Some thoughts before the big IHSA meeting tomorrow. The good news is that as long as each region gets to Phase 4 and stays there, all sports will be played. The challenging part now is for the IHSA to find a way to squeeze all these sports in a short period of time. Please know that all scenarios will be discussed and there is no way knowing at this point what they will go with or if there will be other options on the table. Again, anything and everything is subject to change and nothing is for sure.
No matter what happens tomorrow and whatever scenario is decided upon as it relates to number of games and when we start the season. Let’s just all be happy and joyful that the Boys can Play Football as that is by far what is most important! Excited to see what we hear tomorrow after the meeting!
- There is big push for basketball to have a 6 week season before football starts. If that is the case, look for football to start practices on or March 15th and start playing games on Saturday April 3rd and have a 6 game season and ending by mid May. Easter weekend could be an issue as it would be that first weekend. Easter could be a BYE week no matter what scenario they go with.
- Most probable scenario as I mentioned before is starting football games two weeks later, first game would be Saturday March 20th and play a 7 week season and still end in early May. That way basketball can have at least a 4 week season (multiple games per week) and still feel like they played a decent amount of games. This would also allow baseball to start games in early May and have a 4-5 week season.
- The last scenario would be to start practices as planned in mid February, first game on March 6th and play through weekend of April 17th. That would give basketball a very short season unless there is an overlap and kids would have to make a choice to either finish their basketball season or play football.
- Football, Basketball, and Baseball are the three major sports that will have the most overlap of players. There is a case where each sport could have a full 7 week season and the kids would just have to choose which sport to play. Again, with the little time we have there will not be very many options. This scenario says to give every sport their fair share of week/games and if some kids can’t play a certain sport because of another so be it. This in my opinion is not likely.
- Unless something changes tomorrow or there is a strong case for it, there will be no playoffs in any sport.
- I do not see them playing any Varsity football games on any other day then a Friday night or Saturday afternoon. Just won’t happen. Again, if we start games in March expect them to be on Saturday afternoon, games in April to early May expect under the lights on Friday.
- Expect the number of spectators at each game to be discussed as well. Under Phase 4 there can only be 50 fans at a game. Many schools do not want to deal with allowing some parents in games and other can’t or have any political issues from this. Expect many schools to say no fans at games unless the guidance changes and they say you can have more people at the game. I personally think stadiums, bleachers, around the fences allows for easily 500 people with social distancing. Hopefully they have time to discuss this issue tomorrow as well.
No matter what happens tomorrow and whatever scenario is decided upon as it relates to number of games and when we start the season. Let’s just all be happy and joyful that the Boys can Play Football as that is by far what is most important! Excited to see what we hear tomorrow after the meeting!