GALT, CA (MPG) - Summer is usually a time for high school athletes to prepare for the upcoming fall season. Athletes work with their coaches to condition, learn plays, lift weights and perfect their skills.  

While this is still true, the CIF Sac-Joaquin League members have voted in a new mandatory No Contact Dead Period July 1-July 14.

Most high school sports do some kind of conditioning all year round, and this Dead Period applies to all sports: Fall, Winter and Spring. Winter and Spring sports will have no other Dead Period but this one.

What does this mean? No practice, no team building, no weightlifting, no conditioning, no meetings of any kind and no fundraisers. Additionally, outside organizations, clubs and/or businesses cannot be used to circumvent the rules of this no-contact dead period. The CIF stresses that no member of the school’s athletic department can have any contact with athletes. No contact means No contact. Dead periods will adhere to Bylaw 504.8.  During the dead period no member of the coaching staff (paid or voluntary) may have any contact with his/her athletes.

According to Jason Feuerbach with the CIF Sac-Joaquin section office, the No-Contact Dead Period was passed unanimously by the playoff committee and the executive committee. Section staff attended all 26 league meetings with principals and athletic directors last August to touch on issues including the dead period. 

“The Board of Managers saw the proposal as a first read item in October and voted on it in January 2024 where it passed unanimously,” said Feuerbach. “The new No-Contact Dead Period has the following benefits: It allows families a designated time each summer to go on vacation, and rest and recover for the student athletes. There is now a set time where schools can clean and update facilities, and it is equal for all sports.”

Families will now know in advance when to plan family activities so their athlete potentially won’t miss practice, and they can plan very far in advance. 

A great majority of high school athletes also participate in club sports. How does this No-Contact Dead Period affect club play? Athletes can still participate in club sports as long as no person associated with the high school athletic department is in attendance. 

What if an athlete plays for a regional club sport team that has multiple athletes from multiple schools on it, but their high school coach happens to be the club coach? The CIF says either the athlete or the coach must not attend practice, games or any other events/gatherings during the dead period.

Even if the club has a tournament during the dead period, the athlete and coach are not permitted to attend together and only one can attend the event.

Now, a few coaches are parents or relatives of athletes, and while no athletic activity is allowed, they can attend family events during the dead period.

If a high school coach provides sports training for athletes year-round as a business for athletes all over the region, they can continue to do business but no kids from the school they coach may attend.

The Sac-Joaquin Section executive board approved a one-time waiver for teams that had previously qualified for a nationally recognized organization’s culminating event during the dead period.

There has been some local scrambling to either change fundraising dates or athletes having to pull out of fundraisers like pancake breakfasts. Teams have also pulled out of participating in our local Fourth of July parade or helping with the Kevin Tonn Memorial Run.

What are the consequences of breaking the rules? According to the CIF, violation of the no-contact dead period could result in loss of playoff eligibility, coach suspension, athlete suspension, school fines, reduction in allowable contacts, loss of practices and more.