The Illinois High School Association has officially canceled the state tournaments for all spring sports and activities due to the coronavirus.
The move seemed inevitable after Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced on Friday that he was closing the state’s schools for in-person instruction through the end of the academic year.
The IHSA board met via video conference on Tuesday and arrived at the decision.
“We support the decision by Governor Pritzker and the Illinois State Board of Education, and given the logistics, we simply felt we could not conduct state tournaments that meet the expectations of our member schools this spring, ” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “As disappointing as it may be for students, it is the right decision for their health and safety, as well as for the health and safety of the general public, as we cope with this unprecedented pandemic.”
IHSA spring state tournaments were canceled in baseball, bass fishing, boys gymnastics, boys and girls lacrosse, boys tennis, boys and girls track and field, boys volleyball, boys and girls water polo, softball, girls soccer and badminton.
Summer contact days for high school coaches in all sports are on hiatus according to the IHSA. That could doom the Riverside-Brookfield summer basketball shootout and football 7-on-7 events, which are crucial events in the recruiting world.
The IHSA said it is open to allowing competition if and when health officials deem it safe. If the state government allows sports to resume this summer the IHSA will issue new summer contact guidelines and will consider allowing spring sports teams to play a limited number of games.
“Once it is determined safe to return, we will provide a detailed outline to our schools on the plan for summer contact days and possibly some kind of spring athletic events,” Anderson said. “Including if the number of days and dates that coaches can meet with athletes has been altered. At this point, though, all that is dependent upon state government and medical leaders giving the go ahead for such.”
Spring competition in other sports has been severely impacted as well. Nike canceled the start of it’s prestigious youth basketball league, the EYBL. The shoe company shut down events scheduled for Indianapolis and Atlanta in April.
