SANTA ROSA — ‘Let Them Play’ is holding a rally Friday beginning at 4 p.m. in front of the office of District 2 Assemblyman Jim Wood, which is located at 50 D St. in Santa Rosa (the corner of Second and D streets).
Friday’s rally is one of 16 taking place that day and at that time in cities across the state. Nearly all of the 10 sections that make up the California Interscholastic Federation, the governing body of high school sports in the state, are hosting at least one rally Friday. The Santa Rosa event is one of three taking place in the North Coast Section, which stretches from the Oregon border to the southern Bay Area. The other two NCS rallies are in Eureka and San Ramon.
‘Let Them Play’ is not a school-sanctioned event. It’s goal is to encourage state leaders to immediately re-open high school sports, which have been shut down since mid-March of 2020 throughout California. ‘Let Them Play’ rallies are organized by parents of student-athletes who are concerned about the mental well-being of their children.
“This is a non-political, grass roots organization that was started by parents in California, in response to the state’s restrictive guidelines surrounding youth sports during the pandemic,” according to a ‘Let Them Play’ press release. “We are particularly concerned with the return of high school athletics and now have nearly 49,000 members engaged in our community across the state. Our collective goal is to show our state government and public health officials that youth sports can be done safely. We base this on data available from 40-plus other states all over the country, who have allowed their youth to return to play.”
Lakeport hosted a ‘Let Them Play’ rally Jan. 15 that was attended by parents and athletes from schools inside and outside of Lake County.
Rally-goers are once again encouraged to wear their school colors and bring signs of encouragement. To ensure safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, please wear a facemask that covers nose and mouth and practice social distancing.
‘Let Them Play’ selected Wood’s office to rally in front of because he is the chairman of the California State Assembly Committee on Health, a 15-person committee comprised of 11 Democrats, three Republicans and one Independent.
The rally will come four days after the athletic directors and principals of the Coastal Mountain Conference, which includes all of Lake County’s high schools, voted 17-3 with three abstentions and two schools not voting to cancel the COVID-19-delayed 2020 fall sports of football, volleyball and soccer, and the 2020-21 winter season sports wrestling and basketball.
Currently the only high school sports offered in Lake County that are allowed to take place in the most restrictive purple tier under the state’s COVID-19 color-coded tier system are cross country, golf, swimming, tennis and track and field. Baseball and softball would be allowed if the county moves up one step from the purple to the red tier. Under current guidelines, football, soccer and volleyball require orange-tier status (two steps up purple) while wrestling and basketball require yellow-tier status (up three steps from purple).
