The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met for a special virtual meeting yesterday afternoon and provided additional guidance on winter sports. 

The IHSA Board issued guidance to pause all IHSA winter sports and activities to maintain compliance with the most recent mitigations issued by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker. The Board will revisit the status of winter sports at their update discussion on Wednesday, December 2nd, and again at their regularly scheduled meeting on Monday, December 14th if necessary.

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson released the following statement, “All IHSA sports and activities will cease by November 20 for what we hope is a short-term pause. Given the rising COVID-19 cases in our state and region, we support the Governor’s mitigations and believe it is imperative for everyone in the state to do their part in following them so that we can return to high school sports participation as soon as possible. The Board is sensitive to the scheduling difficulties these delays create for athletic directors and coaches. However, our experiences this summer and fall lead us to believe that setting arbitrary start dates hinders the process even more. We realize it may seem redundant, but we have to preach patience as we await more data and direction from the state.”

The IHSA Board also announced that conditioning and weight training before and after school are paused, open gyms are paused, and practices and competitions may only be conducted virtually. Outdoor workouts may be conducted in groups of 10 or less with masks and social distancing.