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From an almost 11% positivity rate two weeks ago to practices starting up again Tuesday, things are moving fast for DeKalb County high schools.
“The good news, we’ve trended quite a bit in the right direction. It’s been quite a whirlwind, hasn’t it?” Genoa-Kingston athletic director Phil Jerbi said. “Obviously, trying to figure out how to move forward from that is going to be a challenge.”
The IHSA on Friday released a list of what sports of different risk levels can do in Tier 2, Tier 3, and Tier 1 mitigations. With DeKalb County’s health region into Tier 1 on Monday, practices for all sports, including high-risk sports, are allowed to begin.
And although lower- and medium-risk sports have the green light to play games, no updated schedule has been released by the IHSA, which is set for a board meeting Jan. 27.
Some schools, including Genoa-Kingston and Sycamore, immediately started practicing after the announcement. Winter sports – badminton, girls and boys basketball, boys swimming, boys and girls bowling, gymnastics, cheerleading and dance – were able to practice immediately, while other sports will be able to start Monday.
Sycamore athletic director Chauncey Carrick said the contact days for football will feature pads. He said he’s as optimistic as he’s been since March 13, when the schools closed and seasons were suspended.
“I’m optimistic, but I’m also trying to be realistic,” Carrick said. “Nobody really knows. We’re not sure what happens when you go from Tier 1 to Phase 4 – that really hasn’t been clearly defined. They clearly defined Tier 3 to Tier 2, and Tier 2 to Tier 1, but they haven’t defined that ‘OK, you’re completely out of Phase 3 and into Phase 4.”
DeKalb football coach Keith Snyder said he’s just happy to be able to get time with his players again.
“I think our kids are doing as well as they can,” Snyder said. “I think, like with everyone, there’s a fatigue at the fact a season that never began never got an official beginning or end date. I think, with that, the kids are doing all right. The big thing is they realize there’s more going on in the world than high school football. Our kids are dealing with a lot more than that. Our kids are dealing with COVID experiences with their families or friends or people they know and dealing with that loss like everybody right now.”
If Region 1 can remain in its current tier, sports such as soccer and volleyball may be able to go forward with a limited season. Practices for those spring sports originally were slated to begin with practices Feb. 15 and games starting March 1.
“The biggest thing for us is, now that we’re in Tier 1, it’s going to allow all our sports to participate at least in a contact-day period with some coaching,” Carrick said. “That was a huge hurdle for us to get to. Our lower-risk winter sports – boys and girls bowling, cheer and dance – we’ll know in the next day or so when their competitive season can begin. Volleyball, boys and girls soccer, we now know that their season will happen.”
Carrick said there still are questions to be answered, most notably about when sports will begin and what Phase 4 mitigations might look like – Tiers 1, 2 and 3 are subsets of Phase 3.
But he called the update Tuesday good news.
“For those higher-risk sports, to be able to practice and have contact, is awesome,” Carrick said. “It’s definitely a step in the right direction. And by the emails I’ve received today, parents are beyond excited.”
Jerbi agreed, saying getting back to the sports – even if it is just practices for some of them – is great for his students.
“The good news is we’re starting to participate in some of the sports these kids have been missing out on,” Jerbi said. “We’ll take it at this point.”