City Decides to Continue Its Winter Sports Seasons

Despite damage to gymnasiums at high schools throughout the San Fernando Valley, a panel of City Section athletics administrators decided Tuesday to resume the winter-sports program--albeit with considerable modification in many instances.

After a two-week hiatus caused by the Jan. 17 earthquake, basketball and soccer schedules for boys and girls will resume next week in most leagues. However, because damage varies by school, leagues have the autonomy to set their own schedules.

Administrators representing schools most affected by the earthquake considered a variety of options--including outright cancellation of the winter-sports season--before settling on compromise plans that will vary greatly by league.

“Everybody has problems that are unique to their conferences,” Reseda boys’ basketball Coach Jeff Halpern said. “Everybody gave some input. It kept some schools from dropping out completely.”

Some leagues will replay games postponed by the quake while others will merely resume the schedule without looking back. The only hard and fast rule is that there is no hard and fast rule.

Plans, which will be forwarded to district administrator Dick Browning today, include:

* In the Valley Pac-8 Conference, administrators voted to replay all basketball and soccer games that were postponed by the quake.

In boys’ and girls’ basketball, make-up games will be played Feb. 7, 15, 17 and 18. Sites will vary depending on availability of gyms, some of which might still be serving as Red Cross shelters.

* In the Northwest Valley Conference, whose member schools sustained the heaviest damage, the West and North Valley leagues took decidedly different paths. Seven of the eight schools in the conference have lost the use of their gyms at least temporarily.

In boys’ and girls’ West Valley basketball, a 4-A Division league comprised of Taft, Kennedy, Cleveland and Chatsworth, postponted games will not be made up. Instead, scheduled games resume Feb. 4 and will complete an abbreviated league schedule.

In boys’ North Valley basketball, a 3-A alignment comprised of Reseda, San Fernando, El Camino Real and Granada Hills, teams will play a three-game round-robin mini-tournament at El Camino Real Feb. 9-11.

Girls will play under an identical format Feb. 16-17-18.

That is, if the El Camino Real gym is available. The school is closed and the gym remains on the list of temporarily unplayable sites.

Gyms at the other league members--San Fernando, Reseda and Granada Hills--are unplayable or being used as shelters.

Postponed boys’ and girls’ soccer games in the Northwest Valley will not be replayed. Games will resume next week and teams will complete an abbreviated schedule.

Despite the scheduling shuffle, Kennedy and El Camino Real, schools that suffered extensive damage, may be forced to forfeit games in several sports because of logistics problems, according to administrators from both schools.

* Wrestling coaches will be directed to complete the season and sort out the logistics as they see fit. Only nine City schools field teams.

Boys’ and girls’ basketball playoffs begin Feb. 23. Because teams will have played different numbers of league games, playoff seedings will be difficult to formulate.