Boys gymnastics' future appears to be secure
Boys gymnastics boosters can take a deep breath.
Though the IHSA on Tuesday approved a recommendation that sets the threshold at 10 percent statewide participation for adding a championship series in a new sport, Executive Director Marty Hickman provided a special statement aimed at reassuring the boys gymnastics community that its sport will remain in good standing.
"There has been a great deal of outreach from the state's gymnastics community to our office and Board members since it was announced that this item would appear on (the April 20) Board agenda," Hickman's statement said. "I want to reiterate that there are currently no plans in the works to eliminate any sports or activities. We have not eliminated a program in the 19 years that I have been at the IHSA and there is currently no intention to change that."
Hickman said the recommendation was drafted with the intention of giving the IHSA better oversight to any new sport that might initially meet the 10 percent level but fall far short of it as time passes. He stressed that the passing of the new recommendation does not affect any current sports.
In other IHSA news:
• Kurt Gibson has been promoted from Assistant Executive Director to Associate Executive Director. He joins Hickman, David Fry and Don Robinson as the only others in the IHSA's history to hold that title. Gibson is the administrator for boys basketball, boys golf and boys and girls gymnastics, and was a force in implementing the IHSA's drug testing policy.
• The girls golf state championships will be moving to Decatur and nearby Forsyth, beginning next fall. The boys championships will remain in Bloomington/Normal.
• The results of the IHSA winter drug testing were reported by Kurt Gibson. Of 48 tests given, one wrestling result tested positive, but that student was granted an exemption by the Medical Review Officer and will not be disciplined. So far this school year, the IHSA has given 189 tests and has received a single positive result.