California Coaches Join West Coast Coaching Alliance In Hopes To Inform, Lobby Local & State Officials Regarding Sports Restart

By Chace Bryson

We’ve reached the point that high school coaches know they need more than trending hashtags to be heard.

With less than four weeks remaining before the CIF’s Dec. 7 start date for fall sports practice — and a little more than six weeks from the Jan. 4 competition start date — the governor and state health department have still not presented guidelines for a return to youth sports. COVID-19 cases are spiking once again. With schools, districts and counties all holding different timelines and priorities, the tension and anxiety grow exponentially.

Decisions are certain to come soon, and California coaches want to make sure their voices reach the room where they happen. Coincidentally, Oregon and Washington coaches face the same realities in their states — and forces are joining.

Behind the efforts of James Logan High-Union City coach Ricky Rodriguez, California coaches are now working in partnership with the brand new West Coast Coaches Alliance. Rodriguez helped gather more than 80 members of the California Coaches Association for a Nov. 11 Zoom call with leaders of the WCCA.

In the meeting, the group discussed a variety of action items each coach could take to help the organization build a strong case that resuming youth sports is critical to kids’ education and well-being

And that it can be done safely.

“We wanted to come up with a plan on how we can approach this as educators and coaches and make it a true movement,” Rodriguez said the day after the meeting. “We realize that if we band together, it’s going to be a powerful movement and our voice is more likely to carry to those making decisions.”

Oregon and Washington are facing similar restart timelines to California. Washington’s only current advantage over the other two is its schools are able to hold true team practices, as opposed to the pod workouts that California and Oregon have been restricted to.

During the meeting of mostly California coaches, a few coaches from the northern states shared data they’ve been compiling that shows how programs from other states have returned to youth sports successfully and without becoming a source of virus spread. Part of the action plan derived from the meeting was for California coaches to begin compiling their own data from their own pod workouts.

“We’ve been going three times a week for more than 12 weeks and we haven’t had any issues,” said Rodriguez, whose program workouts include up to 105 kids. “There are tons of other programs that have operated and haven’t had any issue. We need to be compiling and  presenting the data from within our own states.”

Rodriguez was quick to point out that their message to state and local officials shouldn’t and won’t be just about safety.

“One of the things that really gets lost in this argument is how academics and athletics are related,” Rodriguez said. “We need to stress the benefits for a return to practice and competition and how those two correlate with attendance, grade status and student-athletes’ mental health.”

The East Bay Times/Mercury News published a Nov. 3 article that highlighted a widespread spike in failing grades amongst distance-learning high schools. In the Mt. Diablo Unified School District that includes schools in Concord, Walnut Creek and Pleasant Hill, the story cited a near-12 percent statistical jump in students with more than one failing grade. Other school districts had even larger spikes.

Not every student represented in these statistics is an athlete, but athletes who once had sports as motivation to succeed in the classroom are undoubtedly being affected academically.

“I have students just struggling with grades,” Antioch High athletic director, history teacher and boys basketball coach Andrew Riva said. “Those students who I could keep under my thumb by saying, ‘You can’t come to workout or open gym unless you’re taking care of this,’ are harder to reach. There’s no carrot to put out there.

“If we don’t have something to help keep kids motivated, we’ll get to sports and we might not have eligible kids for them.”

Riva voiced his concern in mid-October when Antioch’s school district had still not even approved pod workouts for its athletes. The district’s two high schools were eventually granted permission to run workouts twice a week beginning Oct. 26.

Rodirguez said he absolutely shared Riva’s concern while stressing how lucky he’s been to have the support of his own district (New Haven Unified).

“Our superintendent has been extremely supportive,” the Logan coach said. “We were approved three weeks ago to start an outdoor weight room routine, and our pods can use equipment like balls and blocking bags too.

“Meanwhile, Hayward Unified schools haven’t seen their kids in-person since last March. But in the current timeline, we’ll all be expected to just pick back up in six weeks and all be on the same playing field?”

Working with the new West Coast alliance, coaches throughout California have already begun speaking with their administrations as well as compiling and sharing data.

Coaches who want to become more involved with the movement are encouraged to check out the social media sites for both the West Coast Coaching Alliance (Twitter / Facebook) and California Coaches Association (Twitter). The plan is to meet again via Zoom on Nov. 25.

“Everything has been so politicized, and that’s the furthest thing to what we want,” Rodriguez concluded. “This is about the kids and the struggles that they’re going through right now. … We have to put everything aside and do what we feel is right for this generation of kids.

“Just like I ask them to fight for me on Friday or Saturday nights, I’m going to be doing the same for them every day.”

This story first appeared on SportStarsMag.com. Visit the site of SportStars Magazine for more local sports coverage from throughout Northern California.

photo credit: Chace Bryson