CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — With most of Illinois back at Phase Four of Restore Illinois, the Illinois High School Association was given the green light by the Illinois Department of Public Health to start holding sports practices and games.
IHSA board members met early Wednesday and came up with a schedule for all affected sports.
“We’re glad to have a plan in place and look forward to seeing our kids back enjoying the experiences of competing against one another, and that really is the aim of our board as you look at what they’ve prepared. It was really about just getting students back engaged,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson.
Boys’ and girls’ basketball teams may start practicing immediately. They must practice on seven different days before they can start playing games, meaning two-a-days would still only count for one practice date.
Anderson said those practices could have started as early as last week.
Those sports’ respective seasons will not end with a state tournament, and will end on March 13.
Football practices start March 3, with week one of the regular season set for March 19. Like basketball, there will be no state playoffs, and the season will wrap up Apr. 24.
Athletes who participate in basketball or boys swimming and diving and then transition to football must practice on ten different days before they will be eligible for season play.
Anderson said there was no immediate plan to mandate student-athletes get tested for COVID-19, and IDPH had not made any overtures about needing to mandate it.
“We wouldn’t discourage it, because we think testing that may go on may ensure there’s more safety, but we feel like, in leaning on our sports medicine advisory committee and with the guideline being offered from IDPH for us to go forward, we won’t have to require testing, and we can go forward as planned,” he said.
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