By Michael LEVITSKY

CIF-SS commissioner Robert Wigod announced on Oct. 1 that all school athletics are still set to begin in mid-December, if clearance is received from county and state health officials, along with individual school districts.

During a Southern Section council meeting, he assured that calendars and playoff divisions will remain as they are, even considering that any school can decide to opt-out of competition.

Additionally in the meeting, a new ejection rule in soccer was voted on and approved and will take affect beginning this season. The new rule applies to both girls’ and boys’ teams and states that a player being sent off after receiving two yellow cards will no longer be suspended in the team’s following game, as normally seen on the collegiate and professional levels. The rule change was put into place to replicate that of a foul-out in basketball.

The rule for receiving a straight red card in a match will remain intact, however; an individual player will be ejected and deemed ineligible for the team’s next game.

The Council additionally discussed a future CIF state proposal to have girls’ beach volleyball become an officially sanctioned sport beginning in the 2021-22 season. California would become the third state, following Florida and Arizona, to officially add girls’ beach volleyball as a sanctioned sport on the high school level. The proposal received a first read in the CIF state council meeting that took place on Oct. 9.

  Michael LEVITSKY