As anticipated the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and North Coast Section (NCS) delayed the start date for athletics until at least December due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The CIF and NCS both released statements on Monday, July 20 regarding the start of athletics and announcing that they had condensed the fall, winter and spring season into two seasons fall and spring with most fall sports beginning in mid December with playoffs scheduled for March and April.

Spring sports, which includes basketball and volleyball, have an anticipated start date in late February to mid March with playoffs scheduled for May and June.

In their releases, they also announced that the "CIF is continuously monitoring the directives and guidelines released from the Governor's Office, the California Department of Education, the California Department of Public Health, and local county health departments and agencies as these directives and guidelines are followed by CIF member schools/school districts with student health and safety at the forefront.

As these guidelines change, CIF Sections may allow for athletic activity to potentially resume under the summer period rules of the local Section. Also, given this calendar change, the CIF has temporarily suspended Bylaws 600‐605 (Outside Competition) in all sports for the 2020‐21 school year.

From the CIF & NCS statements  there are five major takeaways for the 2020-2021 sports calendar: 

1) Two Seasons- Fall and Spring Sports.  The decision was made to condense three seasons of athletics into two seasons of athletics, primarily to help with the spacing between particular sports and the overlap of certain sports between seasons. The 2020-2021 reclassification of sports and seasons are as follows:

2) In each sport, the length of the Regular Season will remain the same during this time period. Meaning that a sport that generally allows 24 contests and two scrimmages during a normal season is still allowed the same number of contests.

3) Section Championships/CIF Regional/ State Championships are all included as part of the 2020-2021 sports calendar. 

4) The suspensions of CIF bylaws 600-605 for the 2020-2021 school year- this means that student-athletes are allowed to participate in contests for outside teams during the high school season of sport.  This also protects our schools from having to forfeit contests should one of their athletes participate in a contest with an outside organization during their season. Essentially, student-athletes can compete with club teams during the school year.

5) Summertime Rules extended - –It has been decided that Summertime Rules will be extended from when the school year begins in August/September through December and the beginning of Fall sports. As schools open and students return, provided state and local health authorities deem it safe to do so, schools can begin their preseason preparations as they see fit, depending on what is allowed by health authorities during that time period.

• July 24th conclusion of the return to activity Pilot  

• July 25th- August 16th (Dead Period)  No on-campus activities -

• players and coaches to maintain communication with athletes in a virtual setting and they could meet and do virtual asynchronous workout ideas and synchronous online sessions as they see fit

• August 17th Student-athletes can begin “ Summertime activities' ' Per the CIF/NCS Calendar. 

• December 14th first official day of practice

During the “Dead Period” We will continue to gather feedback and solicit input from students & staff to update the previously created return to activity guidelines/protocol for WCCUSD. We will also use this time to determine changes and/or support we will need from staff to successfully launch in the “modified fall”.