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IHSA board: No change to current status of sports. Board will meet again Jan. 27

The Illinois High School Association's highly anticipated board of directors meeting Wednesday ended with little change to the current state of winter sports.

High school sports in Illinois have been on pause since Nov. 20 when Gov. J.B. Pritzker put Tier 3 mitigations in place statewide due to a surge in COVID-19 infections.

Wednesday, having not received any further guidance from the Illinois Department of Public Health or Pritzker's office, the IHSA board continued the pause and set a special meeting for Jan. 27, at which time they hope to set new season dates.

"The Illinois High School Association board of directors announced that all sports not operating under an official IHSA season calendar may begin to conduct contact days as soon as they are allowable per IDPH mitigations and local school guidance. Contact days normally exist within the IHSA as informal voluntary offseason workouts," a release from the IHSA said.

"The IHSA acknowledges the immense mental, emotional and physical strain that a lack of contact with school programs is causing Illinois high school student-athletes," said IHSA executive director Craig Anderson. "It is our intention that these contact days provide sport-specific training under the leadership of high school coaches. This is an effort to provide a viable sports option to high school athletes given the growing number of student-athletes opting for higher risk opportunities within the state and across state lines."

Additionally, the board reviewed several options outlining a sports schedule framework for the remainder of the school year. The board directed the IHSA staff to take feedback from Wednesday's meeting, as well as any insight gained in the coming weeks, and bring forward scheduling options in time for the Jan. 27 meeting.

Craig Anderson
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