The California Interscholastic Federation pushed pause Tuesday on its return-to-play plans for sports such as football and girls volleyball, saying it cannot get started until it receives guidelines from the California Department of Public Health — and that isn’t expected until after Jan. 1. 

“Thus, all full practice and competition start dates are officially on hold until updated guidance is issued,” the CIF said in a news release.

If given the green light to play, the CIF said it will remove all regional and state championships from the season that was to begin this month, clearing the way for more students than just those on playoff contenders to have a longer schedule.

The CIF also announced that boys volleyball is moving from the winter to spring (Season 1 to Season 2) because the boys season was canceled in the last school year. The boys traditionally play volleyball in the spring.

“The CIF is confident this decision is a necessary and reasonable action for our member schools, student-athletes, and school communities in light of the current statewide crisis,” the news release stated. “This revision to the CIF State 2020-21 Season 1 Sports calendar offers our Sections and Leagues the flexibility and needed time to plan for the return to practice and competition once updated guidance is provided by the CDPH.”

The announcement Tuesday comes six days before the North Coast Section’s traditional fall sports teams — football, volleyball, water polo, cross country — were to begin practice and less than two weeks before Central Central Coast Section teams were to start.

CIF officials met with their 10 section commissioners Tuesday morning.

“As always, they’re seeking input and very thoughtful in how they move forward,” said CCS commissioner David Grissom, whose section stretches from King City to San Francisco. “They certainly have the kids’ best interest in mind. We’re all trying to navigate this never-ending pandemic.”

NCS commissioner Pat Cruickshank said his section doesn’t plan to announce a new start date until the picture becomes more clear.

“Until we get those guidelines, we really can’t determine what a start date is,” said Cruickshank, whose jurisdiction extends from Alameda County to the coastal side of the Oregon border. “I don’t believe we’re going to see anything in December. We’ve just been through Thanksgiving, where it appears cases may spike after family gatherings. We’re about to head into Christmas and New Year’s, where gatherings will start again. I don’t believe the state is going to put out any new guidelines for a return to play until at least after the first of the year.”

Cruickshank said he’ll provide an update to his schools about section championships on Jan. 19, if he has new information. It’s possible, he added, that the NCS playoffs could be truncated to allow for a longer regular season.

“We could do a one-week format in sports like volleyball, water polo and maybe a bowl-game format in football,” Cruickshank said. “There are so many variations out there that we’ve been working on. But until we see what we can do and when we can start, it’s really kind of futile almost.”

De La Salle football coach Justin Alumbaugh, whose team was set for a state championship rematch at St. John Bosco-Bellflower to open the season next month, said he is frustrated that state health officials have not provided any information about what will be required to play youth sports again.

“I understand that the state has nine million things to do,” Alumbaugh said. “I am not under the assumption that their job is easy, that they aren’t doing anything. But we can’t forget our kids, either.

“How many millions of California kids play sports for their well-being? It numbers in the millions, and that’s enough for us to at least try to get some good guidelines in place, where we can advocate for them.”

After the CIF’s announcement Tuesday, James Logan football coach Ricky Rodriguez tweeted a picture of a can being kicked down the road.

“It breaks my heart that I have to once again try to explain to a bunch of 14-17-year-olds, that even though they are doing everything they can in order to have a season, we once again are in a wait and see approach,” Rodriguez said. “You can see the hurt in many of these kids’ eyes because the realization and possibility of never playing football again for Logan seems to increase every day.

“We are going to continue to do our part to give our players an opportunity to play. It’s just another obstacle we have to overcome, and it’s going to take the entire state to make it happen.”   

Any optimism that emanated from the CIF’s announcement in July to postpone sports until December dissipated as coronavirus numbers spiked in November.

This week, Santa Clara County health officials put a ban on contact sports at all levels through at least Dec. 21, ensuring that the county’s high school teams will not start practicing as scheduled on Dec. 14.

Grissom said Saturday the county’s tighter restrictions didn’t change much in his section, given that administrators across the state are still waiting for updated youth sports guidelines from Gov. Gavin Newsom, guidelines that have been delayed because of the COVID-19 surge.

“Until the guidelines change, we couldn’t have done anything with contact or any sports, anyway,” Grissom said.

The holding pattern is nearing nine months.

After canceling its state basketball championships in March and nearly all of the spring sports season, the CIF had hoped the COVID-19 crisis would improve in the fall and play would resume this winter.

“We’re all hopeful for that,” CIF executive director Ron Nocetti said in July. “But as we’ve seen, no one can predict what’s going to happen here.”

That was true in the summer and remains the case now.

Staff writer Shayna Rubin contributed to this report.