Darren Kinnard
Section618.com
What had been considered unlikely at best eight days ago is now reality. High Risk sports (basketball, football, and wrestling) will be allowed to have games and matches in COVID-19 Regions that are at the Phase 4 level in the Restore Illinois plan. Currently in southern Illinois that includes Region 5, but it does not include Region 4, which is still currently at the Tier 2 level.
The announcement came at Governor JB Pritzker’s daily COVID press briefing from Dr. Ngozi Ezike, the director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The IDPH held a virtual meeting with the IHSA, the IESA, and the SIJHSAA just a half hour before the announcement.
There are still many logistical questions to be answered, such as will basketball start immediately in those regions that can play, and how long will the season be? Basketball was scheduled to start in mid-November and end February 13, with the new spring season sports of football, volleyball, and boys soccer set to start practice February 15. Wrestling was moved to the summer season this year and is scheduled to start April 19.
The IHSA sent a release later Friday afternoon to offer some clarity, including the schedules for the rest of the school year will be released following their special Board of Directors meeting Wednesday. Also, masks are required for practice and in competition.
There was also this direction about spectators:
-In Phase 4 Regions, you can have a maximum of 50 spectators.
-In Tier 1 Regions, you can have a maximum of 25 spectators.
-In Tier 2 Regions, you cannot have spectators.
*Host schools may choose to be more restrictive in their spectator policies.
Medium and High Risk sports were not allowed to hold competitions in the fall when the state was in Phase 4. Last Friday, the IDPH updated its Sports Safety Guidance when regions started moving from Tier 3 mitigations. Those updates allowed Medium Risk sports the chance to play games or matches at Tier 1 and opened the door to the possibility of High Risk sports being allowed the same at the Phase 4 level. Within 72 hours, Region 5’s numbers met the metrics to improve to not only move to Tier 1 but then to Phase 4. Currently Regions 3 and 6 also are in Phase 4 with two more regions expected to reach that level this weekend. Region 4 just moved to Tier 2 Friday morning.
In addition to allowing High Risk sports the chance to play games/matches, the IDPH has decided in Phase 4 that outdoor Medium Risk sports including soccer are allowed to hold tournaments and play out of conference and region. Indoor Medium Risk sports including volleyball are still limited to intra-conference or intra-region games and matches.
If Region 4 remains unable to play, it will have an effect on area conferences. The SIRR Mississippi would be without Nashville and Sparta, the South 7 would be missing Althoff and Cahokia, and the Black Diamond would be without Chester. The SIRR Mississippi and South 7 are both six-team conferences.
The next few weeks will likely be a large headache for many area athletic directors and school administrators, but it’s a much different headache than they feared they would have.