Fall sports was a hot topic for administrators, students, and parents across the country this summer, and uncertainty remained consistent throughout. The thought of having students play sports for their schools but not attend school in person was up in the air for a while, but ultimately, on July 29, the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced that certain sports would be allowed in the fall.

Each sport was broken down to a risk level: low, medium, and high. All medium and high risk sports were not cleared for competition, so many schools pushed the seasons back to spring. All low risk sports, meaning little contact between participants, were cleared to play during their usual season. 

“Fall sports changed for the entire nation because of the pandemic,” Parker Athletic Director Bobby Starks said. “The biggest change is the adjustment of the seasons. The IHSA offers nine sports in the fall, we offer six of those here at Parker. Now due to safety… those have been shifted, and we’re able to move forward with three of our six.”

Parker decided to keep the girls tennis, coed golf, and coed cross country seasons in the fall because they were deemed low risk sports. Girls field hockey, boys soccer, and girls volleyball were all pushed to an earlier spring season set to begin on February 15.

Because girls field hockey and boys soccer typically attract large numbers each year, there were many student-athletes who were left without a sport to play in the fall. Some of them had always wanted to play a sport such as golf, tennis, or cross country but had always prioritized their first sport. For that reason, the girls tennis and coed golf teams have seen a surge in popularity this season. “With forty girls on the team this year, we are finally able to field a full JV team,” Girls tennis captain Julia Auerbach said. “I’m excited to see how our season turns out and how the new players develop over the course of the season!”

Similarly, golf has seen that same influx in members. “It’s going to be fun to have new golfers who normally can’t play golf because of commitments to other sports,” Golf Coach Tim O’Connor said, “but it also requires a lot more focus and adhering to the COVID guidelines so that people are staying safe and still able to compete.”

The Athletic Department, in accordance with the protocols given by the IHSA, requires that coaches ask student-athletes a series of COVID-19 symptom questions before every practice or match, followed by taking their temperatures. Student-athletes are required to wear masks through the entirety of each practice or match and are encouraged to maintain six feet of distance between other players. 

Parker will not, however, provide testing for any student-athletes. If a student-athlete answers yes to any of the symptom questions, the Athletic Department will work with that family to provide the safest next steps upon when to return. 

For transportation, the Athletic Department has spoken with their transportation services to work out an agreement that provides social distancing. According to Starks, the busses will be at 25-50% capacity, and in some cases, teams will need two busses. “We’ve worked with those transportation companies to make sure that they have a plan, and we’re comfortable with that,” Starks said, “and we’re comfortable with moving forward to transport our student-athletes.”

Because of all these changes, the season looks drastically different, as Auerbach notes. “This year’s tennis season has been quite different then we imagined –– especially, with having to maintain social distance, managing new practice locations, having a new head coach, and lots of new players joining the team,” she said.

To reach the ultimate goal of having safe sports in the fall, the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS) held Zoom meetings from March through August where Athletic Directors around the country learned what was needed to achieve their goal. Additionally, the ADs from the Independent School League (ISL)––the conference that Parker is in––met once a week throughout the summer to compare plans for the fall. They coordinated the sports offered so that each sport would have other teams in the conference to compete against, and adjusted the IHSA’s plans to fit the conference size. 

The preseason for all fall sports was set to begin on Monday, August 10, and the IHSA cleared certain sports to return by then. Parker, however, delayed their start of the season to the following week, August 17. “We wanted to make sure that we had our safety protocols, our coaches were trained, and we were trained,” Starks said, “so that we could provide these layered measures for safety the right way to help mitigate the spread of the virus.”

According to Starks, as long as Illinois is in Stage 4, Parker teams can compete with all ISL members and any school in Cook County. “We have one or two conference members that are outside of Cook County,” Starks said, “but we are able to compete with them because they’re in the conference.”

This means that aside from a few regular opponents, the schedule for fall sports will remain somewhat normal. “We have an influx of golfers from other sports this year that are going to help us be competitive and bring a new vibe to the team,” O’Connor said. “All of that is positive, even if it might present some logistical challenges. It’s going to be exciting to see how well we do as a team and as individuals as the season goes on.”

The final stages of the fall sports season are still unclear, and if the plans hold as they do now, there will be no competition beyond the conference level. Both O’Connor and Auerbach hope for a postseason tournament so the players on their teams have a chance to showcase their skill and reward all the work they put in during this strange season.