Updated August 5, 2020:

To the Loyola Athletic Community:

I hope that you and your family members are healthy and looking forward to the upcoming school year. On behalf of the entire Loyola Athletic Department, staff and coaches, we are eagerly looking forward to welcoming our student-athletes back into the LHS gyms, courts, fields and pool.

I also want to thank you for your patience and understanding over the past two months as we have tried to schedule on-campus workouts for our teams. I realize that many have been frustrated by tentative target dates for on-campus practices, only to have those dates change due to L.A. County mandates regarding in-person practices on school campuses. Although most of the decisions have been beyond my control, I do want to acknowledge that our inability to give you definitive start dates for on-campus workouts may have added stress to your lives.

After consulting with our varsity head coaches and Loyola High School’s Administration, the Athletic Department has decided to start practices no earlier than Tuesday, September 8th––the day after Labor Day. This decision is based on a number of factors. 

First, the CIF Southern Section on July 20th decided that no games would be played for any sport in the fall. The CIFSS has moved football, cross country, water polo and volleyball to a winter season schedule. Volleyball’s first contest can be played on December 12th; water polo’s first contest can be played on December 19th; cross country’s first contest can be run on December 26th; and football’s first game can be played on January 8th. (Full 2020-21 CIFSS Calendar can be found here or at cifss.org.)

Second, after receiving these starting game dates, the coaches and I came to the conclusion that if we start practices after Labor Day, it would give the football, cross country, water polo and volleyball programs more than enough time to prepare for their seasons.

Third, Loyola High School is following guidelines given to us by the L.A. County Department of Health. We are still uncertain about whether or not the county will allow us to start practices in August. In fact, looking at the current numbers and the way they are trending, the odds of practice in August are unrealistic. The Athletic Department realizes that many families have been unable to take “vacations” in anticipation of these guidelines changing over the last two months. In the best interest of our student-athletes’ physical and mental health and taking your family into consideration, we have decided there will be no in-person practices or workouts until at least September 8th. At that time, we will re-evaluate and see where we are with the L.A. County Department of Health Guidelines.

I will communicate with all of you by Tuesday, September 1st about practice starts for football, cross country, water polo and volleyball. Once again, circumstances may change and the Labor Day start date could change, but it will not be any earlier than Tuesday, September 8th.

If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me via email at codonnell@loyolahs.edu. Thank you.

Mr. Chris O’Donnell ’88

Athletic Director