IHSA To Make Decision About Winter Sports At Board Meeting Tonight

The Illinois High School Association will be discussing its decision about winter sports this year during a special board meeting tonight, one day after Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health announced guidelines and marked basketball and other sports as high risk.
Craig Anderson, IHSA Executive Director, released the following statement on October 27, 2020, after the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) announced it had changed the risk level for the sport of basketball from medium to high.

“However, in our meeting with IDPH on Friday (October 23), we felt that we presented multiple options that would allow for basketball to be conducted safely by IHSA schools this winter, many of which are being utilized in neighboring states who plan to play high school basketball. Despite that setback, there is some positive news, as IDPH accepted the IHSA’s mitigations related to other sports, including cheerleading and dance, allowing them to move from a high risk level to a low risk level. We will hold our special Board of Directors meeting on October 28 as scheduled, where our Board will provide direction on the other winter sports, as well as discuss the IHSA sports schedule for the remainder of the 2020-21 school year.”

Anderson said the organization was alerted about Pritzker’s statement 15 minutes before the press conference.