High school basketball: Yorkville Christian, Parkview Christian move ahead to play in winter season

Yorkville Christian and Parkview Christian Academy in Yorkville plan to move forward and play basketball this winter, a season that is scheduled to start with practice Nov. 16 and run through Feb. 13 on the IHSA's calendar.

Aaron Sovern, Yorkville Christian's principal, athletic director and boys basketball coach, confirmed on Friday that the school will be playing this winter. Parkview Christian AD Don Davidson did the same in an email Friday night.

Last week, Gov. JB Pritzker announced the IDPH had moved boys and girls basketball from a medium-risk sport to high-risk and that the season must be put on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The IHSA announced a day later that it would proceed with basketball as a winter sport, defying the governor and IHDP's order. The IDPH initially termed basketball "medium risk" in July, but changed that to "higher risk" last week.

Pritzker said last Thursday that basketball could be played during the IHSA’s spring season from Feb. 15 to May 1. The IHSA stated later that day it would remain with basketball as a winter sport.

"It's all politics, and the kids are the pawns," Sovern said last week.

Since then, many schools have confirmed that they will not play basketball this winter, notably the Chicago Public League and Catholic schools from the Diocese of Rockford. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Lewiston, Peoria Christian, Sherrard and Lena-Winslow said that they will play.

"We're playing, just not confirmed where yet," Sovern said in a text message. "We won't have our players wearing masks so we're waiting to see what the IHSA requires."

The IHSA on Oct. 29 released winter sport mitigations for sports including basketball. Included in the mitigations is that all individuals wear masks.

"We're not fearful of having our kids play," Sovern said. "We don't, however, want them to play with masks on. The IHSA's rule is illogical."

If IHSA schools played a season, Yorkville Christian was scheduling games with Oswego East, Plano, Kenwood and West Aurora. But the school also has scheduled a tournament for Dayton, Ohio, with a game with La Lumiere, an Indiana-based boarding school with a nationally-recognized program.

Davidson said that at this point Parkview Christian is scheduled to open its season Dec. 1, with practices set to start Nov. 16.

"Our conference has decided to follow the IHSA's decision and not Pritzker's illegal mandates," Davidson said in an email.

Among other Kendall County-area schools, Plano has said it won't make a decision until its Nov. 16 Board of Education meeting. Plano AD Jim Schmidt said that the entire conference is on hold. The plan is to start practice Nov. 17 if approved by the board.

Oswego School District 308 leadership is having ongoing discussions with no decision not yet made. Oswego East's boys basketball program tweeted on Friday that tryouts are scheduled for Nov. 16. Sandwich has not yet made a decision.

Yorkville is still discussing at the local and district level. Yorkville AD Luke Engelhardt said Friday that "we will be following State/IDPH guidance in all decisions we make."