Prep sports: Something to look forward to

By Ed Piper

With the Dodgers starting their 2020 season Thurs., July 23--two days from this writing--and the hopeful Padres opening the next night, we have sports that we can watch on TV on the horizon after a long COVID-induced "winter".

All of which is a lead-in to another thought about the newly-announced CIF calendar for high school sports for the 2020-2021 school year.

Coach Kellen Delaney's Viking wrestlers are pegged into the "spring" sports season, with their first competition allowable on March 5, 2021. Wrestlers would have to wrap up section competition by June 4-5.

That means the annual Holtville tournament, which draws 400 wrestlers from multiple states, will not be held on its usual dates at the end of January.

"Holtville" is a term that lights up wrestling enthusiasts' eyes, and means an annual mountain to climb for Viking grapplers, who usually send 10 or so varsity and younger athletes to the Friday-Saturday overnight-stay tourney outside of El Centro.

No go for 2021. Like LeBron James said in an interview, "I answer '2020'" when he is asked about the season. All bets are off, routines are disrupted, annual tournaments will have to be moved to other dates if they are to come off in the approaching school year.

Holtville High will have to look for another date, between March 5 and the beginning of June, to hold its 2021 edition. Such things can be done in a novel situation. (Did you catch the use of "novel", as in "novel coronavirus"? My brain still works part of the time.)

I've watched parts of a couple of "MLS is Back" tournament soccer games on TV this past week. I'm not a knowledgeable "futbol" viewer, having never played it as a youth (AYSO was just bringing in youth soccer when I was a teen), with only three games lifetime played. (A defender half my height kicked my foot in a men's league game, possibly breaking it. I walked off after the game, handing the size-14 cleats my buddy, Phil Whalen, the AYSO commissioner, had loaned me, and told him, "No more.")

But when you have a sport on TV, why not look in? The offerings have been sparse. Now they will increase, as MLB, the NBA, the NHL, and other leagues go into fanless games in empty stadiums.

Back to high school and the local scene, how about Gary Frank's baseball team and the Lions Tournament? Last spring, Lions was scheduled April 6, 7, and 8, with La Jolla hosting Foothills Christian, Escondido, and Broomfield, Colorado, respectively. (All was postponed March 13, then cancelled subsequently.)

With baseball given a March 19-June 19 window in 2021 (I'm looking at the CIF Southern Section's dates--I don't have access to San Diego Section's calendar yet), Frank and his next edition could play similar dates in the Lions Tourney next spring. The annual Alumni Game won't happen on the weekend of February 15, obviously, with the season start telescoped to mid-March. But there are ways to deal with all of this.

The great part is that we finally have a tentative plan to look forward to, while keeping our fingers crossed that the COVID situation will ease up.