By Bobby Narang
The high school football season last week was pushed back nearly six months.
The boys and girls basketball seasons are shortened, and the Spring sports took the heaviest cut in the length of their respective seasons.
Those were among the many eye-opening, but badly-needed, changes to the high school sports calendar season announced by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) to combat the growing concerns of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Illinois governor JB Pritzker made some sweeping announcements that caught IHSA executive director Craig Anderson by surprise. Three hours after Pritzker’s press conference, the IHSA revealed its plan for a four-season schedule to make sure all sports would play in the coming school year.
Pritzker unveiled three risk levels: Lower, medium, and high to go with four tiers of level of play.
“These are incredibly important moments in the lives of our children,” Pritzker said. “When the multibillion-dollar sports leagues with multimillion-dollar athletes are struggling to protect their players, it is obvious there won’t be enough protection for kids on our schools’ playing fields. The NBA (National Basketball Association) has resorted to containing its players in a bubble to press on with its season. MLB (Major League Baseball) is facing a major outbreak. This virus is unrelenting, and it spreads so easily that no amount of restrictions seems to keep it off the playing field.”
Nearly every state has instituted a plan to allow high school athletes to play this season, with Illinois unveiling a schedule in which football is moved to an early Spring that allows for competition from February 15, 2021 to May 1, 2021. In the Fall, the schedule will have boys and girls golf, girls tennis, boys and girls cross country, and girls swimming and diving, competing August 10 to October 24. The Winter session will be boys and girls basketball, wrestling, boys swimming, cheerleading, dance, bowling, and girls gymnastics November 16 to February 13, 2021. The Spring includes football, boys soccer, girls volleyball, badminton, boys gymnastics, and water polo. The new Summer season will run May 3, 2021 to June 26, 2021, to include baseball, softball, boys and girls track and field, boys volleyball, lacrosse, and boys tennis (See chart below).
“This plan, like nearly every aspect of our current lives, remains fluid,” Anderson said. “Changes may come, and if they do, we will be agile while putting safety and students first. It was important that we provide a framework today for our student-athletes, coaches, administrators, and officials to begin preparing for the 2020-2021 school year.
“While the announcement led to some positive and negative reactions throughout the State from athletes, coaches, and athletic directors, the IHSA viewed the new schedule the best way to accommodate all sports. No sports were canceled, but the higher risks sports, such as football, boys soccer and girls volleyball, were moved from their traditional Fall season to a Spring season. All seasons will be shortened.”
“I know our hearts break when we hear the word restrictions, especially when it comes to our children’s love for their sports,” Pritzker said. “Whether this year is their first time on the court or it’s their senior season, this isn’t the news anyone wants to hear. But with rising rates of spread of the virus, with rising positivity rates throughout Illinois and the United States, this is a situation where the toughest choice is also the safest one. Therefore today, my administration is releasing new guidance restricting youth and adult recreational sports in Illinois. We have worked in consultation with the governing bodies of many of these organized sports programs, and collectively we hope that, when metrics and risks improve measurably, we will be able to restart these sports.”