Coaches Survey Positive Development For Return Of Hoops
Results reveal basketball can be played safely but questions remain about sport's future in 2020-21
(Photo Credit: Review Atlas)
Since Governor Pritzker applied his heavy hand to youth sports in late July, either shutting down or severely restricting play, there has been a scarcity of data to explain his dogmatic decisions.
Monday, the largest coaching association in the state of Illinois released results from its own survey, in hopes it will spur more conversation about the 2020-21 basketball season, scheduled to start Nov. 16.
The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association surveyed coaches all over the state, asking questions about health and safety measures put in place during the summer and fall contact amidst the coronavirus pandemic.
In the study, the IBCA said it concluded “data collected from these surveys demonstrate that the mitigations in place during the allotted summer and fall contact days have worked in helping prevent the spread of COVID-19.”
Highlights from the survey:
*95 percent of coaches who responded to the survey (797 total) are in favor of the season starting on time, Nov. 16
*69 percent of coaches surveyed said they are currently using their 20 fall contact days, allowed between September 7 and October 31.
*Of the 69 percent using contact days, 91 percent report no known cases of COVID-19.
*Nine percent did report cases of the virus. Of that nine percent, two schools reported cases involving 3-5 people. All others reported cases of 1-2 individuals.
Based on the data, the survey ends with a closing ask:
It is because of this we are advocating for basketball to move to level 3 in the IDPH Youth Sports Guidelines in time for the start of the 2020-21 winter season
Currently, at level 2, basketball teams are unable to play games against other teams and are only allowed to scrimmage amongst themselves.
The hope is the survey will gain traction with the Governor’s office and the Illinois Department of Public Health and give permission to allow basketball to start on time and #ReturnToPlay.
“When we were looking at the survey results the first thing we did was understand the lens we were looking through. We are just basketball coaches within our organizations trying to advocate for our players and coaches,” St. Ignatius basketball coach Matt Monroe said, a member of the IBCA’s Executive Board. “We are not health or medical professionals analyzing the data.”
Monroe said one conclusion that stood out from the results is that the participation of basketball did not resulted in a spike of virus cases. Of the schools that reported cases, the overwhelming majority had one or two.
Of the survey respondents, 60 percent were coaches of boys programs, 40 percent girls.
“As coaches and players, it seems as though they are doing a good job following the guidelines that are presented in front of us,” Monroe said.
The IBCA survey is important for a couple of reasons.
One, it shows that basketball (and sports) can be played safely when guidelines are followed. Two, in a charged political climate, when educational and athletic organizations have refused to say anything that might remotely be received as antagonistic towards Pritzker, here’s an association that puts its money where its mouth is.
No slogans or hashtags that add up to empty gestures. This is real data that can be presented to the IDPH as why a season of basketball should start in 2020-21.
Monroe added the survey was conducted and released Monday with full knowledge by the IHSA.
The IHSA released a statement from spokesperson Matt Troha in response to the IBCA survey:
“The data collected by the IBCA only helps to re-enforce the IHSA’s stance that sports, including those dubbed medium and high risk, can be safely conducted within the parameters adopted by the IHSA from the IDPH. We have state and national statistics we have shared with IDPH via Deputy Governor Ruiz that reach similar conclusions. We will continue to work with Deputy Governor Ruiz and IDPH in the hopes that they will recognize that we can allow greater athletic participation, while also mitigating the spread of COVID-19. We appreciate our longstanding partnership with the IBCA, and the work they continue to do advocating for student-athletes.
The debate over the return of basketball took a controversial turn last week.
A member of the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, Dr. Preston Wolin, spoke publicly about recent conversations between the IHSA and IDPH, raising questions about the relationship between the two governing bodies.
Dr. Wolin said:
As of right now, the Illinois Department of Public Health and the IHSA are not on the same page
During a conversation with reporters, Wolin revealed one detail from correspondence between the IHSA and IDPH:
The Illinois Department of Public Health has responded to the (SMAC) that includes a draft considering allowing basketball season to proceed with everybody being masked
Reaction to mask wearing by players has been mixed.
I’ve had some coaches tell me it’s untenable, or simply not possible. Parents have cited health reasons for their sons or daughters not wearing masks during exercise, asking if medical wavers were possible. A prominent sports medicine doctor in Kansas, Dr. David Smith, raised legitimate concerns over the efficacy of masks during rigorous competition.
As soon as you sweat, basically the air you are ventilating in wets the inside of that mask and the efficacy of that mask goes down tremendously. So theoretically, on a hot day with someone masking up, if they are playing sports they better be changing that mask frequently and every time they change it, they better wash their hands before they touch it and then once they take it off make sure they put it back on and keep their hands away from their face…the wet mask is something to pay attention to
Others take a more pragmatic view—whatever it takes to play a season, and if mask wearing is a condition to playing a season, coaches, players and parents should follow the advice of Nike from a pre-virus, less-fearful era, and #JustDoIt.
“If that’s the rule, so be it. Let’s go,” Carmel Catholic boys hoops coach Zack Ryan said in a tweet. “Or we can just keep blaming the state for everything. By next month it will be Pritzker’s fault free throw shooting is down.”
“Anything done for basketball would have to be done for other sports. If we have to have kids wear masks, if the game workers have to wear masks, the officials have to wear it, is that the way we want to go? No,” Glenbrook South boys coach Phil Ralston said, who serves in a leadership position with the IBCA. “But if they have to wear masks, if that’s the only way we can go forward, I don’t know many people that are associated with the game that will say no to that. We’ve been wearing masks all summer and fall.”
Monroe said the the IBCA is not taking an organizational position on the disagreeable subject of mask-wearing, leaving it up to medical experts to make that call.
“We are leaving decisions like this to medical professionals regarding the necessary mitigation that need to be in place that needs to put those involved in basketball activities safe. We are willing to do whatever it takes to ensure that student athletes and coaches have a season this school year,” Monroe said.
Ralston raised the issue of travel basketball and how if there is no high school season, players will find a way to play.
“What’s not being considered is many of us in our programs have kids that are playing AAU and they are not playing by the same set of rules as the high schools. They’ve gone without masks,” Ralston said. “If we don’t have a season, the kids will have a season so how can they play it safely and have some oversight.”
With the scheduled opening practice date five weeks away, conversations will need to be more accelerated and hopefully, include results from the informative IBCA survey.
“Obviously people see the data and can form an opinion based on the numbers we present,” Monroe said. “We’re hoping that we are able to play a season, doing so safely and that we’re willing to continue to advocate for coaches and players and officials to be able to do that safely.”
“This is a smaller microcosm of effected stakeholders. Having shared experiences, having that information disseminated, it’s important for people making decisions about athletes to see the information,” Ralston said. “The sooner we can get better communication, the easier it can be to proceed with the logistics of playing the game.”