By Bobby Narang
November is normally a special time of the season in high school sports.
The weather turns chilly, leaves start to fall, and the football season is reaching a high point with the start of the playoffs.
With basketball practices heating up and the State cross country meet, the calendar is filled with news about amazing team achievements and record-breaking individual accomplishments.
It’s not this November.
Over a three-day span last week, the future of the Winter, Spring and new Summer high school sports season were influx due to a news from governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois High School Association (IHSA).
October 27, Pritzker shocked the State by stating the Winter sports season should be put on hold, per the recent news that the Illinois Department of Public Health declared earlier in the day that basketball was moved from a medium risk to a high risk amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, wrestling and hockey were moved to high risk.
The news floored the high school basketball community.
“I’m not sure what has happened since the Summer to have basketball reclassified,” Benet Academy girls basketball head coach Joe Kilbride said. “To me, this decision is disappointing. We are now in limbo.”
Less than 24 hours later, October 28, the IHSA Board of Directors met and decided to vote in favor of keeping the current basketball season on schedule. Practices were set to start November 16, with games set to tip off November 30.
The IHSA board voted to move wrestling to the new Summer season which runs April 19 to June 26.
“The Illinois High School Association Board of Directors made the decision today to continue with the IHSA basketball season as scheduled in 2020-21,” the Board of Directors said in a statement.
October 29, Pritzker went on the offense and declared that all Winter high school sports would be moved to the Spring season.
“We aren’t saying these sports won’t be played,” Pritzker said “We are delaying the play of these sports. We are saying do training, do conditioning. Even the high-risk sports there are things they can do. It’s not like we are shutting the sports down.
“But these are all being moved into the Spring with the hope that we will be seeing vaccines and treatments that will be effective.”
Benet boys basketball coach Gene Heidkamp said the recent news is another page in the ongoing battle.
“It’s troubling that the decision-makers can’t get on the same page,” he said. “I think the best thing to do is to be cautious, see where this goes. I’m going to rely on my administration for guidance.
“I’m just proud of how the kids have handled the situation. Our kids are excited about the possibility of a season. This is just a really tricky time.”