IHSA does not expect winter sports to start before January due to COVID restrictions
On Wednesday, Dec. 2, the Illinois State High School Association held a virtual meeting to discuss several topics, including the potential start timeline of winter sports for state high school athletes.
According to IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson, the board does not expect low risk sports such as swimming and bowling will start before January.
In addition, high risk sports such as basketball are also not expected to begin play until at least early to mid January due to the current Tier-3 COVID-19 mitigations Governor J.B. Pritzker’s office has placed on the state due to the recent upsurge of COVID-19 positive cases.
This of course affects sports at Highland High School, including boys basketball.
“I’ve heard rumors that they may start in January and I’ve also heard rumors they may start as late as April so I don’t think it’s anything concrete,” Highland boys basketball coach Deryl Cunningham said recently. “I told our kids, I don’t have any information to give you, so it’s hard to plan and see what we’re going to do because I don’t have the information.
“And I’m nervous, too, because with it being pushed back, our numbers were low for basketball and we just don’t need to run into football and baseball (seasons) and I’m wondering how all that’s going to work out.”
“I guess the one thing you can hold on to is they just postponed it and didn’t cancel it so that’s where you kind of tell your athletes to hang in there,” Highland girls hoops coach Clint Hamilton said recently.
Said Anderson, “Given Gov. Pritzker’s current mitigations, the board has no expectation of starting low risk winter sports prior to January. The Board and IHSA staff will continue to monitor the Tier 3 Resurgence Mitigation in effect currently. When there is a timeline for the state to emerge from these restrictions, the Board is prepared to restart lower risk winter sports quickly.”
The IHSA board is also planning to introduce contact days for winter sports in January as well.
“The board hopes to re-establish contact days in January for any winter sports that cannot begin, as well as spring and summer sports. The introduction of the contact days will be based on mitigations from the governor and the Illinois Department of Public Health at that time. Further guidance on contact days limits will be established at a future Board meeting,” Anderson said.
Anderson noted the board reiterated they remain committed to creating as much opportunity as possible for all sports that remain to be played this school year. They intend to evaluate the equity of each season as a potential resumption date in January begins to materialize.
“The board appreciates the flexibility displayed by our schools throughout the pandemic, and although they recognize the challenges each modification creates, they continue to ask that schools be adaptable in the New Year. The board continues to evaluate season start and ending dates depending on when the winter season resumes,” Anderson said.
In regards to the use of weight rooms and open gyms before and after schools by schools during the current Tier-3 mitigations that are in place, the board said school districts would need to follow the current health guidelines of their local counties as well as state guidelines.
This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 11:28 PM.