The Illinois High School Association has voted to defy an order from Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Public Health delaying the start of the high school basketball season.
The IHSA’s Board of Directors voted this afternoon to allow schools to begin basketball practices on November 16th and games to start on November 30th. Those actions follow recommendations from the IHSA’s Sport Medicine Advisory Committee. Local schools will be able to decide if they will allow their teams to compete or not.
Masks will be required for all players, coaches and officials during games. Teams will have to follow guidelines allowing a maximum of 31 games for the length of the season.
High school wrestling will be delayed until April.
“Illinois is a large and diverse state, and the IHSA membership is reflective of that,” the organization said in a news release Wednesday afternoon. “We understand that this decision will impact each high school and district differently. Some schools who remain in remote learning may not be able to start winter sports on time, and we feel for those in that situation. However, we have also learned that we cannot continue to look down the road to a season that may never come.”
