By FRED KRONER
High school athletes will soon have the chance to start competing. Depending on the sport, competitions could start within a matter of weeks.
The Illinois High School Association unveiled a plan on Wednesday that allows all sports in the state to have a season, though many of the activities are shifting to a different time of the school year.
For Mahomet-Seymour, the only sports that have a green light to start practicing on Aug. 10 are cross-country (for boys and girls), golf (for boys and girls), soccer (for girls) and tennis (for girls).
Traditional fall sports like football, volleyball and boys’ soccer are being moved to an early spring time period, with practices allowed to start on Feb. 15 and the seasons to conclude on May 1.
M-S athletic director Matt Hensley acknowledged that he was “surprised” to find cross-country staying on the list of fall sports.
“I don’t know how we’ll run those big invitationals,” Hensley said.
He plans to start meeting with Bulldog coaches on an individual basis – beginning on Thursday – and “talk to them about scheduling and what does it look like,” Hensley said.
As he views scheduling, Hensley believes much of the work already done to get meets set for tennis and swimming can remain intact.
“In golf, we’ve rolled back on the heavy invitational scheduling,” Hensley said. “Cross-country is where we will have the most dramatic change.”
Some changes will be mandated by the IHSA. Schools are placed in geographical regions. M-S is in a region that extends from Iroquois County in the north to Lawrence, Clay and Fayette counties to the south and from Vermilion County to the east to Piatt and Macon counties to the west.
“The big one for us is that the McLean County schools are not in our region,” Hensley said. “That takes four pretty good basketball teams off our (boys) schedule in Normal West, Normal Community, Bloomington Central Catholic and Normal U-High.”
Those boundaries apply only as ADs schedule non-conference events. If existing conference members are located in other counties, it will not affect the ability for contests to be held with those schools.
Neal Garrison, the Bulldogs’ boys’ cross-country coach, is filled with mixed emotions. He is happy that the season could happen, but uncertain how the details will be arranged.
“My guys have been working hard,” Garrison said, “and they need some reward; they need it socially and emotionally.
“The season may still get canceled, and I’ve tried to convey that to them, but at least they will get a chance to get some running in.”
For years, Garrison’s emphasis has been on participating in large invitationals rather than smaller meets.
“Our invitationals are anywhere from 20 to 30 teams up to 75,” he said. “If we’re limited to dual meets, I’ll have to revise how I coach.
“The way it is divided, it would be a whole different experience. I wish I knew if there would be a state series, so I could plan the workouts accordingly.”
By switching some sports out of the fall seasons, there could be unintended consequences for those that have the green light to practice next month.
“Are there volleyball players who might go out for tennis to be in shape,” Hensley wondered.
Garrison, who was anticipating a roster of 20 runners, has similar questions.
“If I were a soccer or football guy, I might reconsider (and join cross-country for one year),” he said. “I think the soccer build and cross-country build (for athletes) is not that much different.
“If we get an influx of athletes from other sports, it (roster size) could definitely change.”
Garrison also sees scenarios where the fortunes of a team are altered rapidly.
“What looks like a promising team could change on a dime if you have to isolate for 14 days and lose that training,” he said.
Hensley said there are numerous potential ramifications, many of which won’t be felt in the fall.
Playing boys’ soccer and girls’ soccer back-to-back in a five-month period that starts during a traditionally wet season could create issues.
“What will our facility look like if there’s bad weather and no off-season for our facilities to recover,” he said. “There may be a situation where we have to cancel a game today to think what the facility might look like next week.
“And then, we’ll have to get the field ready again by the following August (for what would be the next projected boys’ soccer season).”
The football season will be trimmed from a nine-game regular season to seven games. Hensley is waiting for a clarification on what that means.
“Does that mean seven freshmen, seven JV and seven varsity games,” he wondered. “My impression is they are not saying it’s a varsity-only schedule.
“It’s still a work in progress. I’m sure some additional sport-specific guidelines will come down.”
Though basketball and wrestling will stay in their same winter time slot, major changes are in store for both activities.
“In basketball, there’s no more than two games a week and no tournament with more than three teams,” Hensley said. “Our 24-team Marty Williams Wrestling Invitational will become a three-team tournament (including M-S).”
Wrestling – especially at M-S – will face another hurdle.
“Rob (Ledin, head coach) likes invitationals at Hinsdale, Granite City, Sterling and Sycamore and the majority of those are off the table, as it stands now,” Hensley said, referring to the mandated geographic boundaries.”
One issue that few people – outside of athletic administrators – are talking about concerns officials.
“A majority of the officials are older folks and some have conditions that could put them at high risk (for contracting COVID-19),” Hensley said. “That pool of officials will be impacted and that will present another set of challenges.
“If I were a young official, or someone thinking about officiating, this would be a pretty good time to get into that avocation,” Hensley said. “There could be a chance to get some pretty good games.”
Hensley is going to take a methodical approach to his work days in the near future.
“I’ll start plowing through and systematically drop coaches into one-hour time slots (for individual meetings), I’ll reach out to the other Apollo Conference schools to set a meeting, and I’ll talk to other ADs about their interpretations,” he said.
Though there are still many hurdles to navigate and details to be ironed out, Hensley is pleased by the IHSA announcement.
“No plan that anybody rolled out would be perfect,” he said. “Given the imperfect, to give kids the opportunity to participate is one I will take any day.”
Here is the breakdown of sports, and their seasons, according to the plan released on Wednesday by the IHSA.
FALL SPORTS
(season from Aug. 10-Oct.24)
Cross-country (boys and girls)
Golf (boys and girls)
Swimming (girls)
Tennis (girls)
WINTER SPORTS
(season from Nov. 16-Feb. 13)
Basketball (boys and girls)
Bowling (boys and girls)
Cheerleading
Dance
Swimming (boys)
Wrestling (boys and girls)
SPRING SPORTS
(season from Feb. 15 to May 1)
Football
Soccer (boys)
Volleyball (girls)
SUMMER SPORTS
(season from May 3-June 26)
Baseball
Soccer (girls)
Softball
Tennis (boys)
Track and field (boys and girls)
