There’s a new air quality rule in place for California high school athletics and it has Foothill League football coaches fuming.
“Either we have the worst air quality in all of Southern California, or there’s something weird going on with these measurements,” Canyon head coach Ken Holsenbeck said.
A new CIF rule based on a California state law passed in September 2023 says teams cannot practice outdoors if the Air Quality Index (AQI) score, based on levels of ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide in their area, is above 150. The AQI rarely reaches that threshold in most of Southern California, but in the Santa Clarita Valley this summer, it’s been there regularly. Coaches can’t figure out why.
“In the Santa Clarita Valley, we’ll be in the red or the black or whatever the color is and the other (places) won’t,” Valencia coach Larry Muir said. “The AV (Antelope Valley) will be fine, Simi Valley will be fine, San Fernando Valley will be fine and we are not fine, for some reason.”
The most frustrating part for coaches is that, unlike heat, air quality has been impossible to predict. The CIF uses the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow app, which updates every hour on the 15. If a team can’t practice at 3:15 p.m., it has to wait until 4:15 p.m. for an update. If it’s not lower then, better luck at 5:15 p.m. Practices keep getting delayed or even canceled altogether, throwing regimented schedules into chaos.
Other sports have also been affected. Field availability has been a struggle, with fields left unusable for much of the afternoon. Several coaches are worried about their JV teams, which usually play in the afternoon before the varsity or other fall season sports like girls tennis that don’t have lighted facilities.
The football coaches have found short-term relief by practicing either early in the morning or in the evenings, avoiding the worst air quality in the mid-afternoon. Few knew what they’d do when classes started on Monday.
“What’s potentially going to happen is that we’re going to be forced to practice either A, in the morning, or B, practice really late at night,” Saugus coach Jason Bornn said. “And now that’s going to affect our student athletes’ ability to sleep. It’s gonna affect their ability to do their homework. It’s gonna turn their 10-hour day into a 16-hour day. I mean, this is crazy. … The AQI [rule] is insane to me.”
Bornn has coached for 34 years, 22 at Saugus. In previous years he’d modified practice plans based on heat or air quality without issue, either making his own judgements or listening to administrators. Now, his hands are tied.
“I look at it as a slap in the face,” Bornn said. “It’s like, oh, OK, so I guess for 34 years, I didn’t know what I was doing, and now I need the state to come in and legislate me and tell me what I can and can’t do because I’m not intelligent enough to figure out, ‘Hey guys, it’s 100 degrees outside, we’ve got to make adjustments to practice.’”
Coaches have talked amongst themselves and to their district, taking guesses on what could be going on. There’s one AQI sensor for the region, determining when the entire league can practice. The coaches don’t know where it is. Some hypothesize it could be near the Chiquita Canyon landfill in Castaic, which was recently cited for failing to minimize potential pollution. One joked it could be on the interchange between the 210 and 5 freeways.
The William S. Hart District could not confirm with the Daily News where the sensor is located.
Others think the rule should just be implemented differently. Golden Valley head coach Dan Kelley wants a scale with steps, instead of just a cut-off at 150. He already changes his practices based on the temperature and could do the same on days with poor air quality.
One coach suggested that the Santa Clarita Valley should have a different AQI cutoff than the rest of the region. Several said the air quality hasn’t been any different than usual this summer, and there haven’t been issues before.
Thus far, buying more sensors seems the best possible solution.
“The safety and well-being of our students is our highest priority,” a spokesperson for William S. Hart School District, which represents all seven Foothill League schools, wrote in a statement. “We are following new state and CIF guidelines. We are currently working with CIF to explore the possibility of purchasing AQI measuring devices for each of our campuses so measurements can be more localized.”
Still, coaches brought up that that could result in equity issues — what happens if one program can practice and another cannot?
CIF Southern Section assistant commissioner Thom Simmons said, as of this time, the organization has not heard complaints from the Santa Clarita Valley schools. There are currently no plans to change the rule, as the rule is in its first year.
While the rule is an inconvenience now, there are fears that the rule aimed at keeping players safe could have the opposite effect. Some coaches are worried that their players will get hurt playing teams that have been able to practice more, or that they won’t be as ready for contact as they would have been if practices hadn’t been canceled.
“It’s affecting all our Foothill League,” West Ranch coach Chris Varner said. “Meanwhile, our game one opponents, they’re practicing no problem. So what (happened to) the safety measures of getting your bodies acclimated to contact? It’s concerning.”
“As with all student-health related bylaws, the intention is to keep these athletes safe,” Simmons wrote in a statement. “Again, as this is the first year of these bylaws, if it is determined that it needs adjustment, the CIF Sports Medicine Committee will evaluate what adjustments (if any) need to take place and will act accordingly.”
For now, the Foothill League schools will wait and see. That doesn’t mean they can’t be upset about it.
“I’m a history teacher, I’m not a scientist,” Bornn said. “I don’t understand. … Something’s wrong. (Either) it’s the app that we’re using, where the sensor is, or I happen to live in the most toxic, air-polluted valley in Southern California.”
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