The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed local high schools and colleges over the past two months.
Online classes became the norm to close out the spring term.
And, with the recent announcement from the California State University system that a majority of fall classes will be online and many schools will see fall sports canceled for the season, that norm may continue.
Tony Thurmond, California state superintendent of public instruction, said the decision to reopen campuses will be left to each district.
With that in mind, what will high school sports look like in the fall?
The fall sports season includes the biggest draw in high school sports — football — in addition to cross country, girls' volleyball, girls' golf, boys' and girls' water polo, girls' tennis and field hockey.
Here are a few scenarios for how fall sports could pan out:
Fall sports continue as planned with sparse crowds and amended schedules
This could be a balance between not abbreviating the sport seasons while still honoring what California Governor Gavin Newsom said
Granted, his comment was directed at professional sports crowds numbering in the thousands of people, but hundreds of spectators packed into The Pit at Salinas High is no small gathering.
This avenue would make it so the sports could continue with their typical seasons but keeping the health and safety of spectators in mind. Watching a Salinas-Palma tilt with fans spaced apart or completely absent would be a different sight to see compared to seasons past but this is all quite unprecedented.
It may also cause the pre-division schedules, often with games against teams outside of the county, to be changed to solely matchups against schools in-county.
Depending on how cases look in July and August with further updates to Monterey County Health Officer Dr. Ed Moreno's shelter-in-place order, this scenario could become more likely as a way to find a happy medium with sports happening but with smaller crowds.
Fall sports are postponed with abridged seasons
Football in January? Girls' volleyball playoffs in early March? That'd be unprecedented.
But, that seems to be the way most things have gone during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This premise is based on Monterey County schools being online during the fall sports season. Currently, the Monterey County Office of Education (MCOE) has no plans to do that but plans are considered "fluid."
"It's difficult to see the future with education," MCOE Superintendent Dr. Deneen Guss said. "It's a lot of planning... we want to do what makes sense for our community and our schools."
If many high schools in Monterey County decide to re-open after winter break in January 2021, it'd be unlikely that fall sports would operate as normal.
California Interscholastic Federation — Southern Section (CIF-SS) commissioner Rob Wigod said last week that postponing fall sports to create an abridged 2021 blitz of sports could be viable.
"Let’s say all the fall sports had to begin in January," Wigod said to ScorebookLive last Friday. "Then you have January, February and half of March and you do fall sports... so you’re looking at approximately two and a half months for each season of sport starting in January and finishing in the middle of June."
Though a great way to preserve all sports for the 2020-2021 school year, this plan wouldn't be without some potential problems.
What happens if different districts open at different times? That could mean that schedules are abbreviated to only division games.
That'd help eliminate a wide competitive advantage for schools in districts that open sooner than others. Division games include teams that are closer geographically and are therefore similarly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This isn't a perfect answer.
Some divisions in the county have schools in different districts (e.g. the Pacific Coast Athletic League's Mission Division includes North Salinas, which is in the Salinas Union High School District, and Carmel, which is in the Carmel Unified School District) that are in areas of the county that have been differently affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What about athletes who play multiple sports?
There are prep stars who suit up for football, boys' basketball and baseball or girls' volleyball, basketball and track and field routinely who could be at a slight disadvantage.
They already have quick turnaround times — especially if their teams are playoff-bound in a normal season — but condensing what is typically a 10-month competition season (August through May) into six months (January through June) could make for an even quicker turnaround.
How would section and state playoffs work?
If districts resume at different times, then schools may not wrap up their seasons at the same time. Out-of-division or out-of-conference games may have to be canceled entirely due potential starting discrepancies.
Though it's rife with obstacles, this option could become more viable should a surge in COVID-19 cases happen in August or September.
Fall sports continue as planned
This seems unlikely, given that universities like those in the CSU that have already planned for virtual classes through the end of the calendar year and the California College Athletic Association canceling fall sports.
Student-athletes are students first.
If schools are opened back up, this could happen with the possible caveat of spectators having to wear facial coverings at all events.
With the huge draw that is fall sports, particularly football, this option is the most lucrative. Ticket, parking and concession sales would generate revenue as usual.
Fall sports are canceled
This one comes last because it is a last resort.
The first scheduled games of the 2020-2021 high school year are months away which gives plenty of time for Central Coast Section (CCS) officials, athletic directors and league administrators to sort out what to do.
Similar to how schools are organized at the moment, decisions on the state of fall sports are neither finished nor ironclad. There will likely be updates in the coming month on the status of prep sports throughout the state and, with it, specific parameters for each league.
Ayrton Ostly peruses Twitter, fields, courts and tracks throughout Salinas looking for stories from the community. Have a tip? Drop an email to aostly@thecalifornian.com and subscribe for full access to all of The Californian's local news coverage.
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