CARBONDALE (WSIL) -- On Wednesday, the IHSA voted to allow basketball to remain a winter sport and move wrestling to the summer session.
Basketball practices will resume after the dead period, beginning November 16 and games will start November 30 within an Illinois COIVD Region or within a conference.
We caught up with some local high school basketball coaches to get their reaction.
"We get to play basketball," Carbondale Head Basketball Coach Jim Miller said. "The IHSA stepped up to the plate and informed everyone today that we are going to have a basketball season. They got a little bit of a push back from the governor and I'm sure they are going to receive a little bit of a pushback as well. With all that being said it provides our kids opportunities. Our kids have missed out on so many opportunities, the state tournament last year, granted we weren't going to be a part of that but at the same time there were going to be a lot of kids that missed that opportunity and the baseball season and the football season and all the fall sports so anything to give our kids hope and something to look forward to is good news for our program, our school, our community and southern Illinois as well."
It is our understanding that masks will continue to be worn by the athletes.
"We've not seen the mitigation of the different rules that we are going to have to do has not came out yet," Pickneyville Athletic Director and Boys Basketball Coach Bob Waggoner said. "It's my understand that it is part of it. For the twenty contact days we've had, we've worn masks. We've tried to separate ourselves, we've followed those protocols and I'm sure there are going to be different guidelines we are going to have to use, whether it's six feet apart on the bench like we saw in the bubble down in the NBA or whether or not an extra timeout for a quarter to let kids catch their breath or be spaced out during that timeout. I think you are going to see different things come out but I know this. As a coach I'm highly adaptable, our players are highly adaptable. We will make the adjustments to the rules we are given and do what's the best interest for our players. "
