Issues facing IHSA when board meets Wednesday

The board of directors of the Illinois High School Association met on Wednesday, and due to the impact of the third-tier mitigation measures, sports and activities are still suspended.

Even with this uncertainty, the most urgent task of the board is to plan the remaining time of the school sports season. 

Although it may try to find a place for the suspension of exercise and the exercise that is already in the schedule, at this stage, even the executive director considers this to be an "impossible" task. 

On Friday, Governor JB Pritzker re-issued the coronavirus emergency powers-powers that will last until February 6.

The situation related to inter-school activities is roughly the same as when the board of directors met in December last year-only because last week a meeting was held with the deputy governor, two health officials, and high school and middle school sports representatives, and the door did open the gap .

This is the first time that IHSA and the Illinois Elementary School Association introduced a case of recovery activities to Dr. Ngozi Ezike, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health.

IHSA executive director Craig Anderson (Craig Anderson) said after the meeting that he hoped that the spirit of cooperation between sports organizations and state officials would be maintained. So far, there is no return schedule. 

This is a key issue facing the state's governing body for high school activities. 

Level 3 mitigation measures

The state of the pandemic remains the number one issue, that is, the situation that the national association must demonstrate.

Most of the 11 regions in the state meet at least some of the criteria for relaxing restrictions.

It is worth noting that the 4th district, the St. Louis East Metro District. Since December 25, the test positive rate has exceeded 12%, and as of January 6, the test positive rate has been 13%.  

Area 5 is another trouble spot, but it has been below the threshold for six consecutive days at 10.5% 

All other regions have a positive rate of less than 12% for at least 20 days or more. Region 3 is the lowest at 8.1%.

District 2, including the Kewanee area, has been below 12% for 28 consecutive days. As of January 6, the ratio was 9.1%.

The availability of hospital beds is still a concern in several regions. Region 4 is the only region that lacks both ICU beds and conventional medical operating beds. Area 3 is located in the red area and can provide ICU beds. Areas 6, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are located in the red area, and medical beds can be provided regularly.

Areas 1, 2, and 7 are the only green areas in the two categories.

IHSA Guidelines

As a result of last week’s meeting, IHSA was able to reintroduce the work of its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee to state health officials, which is called SMAC. 

The original plan was developed in the spring, and the plan was developed by a similar plan developed by the State High School Association National Committee of Physicians, Scientists, and Health Professionals. 

It lists the parameters of possible interscholastic activities in Illinois during the pandemic. 

IHSA hopes that IDPH can conduct a second review of the SMAC game plan, because the neighboring state associations for sports and activities have also developed mitigation plans based on the NFSH guidelines. 

Sports risk designation

IHSA also requires IDPH to re-examine the classification of sports and activities based on its risk of spreading the virus. 

The meeting did not mention details. However, IDPH lists several high school sports in all its sports policies, but the NFHS classifies sports differently. IDPH says basketball has a high risk, and NFHS says basketball has a medium risk.

In contrast, IDPH provides allowances for cheerleading and competitive dance, while NFHS classifies it as high risk. 

The classification may vary based on the types of sports allowed by the Restore Illinois program at any given stage. For example, in stage 4, you can only participate in low-risk sports. However, in the presence of vaccines in stage 5, the possibility of moderately dangerous exercises becomes greater.

Modify calendar

Anderson has already said that a calendar that includes all sports seems "impossible."

IHSA moved volleyball and football from the traditional fall schedule to spring, hoping that the epidemic would subside, the vaccine would be available at any time, and it would prove to state health officials that it is safe for other sports.

The school year is divided into four shorter seasons. The winter season, including basketball, ended on February 13. February 15 to May 1 is the spring season of football, boys football, women's volleyball, boys gymnastics and water polo. Summer sports are baseball, softball, track and field, and girls. Football, boys' volleyball, lacrosse, boys' tennis and wrestling will be played from May 3 to June 26.

The plan encountered obstacles below the third level. Most of the winter has passed without any competition, let alone practice. For example, a regional basketball game should be held in the week of February 8.

The urgency faced by IHSA is to: a) propose a new calendar throughout the school year that includes suspended winter sports; or b) cancel certain sports seasons so that other sports can continue. The remaining days.

Small schools that rely on multisport athletes to fill their roster have expressed concern about the possibility of moving basketball to the "spring" or "summer" part of the calendar and concurrently with the team sports assigned at the time.