Sports, for many students, are a large part of high school. Even if we don’t play them, most of us love to watch them. This year is a sad year for sports lovers due to Covid-19. Here at St. Edward, we’ve only got two fall sports happening. We all would like to know what the future of sports is going to look like this year. Earlier this month, the IHSA board of directors met virtually to discuss updates for how we will see the upcoming seasons.

Currently, the only fall sports actively playing are cross country and golf due to the low level of contact made by the athletes. IHSA has updated us on how the winter, spring, and summer seasons are going to look. The updates include rule changes and modified schedules. The winter, spring, and summer season will now revert to their normal season game limitations as dictated by IHSA by-laws. The sports that are scheduled to play this summer are baseball, softball, track & field, girls soccer, boys volleyball, lacrosse, and boys tennis.

Some concerning topics were tournaments and practice regulations. The IHSA will be putting restrictions on tournaments starting with only allowing no more than three teams at a venue. During the board meeting, the IHSA board of directors stated that the winter, spring, and summer sports will go on normally as of right now. The only change is that the summer season will start two weeks earlier than usual.

One rule regulated by the IHSA that St. Ed students might face head on is the by-law rule that restricts students from playing a school sport and a non-school sport at the same time. The IHSA has also conducted a list of sports that are at higher contact and could put players at risk. The only fall sports IHSA is allowing for the fall season are cross country, golf, swimming, and tennis. They’ve also posted a list of rules and regulations detailing the safety precautions they’d like each sport to follow in order to stay safe.

For the fall golf season here at St. Edward, the list includes details on arrival/warm-up, starting, prior considerations to the event, local rules, spectators, sanitation, media, delays, scoring, and awards. They’ve also included rules on general sanitation and social distancing. For the fall cross country season, IHSA has made a list of regulations to be followed by schools and athletes participating. This list includes details on social distancing, race capacity, spectators, small meets, multi-team meets, multiple races, competition, and transportation. The IHSA has also made new requirements for meet managers and coaches. This list includes details on course, meet entries, team headquarters at meets, coaches and packet pick up, pre-meet coaches’ meetings, clerking, starts, finish, crowding, and sanitation.

Overall, the IHSA is trying their best to ensure a safe environment for athletes while also
making sure we all get to enjoy sports this year.