Youth sports programs make gradual return to local fields

By Doug Spoon, Editor

The City of Menifee has not made a public announcement, but a city official confirmed this week that youth sports leagues have been given permission to use local athletic fields once again – with restrictions.

Those restrictions actually have been in place since Aug. 5, when Riverside County public health officials issued an update regarding youth sports during the COVID-19 pandemic. The guidelines include maintaining social distance between individuals and observing “cohorting”, which refers to an organized group of athletes in a limited number to avoid transmission of the virus.

In the weeks since then, small groups of people have begun using local fields, as well as travel ball baseball teams that have a limited number of players and aren’t associated with a local league. Meanwhile, residents have noted that the yellow tape has disappeared from around playground structures. Otherwise, permission to use Menifee parks has been as vague as many of the other aspects of the COVID-19 restrictions.

This week, assistant city manager Jeff Wyman attempted to clarify the issue in an email to Menifee 24/7.

“Once these (County) announcements were made, City staff began working with Menifee youth sports leagues to coordinate how they could move forward safely and following State and County guidelines,” Wyman said. “After this coordination, they were then able to begin practicing at City parks on Sept. 1.”

The key word is practice. Sports leagues still are not permitted to play official games, said Dominique Somario, public information officer for the City.

“At this time, sports leagues have only been approved to practice outdoors with guidelines. There has not been discussion of when competition can begin,” Somario said. “They are basing this on a document from the California Department of Public Health.

“State Public Health’s basis for not allowing competitions is that no activities are allowed ‘that would promote congregating.’ It continues that ‘tournaments, events, or competitions, regardless of whether teams are from the same school or from different schools, counties, or states, are not permitted at this time.”

Once again, it is up to youth leagues to interpret the impact that has on them.

Menifee Pony Baseball announced on its Facebook page Wednesday that it will not offer any kind of program this fall.

“We didn't get all of the info we needed from the parks until just last week, and due to darkness, we can't really run the fall season past daylight savings, which is Nov. 1 this year,” the announcement stated. “This means we'd have maybe six weeks if we really hurried to get it going now. We're also not allowed to play games; we'd be limited to 10 players per team and only one team on a field at a time for practices only.

“Not that those limitations were going to stop us, but we just couldn't get it worked out with the time and the expenses of the fall (lots of lights fees). Be on the lookout for our 2021 Spring signups to come out on Nov. 1, or possibly even a week sooner.”

Menifee Valley League board members are considering a small number of free clinics this fall, but no official announcement has been made.

Menifee AYSO 820 announced Thursday that it will conduct a skills training soccer season this fall.

“Since competitive games are not allowed at this time, we have developed a skills training program for the kids to get out of the house, socialize with their peers, and have fun,” the statement reads. “We have made several changes to our program, with social distancing in mind. . .”

Menifee Under the Lights, a youth flag football program, recently began a fall skills camp.

“We have partnered with the City of Menifee to reserve field space on Monday and Friday nights to begin conditioning and skill building exercises,” the announcement read, in part.