A lot of people thought this day would never come, but the Illinois High School Association has released the schedule to get every sport in this school year. Winter sports are currently starting up and will end March 13. Traditional Fall sports that were canceled will start at different times in early March and end in late April. All normal Spring sports will start April 5 and finish through the end of the school year. Wrestling is an oddity because their season will start April 19 and go for the rest of the year.

“Players will wear masks at all times except girls gymnastics while they are on the apparatus, and swimmers in the water,” PHS Athletic Director Jerry Dobbs said. “This currently applies for all active Winter sports.”

Fans will be allowed for all sports where they can stay 30 feet apart from participants. Because District 211 is in Phase 4, a max of 50 fans will be present for games. Each player gets two tickets to give out for home games. The remaining fans will be raffled off by Mr. Medina.

Mask mandates and other protocols will do their best to keep teams safe, but what happens if someone on a team contracted COVID-19? 

“Each case of a positive Covid-19 case will be handled by our nurse and possible game suspensions etc… will be determined from the amount of cases on the team and  number of athletes to be deemed in close contact,” Dobbs said. “Each case will be different depending on the situation.”

Another frequently asked question is can out of season sports hold practices before they start? Yes, all sports can conduct contact days through June 4 if they choose to do so. The maximum amount of time is three days a week for no more than six hours total.

Due to the condensed seasons, there will be an overlap for multi-sport athletes. Unfortunately, the IHSA does not let students participate in multiple sports at once, so students must choose one or the other.

The IHSA deserves a lot of credit for making sure every sport gets to play this school year. It would have been extremely crushing for the seniors to miss their final season. Thank you to all the coaches and athletes who have followed the safety protocols and have been so flexible during this crazy year.