Throughout the past couple of months we’ve been following CIF’s restrictions on competitive baseball outside of high school per its 600-605 bylaws.
In short, the bylaws restricted any CIF athletes in participating in other sports and clubs. CIF waived those bylaws in the summer to allow student athletes to continue playing outside their respective high school teams, as high school athletics were still uncertain due to the pandemic. Early this winter CIF walked back that waiver and disallowed outside competitive play for student athletes.
Well, it seems CIF has reinstated the 600-605 bylaw waivers allowing students to play in competition outside CIF (outside of football).
A rule change announced Wednesday by the CIF will allow high school athletes and coaches in California to be involved with more than one sport or team at any time for the rest of this school year.
The CIF, the state’s governing body for high school sports, said the change was made after consulting with the California Department of Public Health. There is one major exception to the revised rule – football.
Now, athletes in all sports — except football — will be able to participate in activities — games and practices — with more than one team — high school or club — at the same time. This revision also affects coaches.
The change was made by the CIF after it received clarification from the CDPH about a revision the state made to the “cohorts” portion of the high school and youth sports guidelines. That so-called “cohort” guideline — a cohort is essentially a team — said that anyone involved in high school sports should “refrain from participating with more than one team over the same season or time period.” The CDPH said at the time the change was made to reduce the potential spread of COVID-19.
CIF will allow athletes, coaches to participate in more than one sport at a time
This change does not unilaterally clear your child to continue participating in 310 BASEBALL tournament & competitive play, and we strongly recommend asking your child’s head coach whether or not they are allowed to compete with the 310 BASEBALL team.
We will offer workouts, conditioning and training sessions with 310 BASEBALL coaches (at a reduced tuition fee) for all high school players if they are prohibited from competitive games outside high school and want to continue working with us at 310 BASEBALL to improve their game.
The CIF season will start March 19th for most local schools.