Illinois, New York Sections Move Forward With Spring Sports Cancellations

Last week, we reported that the Illinois High School Association was expected to make on final decision on the fate of their spring sports season this week and on Tuesday, the IHSA announced that they would be cancelling spring sports activities and tournaments due to the coronavirus. The decision was made during a video conference held by the IHSA and following the announcement, IHSA Executive Director, Craig Anderson, releaseed this following statement, "We supports the decision by Governor Pritzker," who announced on Friday that schools would remain closed for the duration of 2019-2020 academic year, "and the Illinois State Board of Education and given the logistis, we simply felt we could not conduct state tournaments that met the expectations of our member schools this spings." Alexander added that though the decision would be a difficult one for student athletes, the board believes it was the right one for their health and safety. In New York, Sections XI and VIII in Long Island are the first in the state to cancel their spring sports seasons. "This decision was made in the best interest of the health and safety of all our student athletes, staff and communities," Section XI Executive Director Tom Combs said in a statement via Twitter on Tuesday.