Who needs government schools to get an athletic scholarship? In fact government schools will stop an athlete from getting a scholarship, since they no longer play competitive sports, in a competitive environment. Now private clubs have taken the place of the politically correct school sports.
“For almost a year, Wallace, his teammates and players across Southern California stayed ready to play. Some ran routes and lifted weights together. Others played in 7-on-7 tournaments, hoping to get the green light to play in August … or September … or October. Instead, the California Interscholastic Federation delayed the season to January.
In December, CIF announced that games would not begin in January because of the worsening pandemic and would be pushed back further into the winter or spring. Then, on Jan. 19, the CIF postseason was canceled, adding further doubt about any football season being played.
Out of frustration, Wallace nearly quit the sport. Then he heard about Winner Circle Champions League, which is offering high school football players in California a chance to compete in full-contact, 11-on-11 club football, even if a high school season never materializes.
This may b the best way to have legitimate teams and events—without government interference. What do you think? Ready for Friday night football, sponsored by private clubs?
Southern California high school football players join new league despite COVID restrictions
With high school football season in California in jeopardy, a recreational league gives players a way onto the field. Health officials aren’t happy.
Story by Andrew L. John, Jose Quintero and Jason Reed, Desert Sun, 2/7/12
Oshea Wallace nearly gave up on football.
An all-league quarterback at Cathedral City High School in 2019, Wallace was poised for another big year as a junior. Then, three months after his sophomore season concluded, the coronavirus pandemic swept the nation.
For almost a year, Wallace, his teammates and players across Southern California stayed ready to play. Some ran routes and lifted weights together. Others played in 7-on-7 tournaments, hoping to get the green light to play in August … or September … or October. Instead, the California Interscholastic Federation delayed the season to January.
In December, CIF announced that games would not begin in January because of the worsening pandemic and would be pushed back further into the winter or spring. Then, on Jan. 19, the CIF postseason was canceled, adding further doubt about any football season being played.
Out of frustration, Wallace nearly quit the sport. Then he heard about Winner Circle Champions League, which is offering high school football players in California a chance to compete in full-contact, 11-on-11 club football, even if a high school season never materializes.
“I don’t know if we’re going to have a high school football season this year, so this is what we have right now,” Wallace said. “It gives us an opportunity to play.”
Oshea Wallace, a junior in high school, tries out for the Desert Diablos club football team at La Quinta Park in La Quinta, Calif., on January 30, 2021.Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
Even though state and county public health guidelines say youth sports competitions are prohibited because of the coronavirus pandemic, the WCCL is finishing a winter season that includes 36 teams and about 1,550 players in Southern California.
Jordan Campbell, who founded the league, said that 18 games have been played weekly on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays on private property, near Prado Regional Park and Mike Raahauge Shooting Enterprises, a location bordered by chain-link fences in San Bernardino County. The games are not open to the public.
Over the summer, Riverside County sent Campbell a cease-and-desist letter after his Corona-based Winner Circle Athletics LLC held football activities in Riverside. The company later signed an agreement with Riverside County agreeing to halt activities in the county.
When contacted, officials from San Bernardino and Riverside counties could not agree on whose jurisdiction the WCCL games being played fell under.
San Bernardino County spokesperson David Wert said he “thinks the county line runs through the middle of the field.”
Wert later added that the county’s “understanding is that some youth sports activities are allowed by the state while others are not” and it depends on the activity.
The WCCL plans an even larger season beginning next month. Currently, 64 teams from across Southern California as well as a few teams from Northern California, Arizona and Hawaii are expected to participate.
A few teams will represent the Coachella Valley and Victor Valley, including Wallace’s Desert Diablos, which is comprised of players from Palm Springs to Coachella and everywhere in between.
On the morning of Jan. 30, more than 60 players showed up for a Diablos tryout at La Quinta Park, across from La Quinta High in Riverside County. They ran routes, threw passes and ran through a series of drills that tested a player’s speed, skill and knowledge of the game. The team planned a second tryout Saturday, Feb. 6, for those who could not make the first.
Because these tryouts are not actual games, the Diablos do not believe that they are in violation of any Riverside County pandemic ordinance.
To participate, players must pay a $150 WCCL entry fee and an equipment fee to their teams, which the Diablos are trying to cover for their players.
“It’s been hard times for everybody,” said Diablos coach Michael Avina, “so we’re looking to fundraise for everything. We’ll have raffles and different things like that to help the kids so they don’t have to pay for anything.”
Avina, a three-year starter at quarterback for La Quinta High who played for Whittier College, said the team is accepting donations and will start a GoFundMe campaign.
Next Up Elite’s Corinthias Jones, center, watches the ball fly past him against Redzone Elite during a Winner Circle Champion League game on Saturday, January 30, 2021.James Quigg, For the Daily Press
Game setting very different
Gone are the bleachers full of proud parents and student sections chanting for their team, replaced with the backdrop of barren farmland. Instead of the roar of a crowd, the popping of a nearby shooting range fills the air.
Masks were not mandatory during a recent game — or at least were not enforced. While the four referees and most of the coaching staff donned masks during the game, many of the players on both teams did not.
Typical coronavirus protocols were not enforced for those in attendance, either. No signage was present in the area recommending face coverings or social distancing.
The field had 10 portable toilets with either two or three in each corner of the perimeter. Stationed in each corner was a handwashing station with soap and cold water.
Also near the front entrance was a booth asking for signatures to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Every person entering the property had their temperature checked, and Campbell said the league follows safety protocols and has athletic trainers and paramedics on standby during the games.
Sean Ili, an all-league fullback and linebacker at Barstow High School, doesn’t need the bells and whistles of a traditional high school football game.
Ili, who plays for Next Up Elite, is just thankful to have an opportunity to step on a football field during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
“It feels great,” Ili said after a recent loss. “I am just blessed — beyond blessed — to be out here and do what I love to do.”
Ili had one of the few bright spots in Next Up Elite’s 28-0 loss to Redzone Elite — a team made up of San Clemente High players — on Jan. 30. Ili forced a second-half fumble that was recovered by Silverado High’s Kaliopasi Katoa.
But wins and losses are not what matters for Next Up Elite coach Terrell Culpepper, rather a chance for players to show college recruiters what they can offer.
“It is more important to just see them out there playing,” Culpepper said after the 28-0 loss. “My biggest goal is to get these kids film. A lot of them missed their chance for their senior year so this is my chance to get them film to send out for scholarships.”
Southern California high school coaches have mixed feelings about their players competing in club football. Some coaches believe that freshmen and sophomores who need to gain experience and game reps would benefit. On the other hand, a junior could risk injury and jeopardize playing again as his final two seasons could be held only four months apart.
“I’m not telling kids and families not to play club football,” said James Dockery, who coaches Xavier Prep in Palm Desert. “That’s their decision. I’m happy to have a discussion with them about the risks and the rewards, but I think the decision is different for everyone.
“It’s an interesting dilemma.”
DeShawn Minor, a senior at Granite Hills High School, had a solid chance at landing a college scholarship with a strong senior season, according to Cougars head coach Alex Gonzalez.
Minor, the lone player from Granite Hills on the Next Up Elite roster, has Gonzalez’s full support in deciding to play in the WCCL.
“If they are going to cancel our season, some kids, like DeShawn, need an outlet to potentially get that college scholarship,” Gonzalez said. “If this league, which sounds like a great idea if it’s done properly, then why not? I’m not going to stop him from that.”
Outcry to end league
Despite what the WCCL may offer for student-athletes, Campbell said there has been intense outcry to disband the league in the middle of the pandemic, as coronavirus cases surged in California. The league received notice of violations from the City of Chino this week and in December the California Department of Public Health banned all youth sports competitions as the state wrestled with a surge in coronavirus cases.
“We’ve received cease and desist letters, threatened with fines, all types of things,” Campbell said. “Everything you can expect when you defy suggested mandates or guidelines. But at the end of the day, we aren’t breaking any laws. Those are all suggested guidelines.”
Campbell, 32, grew up in Rubidoux and Norco and played linebacker at USC before transferring to Louisville and finishing his collegiate playing career at New Mexico Highlands. He played briefly in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals, Kansas City Chiefs and what was then the Washington Redskins, before opening Winner Circle Athletics, a training facility in Corona, in 2014.
Show caption High school athletes throw a medicine ball to gauge explosiveness during a combine exercise during tryouts for the Desert Diablos club football team at La… Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
Riverside County spokesperson Jose Arballo Jr. said the county has been well aware of the impact the cancellation of youth sports has had on student-athletes both physically and mentally. But the “overall health of the community” has to be taken into consideration, he said.
As for starting the WCCL, Campbell insists that his league is no different than club teams for youth sports such as baseball, basketball and soccer. Recreational football leagues typically do not exist for high school-age kids, so Campbell’s league is the first of its kind nationally, including teenage athletes playing football in an expansive league that fields teams from a wide geographical area.
Campbell said that 73 players have received college football scholarships since they began playing in his winter league.
“So not only are we starting the first-ever club football league in the country,” he said, “we are doing it during a global pandemic and having a lot of success in getting kids to the next level.”
Ken Mosier said it was a no brainer to have his son Nathaniel, a senior offensive lineman at Silverado High School, play for Next Up Elite, which features players from other area schools including Adelanto, Granite Hills and Riverside Prep.
The other High Desert team currently in the WCCL is AV Heat, which is made up of players from Apple Valley High School.
With a 4.0 grade-point average, Nathaniel has received various academic scholarships, but his father wants colleges to know about his son’s football skills.
“These colleges know that Nathaniel is smart but don’t know that he is also an athlete as well,” Ken Mosier said. “What people don’t realize is that a lot of these parents up here don’t have the money to pay their kids through college and need all the scholarship help that they can get.”
After the upcoming March-April season, Campbell is planning another that will run simultaneously with the high school football season, from Aug. 7 through Nov. 8. It will include a North and South conference and an eight-game playoff to determine a state champion.
“It’s all set up and ready to go,” Campbell said. “It’s just giving the kids another platform. Either you’re going to play for your high school, or you’re going to play club football.”
It’s not just about providing kids with more opportunities. Campbell believes this is the start of a business model that could go national.
Netflix, Showtime and HBO are the biggest production companies that have been on site to document what Campbell believes will “change the landscape of high school football forever.”
Some desert players want to be a part of that.
“It just feels good to be back on the field,” said Arieon Capler, an all-league running back in 2019 as a junior at Palm Springs High. “It’s been too long, man.”
Arieon Capler readies himself for the next play during tryouts for the Desert Diablos club football team at La Quinta Park in La Quinta, Calif., on January 30, 2021.Taya Gray/The Desert Sun
The CIF Southern Section said it will not penalize players for joining the WCCL, though it does not allow high school teams that are part of the CIF-SS to play games outside of its return-to-play schedule and protocols.
“Our position is that all schools and student-athletes should be following the California Department of Public Health’s Guidelines on Youth Sports that was released in August and updated in December,” said Thom Simmons, a Southern Section spokesman.
Simmons added that under the current California Dept. of Public Health Guidelines, football is only allowed to be played in the orange (moderate) tier. As of Feb. 1, the seven counties in the Southern Section remain in the purple (widespread) tier.
Simmons said that if a high school season begins this winter or spring, those playing in the WCCL or other recreational leagues will be required to cease their association with their club team if they want to rejoin their high school team.
“If they chose to continue their participating with the club program, they could not compete at that point with their high school,” Simmons said.
