Following CIF State Office’s Lead, City Section Cancels Playoffs for Season 1 Sports; If a Sport Cannot Start by Listed Date, Executive Committee to Determine Next Step
By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor
On Monday, City Section Commissioner Vicky Lagos released the following statement updating the status of education-based athletics for the 2020-21 school year:
We would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year. Our thoughts go out to the entire LA City Section school community during this difficult time. Many of your families have been affected in different ways and we will continue to support you as we navigate through this challenging time in our lives.
We would like to provide an update on Season 1 sports. As you know, sports were put on hold by the State CIF office last month. Since then, the State health department has released updated youth sports guidelines which clearly indicate when specific sports are permitted to be played. Each sport has been assigned a color tier (purple, red, orange, yellow) for a return-to-play. Purple being least restrictive, yellow most restrictive. See attachment as of January 12.
Additionally, Southern California is currently under a regional “Safe-at-Home” order which prohibits any kind of athletic competition. Until that order is lifted by the Governor, everything continues to remain on hold. Once the green light is given by the State health department, then we must receive local permission from the LA County Health Department to move forward. Lastly, the Los Angeles Unified School District and charter school organizations will make the final determination on CIF athletic participation for their member schools.
Season 1 Sports Update:
We continue to plan for the following sports once approval has been granted by the necessary entities. Cross country (purple tier), football (orange tier), girls volleyball (orange tier), and boys and girls water polo (orange tier). See attached calendar of dates and timeline.
The LA City Section has made the decision to not host any playoffs or championships for football, girls volleyball and boys and girls water polo. The intention is to allow leagues as much time to conduct regular season contests to provide as many opportunities as possible for our student-athletes. The State CIF has already announced there will not be any state or regional tournaments and championships for Season 1.
At this time we do still intend to host our Cross Country Championships on March 27.
Season 2 Sports Update:
We will provide an update in February/March for the following sports: baseball (red tier), boys and girls basketball (yellow tier), competitive cheer (yellow tier), boys and girls golf (purple tier), boys lacrosse (orange tier), girls lacrosse (red tier), boys and girls soccer (orange tier), softball (red tier), swimming and diving (purple tier), boys and girls tennis (purple tier), track and field (purple tier), boys volleyball (orange tier), and boys and girls wrestling (yellow tier).
As more information and guidance is received, the Section will work with the league commissioners to help facilitate a schedule for their schools.
We are committed to serving our member schools with our best interests in mind for safety and good health for all participants. We must continue to follow State and local health guidelines with hopes that we can return to play in the near future.
Have a wonderful week!
Vicky Lagos
Commissioner
CIF LA City Section
January 19, 2021
The City Section, headquartered in Granada Hills, consists of 156 schools, including Palisades High. Conditioning may continue per the Los Angeles County Health Department. Season 1 was supposed to have run from Dec. 14 through March 27 and Season 2 was slated to start Feb. 8 and run through June 26.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.