The San Francisco Unified School District will allow high school students to resume practices and games in multiple extracurricular sports next month, the district announced Wednesday.
Starting April 12, the district will allow its high schools to resume practices and games for baseball, softball, girls’ flag football, boys’ and girls’ tennis, boys’ and girls’ soccer and boys’ and girls’ track and field.
High school football and boys’ and girls’ basketball teams will also be able to practice outdoors but will not be allowed to able to play official games for now, according to the district.
“As a former student athlete myself, I know how important sports are in the lives of so many of our students,” SFUSD Superintendent Vincent Matthews said. “It is a short season but I hope it is the beginning of what will be many more opportunities to play.”
Practices will be allowed to resume on April 12 and will conclude by May 28, according to the district. There will be no playoff or championship games and games will only be played among teams within the district.
Students will only be allowed to play one sport and teams will be limited to 25 players to keep cohorts small, according to the district. Some sports that require more players such as track and field will be allowed to field teams of more than 25.
The district will only allow outdoor sports despite guidance from the state allowing indoor youth sports. Outdoor sports will also only be available to high school students as there are not enough available playing fields to accommodate middle school sports.
District officials intend to share more information about each sport’s availability in the coming weeks.