High Schools across the state of Illinois are trying to decide if the sport of basketball will be played as scheduled this month, postponed to the spring or summer, or canceled altogether. A vast majority of schools have said they will not participate, at least during the winter season. Most of the schools used insurance coverage, or the lack thereof, as the main reason for not playing basketball in the winter.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, the Illinois Department of Public Health and Illinois State Board of Education made it very clear that they were delaying basketball until the spring season and possible repercussions for those that don’t comply. At the same time, the IHSA said they were going ahead with starting boys and girls basketball with the first official practices on November 16th.
The Chicago, Springfield and Decatur public school districts, along with private Catholic schools of the Peoria Diocese, have all put off their basketball seasons until spring. So far, less than ten schools in Illinois have said they will play a winter schedule. Of those schools, three are local, including Sherrard, Lewistown and Beardstown.
Multiple sources say that insurance companies are refusing to cover schools that start in November. That’s the main holdup for school district superintendents to give the okay to start in November. Monmouth-Roseville Athletic Director Jeremy Adolphson says insurance coverage is certainly one of the main factors that all schools will have to consider when making their decision.
There are many interesting ideas for holding a winter basketball season safely being discussed. Moving the basketball schedule to the spring, or even the summer months, would overlap with sports such as football, volleyball, softball, baseball or track and field. That would surely create problems for smaller schools that are already dealing with a shortage of athletes in certain sports. The next IHSA board meeting is on Wednesday.
For the entire interview with Adolphson, go to the Sport Podcast section.
