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IHSA To Defy Governor's Order, Proceed With Basketball Season
The IDPH had placed a temporary ban on all high school winter sports to help prevent the spread of Covid-19.
In a shocking move, the Illinois High School Association voted on Wednesday afternoon to proceed with the boy's and girls' high school basketball season, defying an order from Gov. J.B Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health to pause the season in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases.
While the IDPH had previously announced on Tuesday that all high school winter sports should be placed on a temporary pause until the pandemic was contained, the IHSA stated in a press release that Illinois high schools would "continue with the IHSA basketball season as scheduled in 2020-21." This normal schedule has practices beginning on Nov. 16, and regular season games commencing on Nov. 30.
Despite the fact that the games are moving forward, IHSA has still put stringent safety measures in place. All players, coaches and game officials will be required to wear masks for the duration of the contest, and the season will be limited to no more than 31 games.
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Although cases of Covid-19 in Illinois are on the rise, with three of Illinois' 11 regions seeing heightened restrictions, the IHSA stated that "the [IHSA] Board has not been presented any casual evidence that rising Covid-19 cases can make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally."
In the same press release, IHSA noted that they had pushed back the wrestling season to April 2021. Despite this one alteration, numerous other sports deemed low risk, including swimming & diving, cheerleading, dance, bowling, and girls gymnastics are still slated to start in November along with basketball.
Find out what's happening in Buffalo Grovefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
In a statement to the media, Gov. Pritzker responded to the decision by the Board, stating that "We've told school districts what the rules are and I think they all know. So IHSA may have their views but school districts know what the rules are. It's unfortunate but they would probably be taking on legal liability." While the threat of a potential lawsuit for the defiance remains to be seen, this is likely not the last squabble between the Governor's office and the IHSA.
In terms of the individual preferences of the players, it should be noted that "[IHSA] will allow local school officials to make decisions related to participation."
