What’s next for Highland High School fall athletics remains murky amid COVID-19

In just under a week after the Illinois Department of Public Health approved Phase 4 of the Return to Play Guidelines for high school sports, the Illinois High School Association was forced to make adjustments to those guidelines.

The IHSA made the announcement July 9 after a recent rise in COVID-19 cases among high school athletes and teams around the state forced adjustments in three key areas:

• There cannot be any contact drills/physical contact among athletes.
• All persons must always wear masks (they are working to determine if this includes outside while social distancing).
• There must be a strict 50 person limit to all indoor activities, and that would include any spectators (people in those groups should also socially distance). The changes are expected to be approved by the IDPH and also include additional restrictions if necessary.

For the Highland High School athletic department, the walking back of the Phase 4 Return To Play Guidelines is just another challenge on the road to getting all fall teams back on the field for the 2020-21 academic year.

“The step back last week really goes hand in hand with the Illinois State Board of Education guidelines that we’ve been given for returning to school,” Highland Athletic Director Amy Boscolo said. “So, in my role, I’m also an assistant principal so I’ve read through that document pretty fully and the IHSA is just being asked to follow the same parameters that the state (of Illinois) is asking schools to follow when we return to school.

“There may or may not be a few more changes that come back to us when it comes to us with athletics, but we’re just waiting to see what that guidance is as we go through the next couple of weeks.”

HHS football team not impacted by announcement

The adjustment of Phase 4 did not have an immediate negative effect on the Highland football team.

“We were on break from contact days workouts when the announcement was made and it didn’t really affect us that much,” coach Jimmy Warnecke said.

Warnecke said the program had one player test positive for COVID-19 as of July 14 and they are following all the necessary protocols to deal with the player’s situation accordingly.

Hoping for the best, staying positive and flexible

A formal decision on when contact in fall sports will be allowed again in Phase 4 of the Return to Play Guidelines is expected by July 29.

“Hopefully, we will get the go-ahead on the 29th and be able to get back to contact and trying to get the guys ready for Aug. 28,” Warnecke said.

Boscolo said being flexible and trying to move forward in careful fashion is the approach Highland is trying to emphasize.

“I think everyone’s just kind of rolling with it, it’s very fluid and there’s just a lot of emotions with it on both sides of the coin and we’re just trying to as flexible as possible, stay as positive as possible and move forward,’ Boscolo said.

IHSA will defer to other governing bodies in Illinois

The IHSA announced July 14 it will defer to the IDPH, the ISBE, and the Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office on all of its Return To Play Guidelines moving forward.

“There is an unprecedented level of planning for this school year due to COVID-19, and we have come to understand that there needs to be greater consistency between the guidelines for returning to learn and returning to interscholastic athletics,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a news release.

“Some of the recommendations by the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee and directives from IDPH have come into direct conflict with each other, especially as it relates to the use of masks by student-athletes.

“As a result, we feel it is important to let IDPH and ISBE provide a consistent direction for our membership moving forward. We will wait on direction from these organizations for further guidance on Return to Play plans for the 2020-21 school year.”

“We still believe there is a path to conducting high school athletics in the fall, like the majority of states surrounding Illinois plan to do,” said Anderson. “To make that happen, it’s important that we allow IDPH, ISBE, and the Governor’s office to take the lead on ensuring the safest and most consistent protocols.”