Coaches and student athletes in the Bay Area are joining a growing chorus around the state calling for the governor to loosen COVID-19 regulations around youth sports.
Over 50,000 people have joined a Facebook group, “Let Them Play CA,” asking the governor’s office to provide guidelines allowing students to get back on the field.
Coaches in Oakland and Richmond say the absence of sports has allowed some of their most vulnerable students to slip through the cracks.
“We’ve had systems in place to keep people engaged, build relationships," said Joe Bates, head coach for Skyline High School football. “All of that's gone, so now we’re seeing more guns on social media. Now we're seeing them join other brotherhoods, which we call gangs. I’m losing my boys.”
The pandemic has had a devastating impact on players, according to Bates. Just last year, Aaron Pryor, a 16-year-old star running back for Skyline, was shot dead just outside of his home in East Oakland.
“... (I)f he was playing sports, he wouldn’t be in the streets ...,” Bates said.
State health agencies have allowed some sport programs to resume, based on the color-coded, four-tier system that California uses to assess transmission risk.
“The guidance is based on a county's level of virus spread, the level of contact associated with each sport, and whether competition occurs outdoors or indoors where transmission risk is higher,” said Kate Folmar, a spokeswoman for the California Health and Human Services Agency.
Almost all of California, including every Bay Area county, has been designated as Tier 1, or purple, indicating widespread transmission. Limited-contact sports like tennis, track and field, and swimming are allowed under the purple tier. A high-contact sport like football is only permitted when a county jumps up two levels to the orange tier, when the virus’ spread is considered moderate.
The governor's office did not respond to a request for comment.