South Coast Conference and El Camino College competition update
South Coast Conference Release
TORRANCE - Due to the recent surge of COVID-19 cases and current pandemic conditions in Los Angeles County, the presidents of the 12 South Coast Conference colleges unanimously decided to opt out of competition for the upcoming California Community College Association (CCCAA) Spring I season, which affects fall and winter sports, it was announced Wednesday.
In addition, El Camino College has made the difficult decision to opt out of the Spring I season. The ECC programs that compete during fall and spring and are affected by this decision are football, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's water polo, men's and women's cross country and women's volleyball.
Football competes in the Southern California Football Association and not the SCC.
"We will continue to monitor the impact of the pandemic and be prepared to return to competition and campus when it is in the best interest of the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff," said Colin Preston, ECC Athletic Director. "Although we all hoped to be back on campus and competing against our fellow South Coast Conference members, we will focus on succeeding in the classroom and provide the best possible support for our student-athletes during this unfortunate time."
The CCCAA COVID-19 contingency plan called to move all traditional fall sports and winter sports to January 18, 2021 for the first date of practice with competitions slated to start on Feb. 5 and compete through April 6.
The CCCAA COVID-19 contingency plan also calls for Spring II sports will have their competition windows begin on March 27, 2021 with the first official practices with April 10 marking the first day of official competition. The final date of regular season competition is slated for June 12.
The Spring II sports at ECC include baseball, softball, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's tennis, badminton, men's and women's swimming, men's golf, beach volleyball and men's volleyball.
The deadline to opt-in or opt-out of the Spring II portion of the athletic season is Feb. 26. The 12 SCC presidents plan to hold meetings on January 6, 2021, and February 3, 2021, to discuss the prospects of going forward with Spring II sports.
Sports competition came to a screeching halt at the California Community College level back in March when the pandemic forced a shutdown in the state. No South Coast Conference titles were awarded in the Spring, 2020 sports, which played abbreviated regular/conference seasons.
The SCC consists of the following colleges: Cerritos, Compton, East Los Angeles, El Camino, Los Angeles City, LA Harbor, LA Southwest, LA Trade Tech, Long Beach City, Mt. San Antonio, Pasadena City, and Rio Hondo.
(El Camino College)