CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- We may know by the end of the year how high school sports seasons in Illinois will be shaking out.
Like everything else this year, COVID-19 has thrown high school sports into turmoil. Officials have tried to weigh students’ need for extracurricular activities against the desire to keep them safe from spreading the coronavirus.
The Illinois High School Association held its regularly scheduled board meeting on Monday, and announced that is plans to meet with representatives from Governor Pritzker’s Office and the Illinois Department of Public Health sometime before Jan. 1 to discuss when it would be safest for winter sports like basketball to take place. Following that meeting, the IHSA board will meet to finalize schedules.
“The board reiterated on Monday that they plan to do everything in their power to provide a season for every IHSA sport in 2020-21,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “There have been no cancellations of any sports, or discussions about canceling any sports, thus far. The board appreciates the patience and flexibility of the IHSA membership and remains optimistic, especially as vaccines begin to be administered, that we will return to conducting IHSA sports early in 2021.”
The Governor’s Office said in October that medium- and high-risk sports such as basketball and football would not take place until spring. The IHSA attempted to host a basketball season as scheduled in late November, but after statewide Tier 3 mitigations were put in place the season was also delayed.
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Additionally, IHSA announced Monday that girls badminton, a low-risk sport, will be moved from the spring season to the winter season, to help free up gym space for the medium- and higher-risk sports that will have to be played in the spring.
“Given its status as a low-risk sport, we believe we can safely conduct badminton in the winter as soon as the current mitigations are lifted,” Anderson said. “The feedback that we have heard from our schools is that this is an optimal time to conduct badminton as they look at balancing sports and facilities throughout the remainder of the school year.”
IHSA also said it is prepared to restart the low-risk winter sports, including boys and girls bowling, boys swimming, girls gymnastics, competitive cheerleading, and dance, once Tier 3 mitigations are lifted.