January 20, 2021
The CIF State Office issues the following notice: CIF Bylaws 600-605 (Outside Competition):
On July 20, 2020, pursuant to Bylaw 1108, the CIF Executive Director issued a notice which suspended CIF Bylaws 600-605 (Outside Competition) for the 2020-21 school year only. On December 14, 2020, the Governor’s Office and the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) released the updated guidance document “Outdoor and Indoor Youth and Recreational Adult Sports” which included the language below:
Cohorting (“Outdoor and Indoor Youth and Recreational Adult Sports” CDPH document)
Athletes and coaches should cohort by team, and refrain from participating with more than one team over the same season or time period (notwithstanding
competitions permitted as outlined below).
Therefore, the CIF must rescind its temporary suspension of CIF Bylaws 600-605 (Outside Competition) effectively immediately to avoid being in conflict with the language above issued by the Governor’s Office and the CDPH. If the CDPH Guidance is amended in the future, the CIF may elect to revisit this issue.
Question: If a student has already participated on a team outside the CIF, does this impact their high school eligibility?
Answer: No. As of today, there have been no CIF contests so no student has lost eligibility with respect to this Bylaw.
Please see the link for the original notices released by the CIF: https://cifstate.org/governance/constitution/1108__Bylaw_Modifications_2020-21.pdf