By Bobby Narang
York High School first-year boys head basketball coach Mike Dunn might have to wait a bit longer for his debut season at his new school.
The former Yorkville High School coach has a long family history that dates back 100 years with York High School. But the recent announcement by governor J.B. Pritzker to delay the start of the Winter sports season, which includes basketball, until the Spring raised some eyebrows throughout the State.
November 9, the West Suburban Conference announced that they will follow the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) guidelines by not holding games and that practices would be limited to individual drills while no scrimmages would be held.
Dunn said District 205 is still in a holding pattern regarding whether their schools can participate in practices. The Dukes captured the West Suburban Silver championship last season, but head coach Vince Doran resigned to spend more time with his family.
“There’s still a lot of talk with the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) and we don’t even know what’s happening,” Dunn said. “We’re still waiting on District 205 and what the IHSA is going to decide to do about the possibility of pushing the season back to January. We don’t even know what’s going on. The coaches just feel bad for the kids. We’ve been telling our kids you can only control the things you can control and to just be positive. This has not been good for anybody in sports.”
Some schools, such as Yorkville Christian, Lewistown, Lena-Winslow, Parkview Christian in Yorkville, Peoria Christian and Sherrard, have announced they plan on playing basketball in November. In addition, several schools are set to begin practice November 16.
Downers Grove North, which participates in the West Suburban Silver Conference, is not scheduled to begin practices until the end of the month.
“Our School District has made the decision we are not starting until November 30,” Downers Grove North boys head basketball coach James Thomas said. “Some schools are starting November 16, but that’s not in writing. If December goes well, then our conference will have a schedule ready to go in January (2021) with a regular conference schedule with one crossover. But that’s not etched in stone.”
District 202, which includes Plainfield East, Plainfield South, Plainfield Central, and Plainfield North High Schools, announced it will not allow students to participate in basketball even though the IHSA said last week that schools could start practices November 16.
“We cannot in good conscience bring more students back into our buildings thereby increasing the risks to human health and safety,” District 202 superintendent of schools Dr. Lane Abrell said in a statement.
“I know some of our neighboring districts are doing different things. We wish them well and will continue to communicate with them as they face challenges of starts and stops to their in-person plans. But we are most concerned about our own students and staff.”