‘You can feel the excitement:’ Coaches encouraged, excited about IDPH’s sports announcement

Dundee-Crown girls basketball coach Sarah Teipel has repeatedly spoken to her players during the COVID-19 pandemic about two things they can control – effort and attitude.

It was difficult to remain upbeat when everything seemed hopeless. But news Friday from the Illinois Department of Public Health seemed to shed some light this dreary 2020-21 school year.

The IDPH announced that regions that have reached Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois Plan may return to high school sports at all risk levels (low, medium and high). Region 9, comprised of McHenry and Lake Counties, currently is at Tier 2, but is trending toward Phase 4/Tier 1. Region 8 (Kane and DuPage Counties) also is at Tier 2.

“It’s so hard to have that self-drive right now,” Teipel said. “You have to do everything that you can to feel like you’re getting ready. Believe me, I’m a glass half-full type of person, and we’ve been doing a book club and Zoom workouts every week just to get some hope for giving these kids a season. Hearing the news today was what we’ve been waiting for, an opportunity to have a season.”

The lower-risk winter sports may return to practice and competition as early as next week. Medium-risk sports may return to practice and intra-squad scrimmages. High-risk sports (such as basketball) cannot practice yet, but they could if Regions 8 and/or 9 reach Tier 1.

The winter sports season has been on hold since COVID numbers spiked in mid-November. The IHSA board of directors will meet Wednesday, at which time a new schedule for the remainder of the sports year is expected to be announced.

During the summer, the IHSA adjusted its normal three sports seasons into four (fall, winter, spring and summer). The winter season was supposed to run until Feb. 13, with spring (Feb. 16 through May 1) and summer (May 3 through June 26) to follow.

With only three weeks remaining in what was the winter schedule, the IHSA likely will have to further adjust the schedules.

Volleyball, football, boys soccer, boys gymnastics and boys and girls water polo were slated for the spring season. The summer season was set for baseball, softball, boys and girls track, boys and girls lacrosse, boys tennis and girls soccer. Wrestling already was moved from winter to summer, while girls badminton was moved from spring to winter.

“I heard chatter from some kids in the program and was like, ‘What’s going on,’” Crystal Lake South boys basketball coach Matt LePage said. “They said, ‘There’s a lot of chatter on social media right now about sports coming back.’ It was cool because the kids broke the news to me. It’s exciting. I know we’re all cautious with it, but no matter what, it’s a good day.”

As a medium-risk sport, volleyball might be able to start practices close to the Feb. 16 date.

“There’s a lot of positive momentum right now and we haven’t had any of that in so long,” Cary-Grove volleyball coach Patty Langanis said. “You can feel the excitement starting to gather. With that excitement, I’m starting to think about details. How is this going to work? What is a state tournament going to look like?

“It’s exciting as we move forward, but there’s a lot of serious conversations that have to happen too.”

As a high-risk sport, football may be hard-pressed to start practices on Feb. 16, but Richmond-Burton coach Mike Noll found the news positive nonetheless.

“I told the kids today it’s trending in the right direction,” said Noll, whose Rockets won the 2019 Class 4A state championship. “We’re getting close to a point where those guidelines will loosen so we can get to Phase 4 and have high-risk sports.

“We’ll find out more when the IHSA starts putting some things together. We’re hoping for the best. Hopefully sports can resume for these kids. It’s so tough on them.”

The IHSA stated on Friday that participants would have to wear masks, a mandate with which the coaches have no problems.

“I’ve been really strict with masks at the club level and at the (high school) camps,” said Langanis, who also owns Balance Volleyball Club in Cary. “This is how we’re going to have to play, let’s get used to it now.

“I attended a (club) tournament in Iowa last weekend and the masks were not an issue. Every team wore them correctly. I was really impressed. The only issue was they couldn’t hear me yelling at them, but they might not think that’s an issue.”

LePage said South’s players wore masks during offseason workouts and contact days, and his daughters (Laken and Gracie) have played with Crystal Lake South’s feeder program for two months wearing masks.

“You do what you have to do to play,” LePage said. “It gives these kids a choice to play. If they want to play, (wearing a mask) is what they do. Wisconsin’s been playing (high school basketball) with masks and from what I’ve read it’s gone well.”

Teipel said her players were masked during their offseason activities as well.

“The girls want to play so bad, they’re willing to do anything at this point,” Teipel said. “We scrimmaged in the fall, full-court and did drills full-speed with masks on, and when we talked to them, every single one of them was ‘I’d play masks all year if we can just get on the court.’

“That’s exactly how I feel and my coaching staff feels. If it’s proven to be safe, we’ll maintain the mask mandate. We would have no problem doing that.”