IHSA announces return to sports for rest of 2021 school year

By Michael Newman

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It has been a cold winter for Illinois High School Coaches and Athletes with the halting of sports beginning last December.

Spring came early for the athletes, coaches, and fans on Wednesday afternoon when the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced the return of sports on the high school level for the rest of the 2021 season.

FULL IHSA PRESS RELEASE-January 27, 2021

““We understood the high level of anticipation surrounding today’s announcement, along with the scrutiny that will accompany it,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson in a press statement released Wednesday afternoon. “Ultimately, the Board adhered to its stated goals throughout the pandemic: providing an opportunity for every IHSA student-athlete to compete safely this year and maximizing opportunities for traditional IHSA spring sports after they lost their entire season a year ago. I recognize that many schools and coaches could likely offer a tweak here or there that would have, in their opinion, made it ‘better’ for their school or sport. Our Board faced an impossible task with a litany of factors. They were conscientious in considering every possibility and I believe their decisions today are a positive step for the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of our students. We are excited to channel our energy into creating as many positive experiences for Illinois high school students as we can between now and the end of this extraordinary school year.”

The big news for IHSA Track and Field was the lengthening of the season for the sport. The track and field season will begin on April 5 with the last day of the season occurring on June 19 as of now. The previous dates that the IHSA announced in the fall were April 19 with an ending on June 26. There will still be no indoor season in the state. The IHSA also stated that a state series for the sport is “To Be Determined”.

““The Board wants to do everything in their power to prevent spring sports from going two consecutive years with no postseason IHSA play,” added Anderson. “There are obviously no guarantees, as risk levels by sport and local region mitigation statuses will factor significantly. Postseason could mean being limited to a Regional or Sectional level of competition, but we have not ruled out the idea of playing a full state tournament in these traditional spring sports if possible. The overwhelming feedback we have heard from athletic directors and coaches was that returning to play in all sports should be the main goal.”

Anderson was asked during a video press conference late Wednesday afternoon about the possibility of a state series for the traditional spring sports including track and field. His reply was there was a chance that we could have a state meet in Charleston. Would it be a longshot – yes – ended his reply.

“There is not enough information right now to make a determination if we will have a state series in those sports,” said Anderson. “We just need to continue to improve on conditions within the state. We just can’t backslide in tiers that restrict the sports.”

Anderson also said during the 45-minute video conference with the media that all areas of the state would need to move into a phase “5” where there would be no restrictions for participation or attendance for fans at the events or for athletes.

A traditional track season for Illinois High Schools has been for indoor meets in February and March and then a move to the outdoor season in April and May. In this new “normal” for the 2021 season, we have an extended outdoor season of now three months.

The move to end the season to June 19 is a sigh of relief to some distance coaches in the state as they were trying to figure out how they would transition to the summer training period for cross country when the season then ended on June 26. Now there is time to give their athletes a break from formal training.

I am sure coaches and athletic directors in schools are already looking at what could be amazing possibilities of a track season. There are many factors in determining what the roadmaps are for this spring. We hope for continued improvement of conditions in Illinois that we are experiencing now.

A three-month track season is a big step towards a return to normal after no competition in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that we are still in. Hopefully, this step will lead to an even more normal cross-country season this fall.