IHSA to allow basketball to begin Nov. 16, wrestling moved to summer
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) will allow high school basketball practices to begin on Nov. 16 despite changes to youth sport guidelines that moved basketball into the high-risk category Tuesday.
Boys and girls basketball programs will be allowed 31 games beginning Nov. 30. As a part of the mitigation plan, masks will be worn by all players, coaches, and officials during play.
Each local school district will have the final decision if they allow their basketball teams to participate.
“After diligent discussion, the Board has made the decision today to follow the recommendation of the IHSA SMAC as it relates to basketball,” an IHSA press release said. “The Board remains considerate of rising COVID-19 cases in Illinois and understand the importance of adhering to safety guidelines for the good of all citizens. However, the Board has not been presented any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally. On the contrary, the IHSA has been looking to bordering states who have sponsored both medium risk and high risk sports in the fall that have noted a low incident rate of COVID-19 spread.
“Instead, we will require all IHSA basketball teams to adhere to those SMAC mitigations, and allow local school officials to make decisions related to participation.”
The statement also said that the board took travel into other states to play sports during the winter season into consideration.
“Contact days for our teams this fall have been an incredible boon to our students’ well-being. We fear for the mental health of students who attempt to traverse a long winter with no athletic outlet available,’ the press release said. “So much about dealing with this virus has been learned in the past eight months, and this decision will grant the membership the opportunity to apply that knowledge during their basketball season.”
The IHSA Board also voted Wednesday to move the sport of wrestling from the winter season to the summer season, which will run from April 19 to June 26, 2021.
Low-risk sports including boys swimming and diving, cheerleading, dance, boys and girls bowling, and girls gymnastics will be conducted from Nov. 16, 2020, to Feb. 13, 2021.
Gov. JB Pritzker said in a press conference Wednesday afternoon that school districts know what the Illinois state rules are.
“IHSA may have their own views, but school districts know what the rules are and I think that, it’s unfortunate that they would be probably taking on legal liability if they went against what the state has set as a mitigation standard.”
