With COVID-19 still lingering, The California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section Commissioner, Rob Wigod confirmed today in press conference that the start of the high school athletic season will be pushed back to December and January.

There will only be a fall and spring season of competition as opposed to the traditional fall, winter and spring. The fall sports include football, cross-country, field hockey, gymnastics, traditional competitive cheer, volleyball, and water polo. Spring sports will include badminton, baseball, basketball, competitive sport cheer, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming/diving, tennis, track, and wrestling.

California’s governor decided to keep schools limited to distance learning through December essentially forcing the hand of the CIF to delay the start of the season. Delaying the season also prompted Commissioner Wigod and his staff to condense three seasons into two.

There are likely many questions left unanswered as a result of the CIF’s decision and announcement today. What effect will this have on athletes transferring schools? What happens if students are not allowed back on campus in December? Will fans be allowed to attend games? Many of the unanswered questions are difficult to assess until the situation presents itself.

One question that comes to mind, what will a late start to the season mean for senior football players who have committed to college scholarships already? Will they want to play? Their dilemma is similar to what top college players like Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields will face if college football moves to the spring. They likely would not play a season in the spring with NFL futures to consider.

Chance Hudson, a notable high school coach and trainer in the Southern California area has a sophomore son playing football at Oregon, and another son who’s a senior at Mater Dei and committed to Oregon for next year, has an interesting perspective on the CIF’s decision.

Hudson, who’s son Kyron (’21) is one of the top high school receivers in the country, is happy that his son might have a season in January. With a delayed start in January, the high school football season could extend all the way into mid-April with the CIF State Championship Bowl Games. It would not be unusual to see Mater Dei in that game. They’ve been there before.

It’s pushing it as far as getting in the time to allow the body to heal before he [Kyron] hits college.

Chance Hudson, commenting on his son Kyron Ware-Hudson, senior receiver at Mater Dei

It would seem that the leadership and decision-making at the CIF has certainly been better demonstrated than those at the NCAA. Commissioner Wigod certainly laid out a clear plan for starting the fall season in December. He outlined dates of competition to include sectionals, playoffs and championship rounds for all sports, both fall and spring.

The most impressive part of the press conference is that Commissioner Wigod stood in for a good hour and fielded questions from the press the entire time. There are national politicians who don’t do that.

You can see the press conference with Commissioner Wigod by going to https://cifss.org.