The SIJHSAA Board of Control held a special meeting today, mainly dealing with the girls and boys basketball situation. As you all know the IDPH has moved basketball to a higher risk sport in the Governor’s All Sports Policy. This change by the IDPH will not enable schools to participate in this sport at the present time. The Governor has stated that basketball isn’t canceled – it’s postponed and moved to the spring. In turn the IHSA has basically stated that the IDPH has ignored the SMAC-IHSA Sport Medicine Committee’s Return To Play Guidelines for basketball.
The IHSA has announced that they will follow the SMAC Basketball Guidelines and will not follow the recommendation of the Governor, IDPH, and ISBE.
With this situation that is going on between the IHSA and the Governor-IDPH-ISBE, the SIJHSAA Board of Control met to give some guidance to its member schools on where we are going with basketball and upcoming winter sports.
A motion was made to postpone all SIJHSAA sports until approved IDPH Return To Play Guidelines are agreed upon and made available to the association.
(Motion by Bob Bowser (Allendale) & Jason Finke (Nashville) – Approved 19-0)
*This decision was made dealing with liability issues that could occur with the SIJHSAA Insurance carrier and liability issues that could arise for member schools, if participating in violation of IDPH guidelines.
Thus, at this point girls and boys basketball practices set to start on November 16 and contests to start on Nov. 30 are presently postponed. If any circumstances change, the SIJHSAA will notify schools of updated changes for basketball.
*Schools may have contacts as follows: (This decision on contacts will be made by the member school administration)
-Basketball (Higher Risk) Contacts may occur for basketball with no-contact practices and trainings only. (Level 1-Governor’s All Sports Policy)
-Volleyball (Medium Risk) Contacts may occur for volleyball with intra-team scrimmages allowed, with parental consent for minors; no competitive play (Level 2-Governor’s All Sports Policy)
(face coverings must be worn in these activities)
*2021 Intent To Play: The association will presently not collect any 2021 Intent To Play Fees, except $30 membership dues. This is required legally to maintain our school membership list. As it becomes clear that upcoming sports will take place like volleyball, bowling, golf, and track, I will be in contact with your school about how we will go about fees and credits for schools. Included in this email will be surveys for schools entering bowling and golf. (This will be sent out tomorrow)
The SIJHSAA Board of Control and administrators will monitor what is occuring concerning basketball and other winter sport activities. Things change daily dealing with the IHSA, Governor’s Office, IDPH, and ISBE. The BOC wants to provide sport opportunities for its member schools in a safe and legal manner. The SIJHSAA Board of Control will meet again on Thursday, November 19, 2020-2:00pm to review association concerns.
