. If basketball is moved outdoors, it can be played under orange tier restrictions, otherwise it will need to wait until the minimal tier, yellow, when it can return to action with cheerleading and wrestling.

No sports competition can begin until Jan. 25, the CIF said in its announcement on Monday.

Meanwhile, all schools in the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, of which Canyon Lake students belong, have suspended all practice sessions through the end of the calendar year.

Temescal Canyon High School’s football team had been practicing since September when the district shut all sports down during the heightened COVID-19 issues.

Football coach Brian Hildebrand hopes his team will be able to resume practice soon.

“It has not been an ideal situation, but we got a lot of good work done during those three months together,” the first-year head coach said. “Our kids are resilient and I believe they will be ready to go with the same energy when we are given that green light again.”

CIF officials are meeting this week to discuss a new schedule now that the multi-tier direction has been determined. During the summer, CIF officials had previously set up a sports schedule that was to begin this month. It appears now, they will need to scrap that schedule and start all over again.

It seems logical that high-contact sports such as football would move near the back of the calendar, instead of the front. Sports such as track, swimming, golf and tennis that the California Department of Public Health announced Monday can be held during a purple tier, could be moved to be the first sports to conduct games.

Hence, what they could decide is to totally disrupt the traditional timing of the schedules of the various sports. Football in the spring and track and field in the winter? Those odd seasons will probably be the only way for all the high school sports to compete. Unless the CIF chooses to cancel specific sports, overhauling the calendar is the only option.

The seasons will be short, probably no more than half the normal length, and playoffs most likely won’t be played. All sports will have modifications as part of the CIF’s direction to return to competition, including the wearing of face protection, etc.

More information from the CIF is forthcoming and plans for salvaging the various sports’ seasons will be announced soon.