(1-6-21) While many of their neighboring states are in the middle of high school winter sports, Illinois still remains ‘on pause’. The most recent update from the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) was posted on Monday –

As of January 4, 2021, the Illinois Department of Public Health has made no changes to its COVID-19 mitigations tier status. IHSA sports remain on pause as a result. We will report to our member schools and provide public updates as soon as any are available.

The IHSA has created a COVID-19 resource page. For the latest information on the IHSA related to COVID-19, including Return To Play  Guidelines, 2020-21 sport season schedules, sport specific considerations and other educational materials, visit the page by clicking here.

While Indiana and Ohio have been holding winter sports….even wrestling. Michigan had put Fall sports on hold but now are in progress to complete those seasons in the next couple weeks. Why is this not happening in Illinois?

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The Governor and the Illinois Department of Public Health have not felt the need to discuss or meet with IHSA officials on a possible solution or time schedule. So what is the Governor Pritzker’s plan in regards to resuming high school sports? Nobody knows because he refuses to comment on the matter.

However; the Governor has allowed College and Pro sports to compete during the pandemic…interesting?

According to a nbcchicago.com story the Governor has made no firm commitment on the lowering of mitigations, his reasoning is based on heaven knows what.

“We’ll get there, I believe, shortly and we want to see how the Christmas and New Year’s holidays go.”

He went on to add a statement that would seem very gloomy for high school sports –

“The length of time, you know, as you talk to the experts what they would say is the manufacturing process will take some time so they can deliver them as fast as they can. But months will go by here while we are working through the ACIP/CDC guidelines first for health care workers and those in long term care facilities and then the many others that are in the various phases… until we get herd immunity. That’s what we’re all aiming for for the state of Illinois and the United States of America.”

While he keeps in contact with the health experts…he ignores the IHSA>

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The financial impact from the decisions being made by the Governor could possibly be the end of the line for the IHSA. The Governor has not offered any financial aid to the non-profit organization. The impact on the future seems very gloomy for all involved.