October 8, 2014

I am writing for your school’s support to an important student-athlete health and safety issue when it comes to the Illinois High School Association’s (IHSA) definition of “tournament.”

The current IHSA tournament definition (which also may be found at the top of pg. 15 - http://www.ihsa.org/documents/forms/2011-12/2011-12-Handbook-Casebook.pdf) states:

Tournament Rule — A competition involving three or more schools in which teams and/or athletes compete under an elimination and/or round-robin format within a 14-consecutive day period which results in a single winner of the competition and or event(s). No regular season tournament shall allow for a member school to participate in more than five (5) games/contests/matches.

On behalf of hundreds of soccer programs, coaches, parents and players, we would like to have it changed to:

Suggested NEW Tournament Rule — A competition involving three or more schools in which teams and/or athletes compete under an elimination and/or round-robin format within a 10-consecutive school day period which results in a single winner of the competition and or event(s). No regular season tournament shall allow for a member school to participate in more than five (5) games/contests/matches.

Overall reasons for adjustment:

*Provides health and safety benefit of not playing too many games in a short span, but still accomplishes the IHSA’s goal of having tournaments finish within a reasonable period.

*It truly allows the option to spread tournament games out over three weekends, which is something coaches, parents and players love and appreciate because of recovery between games, traffic and travel on school nights.

*It provides weather options, ensuring games don’t have to be jammed in.

*If a religious orstate holiday(Jewish Holidays, Labor Day, Veteran's Day, Martin Luther King Day)pops up within the tournament span, this covers that by providing flexibility.

*This rule was truly created for “basketball tournaments, to avoid year-long tournaments.”

Please let us know if you will sign on to support health and safety with this basic “tournament” rule change by signing below:

Thank you in advance for your support.