‘Let Them Play’ Rallies In California Protest Restrictions On Youth Sports

Across the state of California, rallies protested COVID-19 restrictions on youth sports, calling on state leaders to let sports resume.

According to The Sacramento Bee, California’s suspension of youth sports is currently scheduled to end next week. But state officials have said the timeline could change. California’s Health and Human Services Secretary Mark Ghaly called the coronavirus situation “pretty dire” in many California communities.

“But obviously the state of the surge and the conditions in many, many of our communities are pretty dire, pretty significant, so trying to work with those different partners to make sure that we land in a place that allows us to do what we’ve always wanted to do, which was resume activities that so many people miss but do it safely,” he said in the Bee‘s report.

According to Los Angeles’s FOX11, dozens of ‘Let Them Play’ rallies took place across the state last week, with protestors pointing out the mental and physical health concerns many parents have for their kids without structured sports opportunities.

Meanwhile, some schools have flouted the state’s coronavirus rules by playing rogue, unsanctioned games. Those schools could be subject to fines and dismissal from CIF membership, the state’s high school sports federation said this week.

California’s high school swimming & diving seasons are in the spring. They were one of the first full high school seasons to be completely canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic last spring.

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Miss Meets Like Crazy
3 years ago

Am I the only one that is absolutely heartbroken that any Swimmer has a Trumper parent? So awful. I wish I could adopt them all. They deserve so much better parenting.

Corn Pop
Reply to  Miss Meets Like Crazy
3 years ago

Your Private Gulag , does it have a swimming pool ?

Miss Meets Like Crazy
Reply to  Corn Pop
3 years ago

Three! One for LCM, SCY and the last is the worlds biggest hot tub!

Greg Spire/Swim San Diego
Reply to  Miss Meets Like Crazy
3 years ago

Who are you to judge anyone’s parenting ability??? For you to say that a parent that voted or believed in a certain way has any reference to their parenting skills is so small minded, it is sad.

Missing Meets Like Crazy
Reply to  Greg Spire/Swim San Diego
3 years ago

Dude! I would never let a Trumper near my child unsupervised. Ever!

Corn Pop
3 years ago

Grandmothers can be 38 years old! After all , 19 is the perfect age to give birth.

Its very young but they just h and them over to their mum to look after . Its the trad way in many countries still.

Last edited 3 years ago by Corn Pop
Swim&Polo Dad
3 years ago

Over 40 states opened their states to allow youth competitions, I think perhaps even more. California hasn’t allowed competitions since March. Does Covid’s threat change at the border?

Swimming has proven to be a very safe sport. According to articles on Swimswam, water polo has been found to be the safest team sport (tied with beach volleyball). Policies and procedures are in place to allow competitions safely. Let Them Play (and Swim). One would think safe competition would be encouraged.

And what about the disadvantaged? Californians who can afford it are flocking to Arizona, Utah, and Texas to compete. Not so much the economically disadvantaged. They deserve a chance to play as well, don’t you think? As other states… Read more »

SoCalteacher
3 years ago

As a teacher, I’ve got 5 students in my classes with Covid. All athletes who are participating in small cohorts. Our campus police officer was intubated last night whose son is on the football team. Get a grip, people. This will all end. Even though the death rate is relatively low, that doesn’t matter to people who lost a loved-one from a highly preventable death.

Last edited 3 years ago by SoCalteacher
Corn Pop
Reply to  SoCalteacher
3 years ago

Very bad English . Luckily I don’t believe anything in your story , so I don’t think SoCal teachers are illiterate.

WestCoastRefugee
3 years ago

You do realize that 2/3 of the hospital admissions are for people that were already in a nursing home/assisted living facility, right? We can’t keep doing this forever…Covid is not going anywhere soon. If you have a comorbidity or are at risk, you need to shelter away from others. Everyone else needs to practice preventative measures and get on with life.

So confused
Reply to  WestCoastRefugee
3 years ago

The issue is what if you make the money for your household and are immune compromised? Do you lose your job? Then your home as well as all your resources? I wish it was as easy as to keep the weak home but sadly the weak still need to work in many instances.

westcoastbestcoast
Reply to  So confused
3 years ago

Things they want you to lose your job for: being immunocompromised through no fault of your own
Things they don’t want you to lose your job for: invading the US Capitol by choice

Greg Spire/Swim San Diego
3 years ago

I am amazed at some of these comments. Everyone is affected by this and there will never be one right solution or answer. Yes, we need to be very aware of our ICU bed vacancies, but we need to be equally aware of the impact that this has had on our youth and for me our youth aquatic athletes. We train in an environment that has been shown to be a barrier to this virus. As both a club coach and a high school coach, the need to provide our aquatic athletes an outlet from their current life is equally important. If, as a society, we follow some of the most basic safety protocols, we would not be where we… Read more »

10U DAD
Reply to  Greg Spire/Swim San Diego
3 years ago

Well said Greg! Especially the part about working collectively and ending the negativity. Happy to have people like you in the San Diego/Imperial LSC.

Missing Meets Like Crazy
Reply to  Greg Spire/Swim San Diego
3 years ago

I’d like to start a report your neighbor or fellow swim parent to their boss or swim team movement. We might not ever get out of this mess until we do. The solution requires acting responsible for everyone else in society. Our kids get that. Sadly too many parents don’t.

Irish Ringer
Reply to  Missing Meets Like Crazy
3 years ago

What are you expecting? Should they lose their job because they disagree with your stance? CA has been locked down more than most states, so what do you propose? The strict lockdowns are partly the reason why the movement to recall Newsome has gained as many signatures as it has.

Miss Meets Like Crazy
Reply to  Irish Ringer
3 years ago

Would the threat of losing your job finally make you wear a mask?

Questionable
Reply to  Greg Spire/Swim San Diego
3 years ago

Are we not segregating one part of the population needs above another by the actions being taken right now? Protecting predominantly the weak and elderly by forcing everyone to suffer?

Dylan
3 years ago

No we should alienate our kids even further and have them live in a virtual world only.

Mega
Reply to  Dylan
3 years ago

Have you seen the California ICU numbers recently?!

I feel terrible for the parents and children who have to figure out school, but I feel even worse for those who are dying in the ER and their families who can’t be with them when they pass.

Swim&Polo Dad
Reply to  Mega
3 years ago

For the conspiracy theorists out there, statistics can be twisted, or at least perplexing.

Contra Costa County, on August 4 per their own website, had 199 ICU beds. Today, they only have 163 total ICU beds. That’s a decrease of 36 beds or 22% of today’s total. Where’d they go? There were 183 ICU beds just a few days ago. . .

Also interesting, a month ago, there were 60 Covid ICU patients in the county; today 55, yet the ICU available percentage is close to the lowest it’s been.

Finally, if you read the fine print in the percentages calculation, for every percentage point over 30 that Covid patients are of the total ICU patients, the ICU… Read more »

HoosierDaddy
3 years ago

Okay, but go Indiana Hoosiers!!!

Cak
Reply to  HoosierDaddy
3 years ago

Here comes the mighty guerra

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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