Darren Kinnard/River Radio Sports Central
BLOOMINGTON — Following a great deal of frustration and anger recently voiced about a by-law amendment that went into effect July 1 eliminating underclass participation in All-Star games in all sports, the IHSA Board of Directors updated the definition of an “All-Star team” at it’s monthly meeting Friday.
Moving forward, an All-Star team is a “team of students who are selected to participate in a non-school contest or tournament based on athletic ability, performance or reputation when representing the member high school the student attends or previously attended. Students represent their school by using the school’s name, being selected or nominated by the school, or by wearing any part of the school’s athletic uniform.”
The board also put a time frame on the amendment, saying By-law 3.120 applies during the school year (from Monday of Week 8 through Saturday of Week 49 of the IHSA standardized calendar). For example, that’s August 25, 2024-June 14, 2025 for the current school year.
“When the new IHSA by-laws went into effect on July 1, 2024, the changes to the All-Star Participation by-law created a significant number of questions from member schools amidst the changing landscape of non-high school participation in the summer,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said of the clarification. “The Board felt it was prudent to produce the updated language to the All-Star Team definition and the new by-law illustration to more clearly define the scope and timeline of when ‘all-star events’ for underclassmen are restricted. The changes to the by-law that were voted into effect by our member schools in December remain intact as written, however, the Board is confident that today’s updates will better reflect the initial intent of the by-law change.”
This updated definition and time frame opens summer participation in All-Star events for all sports. Prior to the amendment’s passing by a school vote of 547-136 (43 no opinions) back in December, By-law 3.120 only prevented underclass All-Star participation in four sports: basketball, football, soccer, and volleyball. The amendment eliminated underclass All-Star participation in all sports, and included summer travel teams, creating quite a stir, especially for summer baseball and softball.
In other action, the Board moved the state golf championships to October 18-19, a week later than originally scheduled. “Changing the 2024 IHSA Boys & Girls Golf State Final dates to October 18-19 will allow us to provide the most inclusive State Series tournament possible, as the original state tourney dates (October 12-13) coincided with Yom Kippur,” Anderson said. ‘We recognize that these changes were not easy to facilitate from a staffing and planning perspective for our state final courses and communities, so we greatly appreciate their partnership in helping provide the best experience possible for high school golfers in the state.”
The Board approved the terms & conditions for girls flag football. The inaugural IHSA State Series in Girls Flag Football will take place this fall.
