Winter Sports Can Start Now, Football On March 3: IHSA

BLOOMINGTON, IL — Sports are back. Following a meeting Wednesday of its board of directors, the Illinois High School Association released the sports schedule for the remainder of the school year. Winter sports — including basketball, boys swimming and diving, dance, cheerleading, bowling, girls gymnastics and badminton — can begin practicing immediately.

"We understood the high level of anticipation surrounding today's announcement, along with the scrutiny that will accompany it," IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in a release. "Ultimately, the Board adhered to its stated goals throughout the pandemic: providing an opportunity for every IHSA student-athlete to compete safely this year and maximizing opportunities for traditional IHSA spring sports after they lost their entire season a year ago."

Last week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Health announced that all regions in Phase 4 of coronavirus mitigations can return to playing all high school sports immediately.

That means Region 3 (southwest Illinois), Region 5 (Southern) and Region 6 (East 6) qualify for full resumption of athletics, per new IDPH guidance. During a coronavirus briefing Friday, Dr. Ngozi Ezike, of the IDPH, said these new allowances include basketball, considered a higher-risk sport for the coronavirus.

All High School Sports Can Be Played In Phase 4: IDPH

Football, another higher-risk sport, saw its fall season paused and moved to the spring schedule in Illinois. With Wednesday's announcement, practices can begin March 3, and March 19 is the earliest games can start.

Except for football, which requires players to participate in practice on 12 different days before a game can be played, all sports will be required to hold practice on seven different days prior to holding a contest, according to the IHSA. Holding multiple practices on a single day does not affect the timeline. If student-athletes transition from basketball or boys swimming and diving into football, for example, they will need to participate in practice on 10 different days prior to their first contest.

The IHSA said winter sport contests could begin as early as Wednesday, dependent on when a school’s region reached the appropriate mitigation status and when they began practices.

"Our Board faced an impossible task with a litany of factors. They were conscientious in considering every possibility and I believe their decisions today are a positive step for the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of our students," Anderson said. "We are excited to channel our energy into creating as many positive experiences for Illinois high school students as we can between now and the end of this extraordinary school year."

In the Phase 4 regions, lower-risk winter sports like bowling, girls gymnastics, girls badminton, boys swimming and diving, dance and cheerleading can compete at Level 4 of the new sports safety guidance. Level 4 includes the allowance of tournaments, out-of-conference/league play, out-of-state play and championship games.

For higher-risk winter sports like basketball, Phase 4 regions can compete at Level 3 of the new sports safety guidance, which includes intra-conference or intra-EMS-region or intra-league play/meets only.

For Tier 1 regions (next in line for Phase 4), lower-risk sports can also be competed at Level 4 of the new sports safety guidelines, medium-risk sports can compete at Level 3, and higher-risk sports can compete at Level 2. The latter states intra-team scrimmages are allowed with parental consent for minors, but no competitive play.

For Tier 2 regions (next in line from Tier 1), lower-risk sports can be competed at Level 3, medium-risk can be competed at Level 2, and higher-risk sports can be competed at Level 1. The latter includes no-contact practices and trainings only. All regions of the state had moved out of Tier 3, the strictest of the tiers for coronavirus mitigations, as of last Friday.

Sports scheduled to compete in the spring and summer seasons for the 2020-2021 school year include: soccer, football, volleyball, boys gymnastics, water polo, baseball, lacrosse, softball, boys tennis, track and field and wrestling.

"The Board wants to do everything in their power to prevent spring sports from going two consecutive years with no postseason IHSA play," Anderson said. "There are obviously no guarantees, as risk levels by sport and local region mitigation statuses will factor significantly."

He added that postseason play could be limited to a regional or sectional level of competition, but the IHSA has not ruled out the idea of playing a full state tournament for traditional spring sports if possible. Anderson said the overwhelming feedback the IHSA has heard from athletic directors and coaches was that returning to play in all sports should be the main goal.

IHSA guidelines require all student-athletes to wear masks (with the exception of swimming and diving, gymnasts on an apparatus and outdoor events where social distancing can occur). All game personnel not participating in the contest are also required to wear masks and adhere to social distancing.

"We still have regions of the state that need to make strides in order to be able to play basketball this winter," Anderson said. "That underscores the importance of our schools following all the mitigations and precautions. We need to maintain a positive trajectory not only to get winter sports going, but to make sure we do not have any regions regress before spring and summer sports have their opportunity. We can all do our part by wearing a mask and socially distancing."

The IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee also issued a statement Wednesday reminding member schools that student-athletes may need additional conditioning in order to participate in a full schedule this season.

"In addition to season/practice requirements, care needs to be given to each student's individual acclimation as they return to play, the committee said. "When building schedules, attention needs to be given to academic pressure, changes from in-person to remote learning, changes between tiers of mitigation, time spent traveling to events, appropriate time to practice/learn the sport between games, etc. to ensure the student experience truly enhances the academic day."

All sports that are out-of-season can conduct contact days through June 4, according to the IHSA. Contact days are limited to three days per week per sport with a maximum of six hours of contact per week with no interscholastic competition.

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