Bryan Brooks, the Varsity Boys Basketball coach for Ridgewood High School, recently weighed in on Gov. Pritzker's (D-Illinois) order to delay the start of basketball season.
Gov. Pritzker announced the season would be put on hold due to a surge in COVID-19 cases in the state of Illinois. The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Director's voted the following day to continue with the season as originally planned, defying Gov. Pritzker's orders.
"I think anything we do in life is about choices and we all assume risk every day and our family is a big sports family and it's been a big part of our lives and if you take that away from us, the mental part and just being around other kids and just what we do is more harmful than us not playing. I think you have to give us a choice as parents and players just to assume that risk and we definitely respect the people on their feelings with COVID and stuff but this is our decision," said Brooks.
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The IHSA has stated that they will set mitigation to the basketball players such as masks during play and social distancing on benches.
"I think we have set guidelines before our season was going to start to be able to have contact days and we have proof that we can play basketball safely. As far as I know in our area, all the other teams have proved they can play basketball safely," said Brooks.
Brooks has the pleasure of coaching his son who has been a three-year starter on the team.
The IHSA Board is positive that they made the right decision to move forward with the season.
"The Board remains considerate of rising COVID-19 cases in Illinois and understand the importance of adhering to safety guidelines for the good of all citizens," the statement from the IHSA said, told by Patch. "However, the Board has not been presented any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally. On the contrary, the IHSA has been looking to bordering states who have sponsored both medium risk and high risk sports in the fall that have noted a low incident rate of COVID-19 spread."
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