The MUSD Board of Managers has voted for MHS to have three truncated seasons of sports rather than two, MHS Athletics Director Joanna Butcher said via email. This new schedule will give more opportunities for athletes to compete this school year, Butcher added.
There are four colored tiers that indicate the severity of coronavirus cases in an area: yellow tier (minimal), orange tier (moderate), red tier (substantial), and purple tier (widespread). According to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the guidelines for when certain sports will be allowed to operate are as follows: The yellow tier is for high-risk sports such as basketball and wrestling. The orange tier is for badminton, football, gymnastic, soccer, volleyball, and water polo. In the red tier baseball, field hockey, and softball will begin. Finally, the purple tier includes low-risk sports such as cross country, golf, swimming, diving, tennis, and track and field. Purple tier sports are the most flexible and are allowed to operate in any tier. Red tier sports are allowed to operate in every tier except for the purple tier. Orange tier sports are allowed to operate only when the county is in the orange tier or yellow tier. Lastly, yellow tier sports are only allowed to start if the county is in the yellow tier.
Season 1
Season one will consist of only purple-tier sports since they are the most flexible, Butcher said. Cross country, girls’ tennis, and swimming are all set to begin during this season, she added. These sports started official practices on Feb. 1 and official competitions will start the week of Feb. 15, she said. If competitions do not start by March 1, these sports may have their season extended, she added.
Season 2
Season two will consist of sports that are allowed to operate in the orange tier and yellow tier, Butcher said. Football, soccer, and cheerleading are all orange tier sports and will all be season-two sports, she added. Badminton and girls’ volleyball are also in the process of getting approved to be season-two sports; however, if these two sports are not approved by the county, they will be moved to season three, Butcher said. Season-two sports will start official practices on March 1, and competitions are set to start on the week of March 15, she said. If the county does not enter the orange tier or yellow tier by March 29, however, season two sports will be canceled except for those able to move to season three or if they did not have a full spring season last year, like badminton, she added.
Season 3
Lastly, season three will include a combination of sports from every tier, Butcher said. According to Butcher, the purple tier sports that are set to begin in season three are track and field, coed golf, and boys’ tennis; the red-tier season-three sports are baseball and softball; the orange-tier season-three sports are boys water polo and girls water polo; lastly, the yellow-tier season-three sports are girls basketball, boys basketball, and wrestling. Official practices for these sports will start on April 5, and competitions are set to start on the week of April 19, Butcher said. However, if the county does not enter the appropriate tier by May 3, sports seasons that are not approved to operate will be canceled, she said. For example, if the county is in the red tier on May 3, orange tier and yellow tier sports will have their seasons canceled, she added.
Although not all sports have started official practices yet, teams waiting for their season to start can have pre-season workouts to prepare, Butcher said. Workouts are not the same as official practices. They are voluntary cohorts that follow the guidelines of the County Office of Health, she added.
“The Coaches will need to review the guidelines and agreement with the Athletic Director prior to any workouts resuming in person on the MHS campus,” Butcher said. “An athlete must be cleared by the (Athletics Department) through athletic clearance prior to joining workouts. All workouts must take place outside, no more than 12 per cohort, social distancing, masks when not in physical exertion and with proper sanitizing of equipment, hands, etc. An athlete may only participate in one cohort at a time; this pertains to an outside of school group as well.”