New mandates put mask back into play for indoor sports

Area high school athletic directors learned to adapt and adjust during the craziness of the COVID-19 sports season in 2020-21. They are ready to handle the newest rounds of mitigations at the onset of the 2021-22 fall season.

On Wednesday, Gov. JB Pritzker announced an update to the Illinois Department of Public Health All-Sports Policy that will require masks to be worn for all indoor IHSA athletic events regardless of an individual’s vaccination status.

This mask directive for indoor athletic events applies to student-athletes, coaches, officials, game personnel and fans. This mandate applies to all IHSA fall sport practices and contests that are conducted indoors. Swimmers and divers do not have to wear masks while competing but must wear them at all other times.

The masking directive also applies to any winter or spring IHSA sports that may be conducting open gyms, general conditioning or weightlifting indoors.

Local athletic directors said the new mask mandates came as no surprise.

“We will take a positive approach,” Bureau Valley’s Brad Bickett said. “Excited to get the kids back for in-person learning. Happy to have a traditional fall sports season. We can deal/manage with the mask mandates. I expect coaches, athletes, officials and spectators to all cooperate and enjoy the fall sports season.”

“I saw it coming. It’s unfortunate that we’re taking a step backwards, but I guess it’s better than not playing at all,” Hall’s Eric Bryant said.

Bryant said coaches, parent and students at Hall are all pretty in tune with what is going on in the state and are prepared for masks.

“We’ve been through this already, so I guess they know what to expect and what’s coming,” he said. “I’m sure some are not happy. Nobody likes it, but as long as our kids are participating in sports and doing things, it’s better than not doing it at all.”

St. Bede’s Nick McLaughlin and Princeton’s Jeff Ohlson said the most important thing is to allow the kids to play, masks or no masks.

“I wasn’t necessarily surprised with the way the numbers are going in our community. Obviously, I think then most important thing is giving the kids the opportunity to play and compete,” McLaughlin said. “This is something that’s going to allow that to happen. Is it ideal? No, but it’s the state trying to do what they deem best to keep the kids safe and healthy.”

“Signs seemed to point that it was going to be coming,” Ohlson said. “I am going to look at the bright side. Unfortunately we have a mandate that masks must be worn for indoor sports, but our kids will be playing a full schedule, with fans in the gym supporting both teams allowing the kids to return to somewhat of a traditional setting and hopefully it will be temporary and not last the whole season.”

PHS volleyball coach Andy Puck said the masks weren’t an issue for his team during the spring season.

“We had been using them since the 2020 open gyms. It was nice not to have them for a month or so, but really not an issue,” he said.

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said the announcement will not deter the IHSA from its mission of safely offering high school student-athletes in Illinois the opportunity to participate in sports and activities.

“Illinois high school student-athletes and coaches have been resilient in dealing with myriad mitigations and unexpected changes over the past year. We hope all Illinoisans do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 so we can quickly move beyond this and remove masks from indoor athletic events,” Anderson said in a news release.

The IHSA said there are no restrictions to scheduling or spectator limitations as a result of Wednesday’s announcement, nor are there any changes to the IHSA calendar for any sports.

“I’m assuming if the numbers continue to trend the way they are you could see the state enacting some sort of restrictions, but if we start getting this back under control with this delta variant, hopefully capacity limits can stay where they are,” McLaughlin said.