The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), the governing body for most of the state’s high school sports, announced its condensed 2020-2021 schedule on July 20th. The CIF announced that they would combine three seasons into two seasons (fall and spring), dispersing winter sports into either season. This change was implemented due to the coronavirus pandemic, thus pushing each season’s start no earlier than December.
So far, the Southern, Los Angeles City, Central, Central Coast, North Coast, and Sac-Joaquin CIF sections have released an updated sports schedule following the state-wide calendar update on July 20th. In a letter to Northern Section members, schools can only begin competition after passing the county health officers’ approval to implement youth sports, which could knock out state tournament play for some schools. The CIF San Diego Section plans to announce their updated 2020-2021 schedule by August 14th, according to their website homepage.
The CIF Southern Section is the only section to separate boys and girls water polo for the upcoming season, with the boys starting off a week earlier than the girls. According to the 2019-2020 season calendar, girls water polo was traditionally a winter sport, yet merged to fall for 2020-2021.
2020-2021 CIF Swimming & Diving Schedule: By Section |
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| Date | Southern | Los Angeles City | Central | Central Coast | North Coast | Sac-Joaquin | Oakland | San Francisco | Northern | San Diego |
| First Practice | ??? | March 1 | March 8 | March 8 | March 8 | March 8 | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
| First Competition | March 13 | March 13 | March 20 | March 22 | ??? | March 22 | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
| Last Non-Conference Play | May 22 | May 22 | May 21 | ??? | May 22 | May 15 | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
| Section Championships | May 24-29 | May 25-27 | ??? | May 29 | May 29 | ??? | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
2020-2021 CIF Water Polo Schedule: By Section |
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| Date | Southern | Los Angeles City | Central | Central Coast | North Coast | Sac-Joaquin | Oakland | San Francisco | Northern | San Diego |
| First Practice | ??? | December 14 | December 14 | December 14 | December 14 | December 14 | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
| First Competition | December 21/28 | December 26 | December 28 | December 28 | ??? | December 28 | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
| Last Non-Conference Play | February 20/27 | February 27 | February 25 | ??? | February 27 | February 26 | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
| Section Championships | March 6/13 | March 11 | ??? | March 13 | March 13 | ??? | N/A | N/A | TBD | TBD |
California Coronavirus Update: In the last 24 hours, California saw 6,891 new cases, bumping the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state to 460,550. The total number of related deaths rose to 8,445, yet more than 7.2 million total tests have been administered.