Prep Sports Report

#FOX coverage: In the same year the IHSA is expanding boys tackle football opportunities and its overall season, the IHSA is cutting opportunities and the regular season for girls flag football. #MoreThanJUSTGames #IHSA

Always remember when it comes to the IHSA: Don't let the truth get in the way of the facts. The latest example: Girls flag football. A sport with growing participation, growing interest and real momentum just got squeezed into a 36-day regular season. That's not a typo. Thirty-six days. And five of those days are Sundays, when most Illinois high schools don't play. So congratulations, girls. The IHSA effectively gave you 31 days to play a regular season. Now compare that to other states: • Alabama: 72 days
• California: 68 days
• Colorado: 66 days
• Georgia: 61 days
• Arizona: 58 days
• Alaska: 52 days The IHSA's response? "Health and safety." It's the organization's favorite public-relations shield. But let's talk facts. On Dec. 15, the IHSA expanded the football playoffs from 256 teams to 384 teams, creating 64 additional playoff games and requiring dozens of additional host sites and stadiums. First-round football games are Oct. 23-24. Don’t forget that boys soccer regionals begin Oct. 19. And now girls flag football state finals are Oct. 16-17. Convenient “health & safety” isn’t it? Just enough time to clear the fields before the IHSA's major revenue-generating sports need them. During the 2024-25 school year: Football revenue in: $2 million 
Boys soccer revenue in: $450,000 
Girls flag football revenue in: $66,000, but after expenses the sport lost nearly $10,000 for the IHSA. The IHSA can keep talking about “health and safety.” Many coaches and ADs see something else: Follow the money - not equity. More to come Wednesday. #MoreThanJUSTGames #IHSA

Congratulations to Coach Dennis Piron on 40 years of coaching at Batavia High school. As head track coach , Piron has won 7 sectionals titles and 1 state championship . @BHSGIRLSTRACK @BataviaTrack @BataviaHS

#MLS Season Leaders, Saves: 🇺🇸Brad Guzan, #ATLUTD 81 🇺🇸John Pulskamp, #SportingKC 78 🇵🇾Carlos Coronel, #RBNY 78 🇺🇸Brad Stuver, #AustinFC 78 🇭🇷Kristijan Kahlina, #ForTheCrown 76

High school soccer in Illinois is entering into yet another state of stupidity crisis. You won’t find a yellow-card reporting system more messed up than that of the #IHSA, where it relies on officials to report yellow cards to ensure all kids are treated fairly. Officials pick and choose when they report, as coaches talk to them before the games and have human relationships. Now we have the latest IHSA soccer debacle that is set to go into effect, and it’s time for the IHSA board of directors to use some common sense. There are very smart people on the IHSA board, and I am confident they’re going to step up to help kids, families and a sport that continues to be discriminated against like no other in Illinois. Many of you are well aware of the 25 in-game foul rule that kicked full teams of kids out of the IHSA tournament. This was something that wasn’t done in any other IHSA sport except…say it with me….high school soccer. Finally after two years of pounding that drum, athletic directors at Bloom and Deerfield worked together to help end that discriminating rule. If you’re not familiar with it, read the quoted tweet below with this post to get caught up. Now the IHSA is set to turn 1+1=3 on kids and families in just soccer. The IHSA and all of its soccer brilliance on its executive staff suspends high school soccer players for 1 game after receiving 5 yellow cards in a season. That would be great if all high school soccer officials used a yellow card in a proper way. They don’t. Everyone knows this, and kids are paying the price for adult breakdowns. Stay with me here, because for all you soccer haters out there, I’ll try to make this easy to understand: *If a kid gets 2 yellow cards in a game, they’re automatically ejected from that game and suspended for the next game for the soft red (2 yellows). But now if they get 2 yellow cards, the IHSA is counting it as 3 yellow cards toward the 5 total and another suspension. *If a kid gets 1 yellow card and 1 red card in a game, they’re automatically ejected from that game and suspended for the next game for the red card. But now if they get 1 yellow card and 1 red card, the IHSA is counting it as 3 yellow cards toward the 5 total and another suspension. Welcome to double jeopardy in high school soccer in Illinois. Where does this happen in any other high school sport? Are we suspending kids in football or basketball for holding fouls or tactical fouls? Are we suspending pitchers in baseball for hitting batters during a season? So a kid is ejected and then suspended already for 1 game for getting 2 yellow cards or 1 red card, and now we’re adding more to get the kid suspended again? High school coaches, parents, athletic directors, officials, principals and #ILSupts are talking around Illinois. Don’t believe me? Look at my track record with IHSA items over the last 10 years, and I’ll let that speak for whether I’ve done my homework on this. I can honestly say I don’t think in all my years as a reporter for the Sun-Times, Tribune and ESPN have I ever talked to so many people for one story or post. Sixty (60) people across Illinois that are either coaches, ADs, principals, IHSA officials or ILSupts. Of the 60, just 1 agreed with possibly giving kids 3 yellow cards in a single game. “The IHSA policy double punishes players,” said Deerfield girls soccer coach Rich Grady, who has officiated at the highest of levels and is the #NCAA rules editor for soccer. “Red cards carry their own penalties.  There is no need to add red cards to a player's yellow card totals. This results in things that are illogical and contrary to the rules. It is impossible to get more than 2 yellow cards in a game, yet the IHSA rule could charge a player with 3 yellows in a game.” More to come Monday.

Softball finishes 4th in state! Congrats to all coaches and student-athletes on a historic season! 1st ever team trophy for a girls sport! #TheGoldSTANDARD

Here is a breakdown of the Right To Play Bill, which is in the Illinois Senate after passing through an #ILHouse committee 12-0 and full House vote. It is this and only this for high school student athletes, families and their schools in Illinois: What the bill does - Allows principals or athletic directors to give up to two (2) waivers per student per school year to participate in a non-school athletic event, including all-star games. Waivers would have to be reported to the #IHSA through its online school member system. #DYK 40 of 50 states have student athlete rules that are less restrictive than Illinois and allow students and families the discretion to choose how to spend their time when not playing/practicing with their school team. Eleven (11) states have a local, school-based waiver process similar to HB3037: AL, IA, ME, MD, NV, NJ, NM, RI, VY, WI, WY. With the proposed waiver process, Illinois would remain among the 10 most restrictive states for student athletes wanting to compete outside of school. Problem being addressed: Currently, IHSA rule 3.101 prohibits high school student athletes from participating in any non-school team, competition or practice for a given sport during that sport's school season. IHSA rule 3.121 also bans students from participating in all-star teams until a student's senior year, after completion of the given sport's season. These rules were largely meant to prevent students from simultaneously participating in club and school sports. However, it's resulted in a number of absurd and detrimental consequences for students. For example: •Autistic freshman cross-country runner banned from state championship after charity race. (October 2024) Fourteen-year-old Cole Deering ran a charity race in support of his hospitalized sister. When IHSA found out, despite acknowledging that it wasn't intentional, IHSA banned Cole from competing for his school. •Butler HS basketball player prevented from playing in Nike Madison Square Garden All-Star Game by IHSA. (September 2023) IHSA prevented senior Xamiya Walton from showcasing her skills on a national stage, otherwise she would risk eligibility for her school's basketball team. At the time, the IHSA All-Star rule specifically targeted and banned basketball, football, soccer, and volleyball participation. In 2024, this IHSA rule was expanded to include all sports. •Other examples include a student who had to forgo an invitation to play for the soccer Olympic Development Program friendly matches in Spain over her spring break this year, a student who has been left in limbo by the IHSA's delay in responding to her request to play for the Canadian youth national soccer team and IHSA's having to deny a student's request to accept an invitation to play at a FIFA showcase. Common Objections: •IHSA is an independent entity that self-governs itself. "Springfield doesn't belong in our business." IHSA and its membership have taken no steps to address the above issues. Meanwhile, student athletes and constituents are being punished with IHSA's draconian penalties and being held back from national-level competition in which 90 percent of student athletes in the U.S. are allowed to participate. •Schools can propose rule changes to the IHSA if they feel change is needed. Here's a snippet from a coach who wrote to me in support of HB3037: "The last thing I’ll say is that the IHSA loves to argue that they are “self-governed” and that if coaches wanted change, they’d ask for it. But coaches always want change and it’s incredibly hard to get it. They make the process of submitting a change proposal difficult, time-consuming, and nearly impossible to succeed at. They will throw an entire proposal away if a comma is in the wrong place and there is no guidance about how to submit one correctly. So, while there are many things coaches want different, this law is the first time I’ve felt hope that something could actually change.”