Metro East Sun

A former Republican candidate for the General Assembly says her son could miss out on college scholarships due to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s COVID-19 restrictions on high school and youth sports.

“My son is a wrestler, and the state deems that as a sport with high probability for transmission,” said Katie Miller, a candidate for the 53rd House District (Arlington Heights, Mount Prospect) two years ago. “It’s his senior year and he has colleges talking to him about scholarships. They can shut down everything at any time. I’m afraid for him.”

The Miller family is one of many who opposed Pritzker's announcing a set of COVID-19 restrictions just as the Illinois High School Association board of directors was preparing to issue a schedule, according to a July 29, Chicago Sun-Times article.

“My son is not the only kid,” Miller told the Metro East Sun. “It's the same thing with football. I’ve heard of other parents thinking of moving their kid out of state and having them live with a grandma or another relative so that they have an opportunity to play their senior year but it's really hard on the kids.”

Football, boxing, wrestling, competitive cheerleading and dance are limited to no-contact practice and training, according to state COVID-19 guidelines until later in the school year.

Activities are classified into either higher risk, medium risk or lower risk and Levels 1, 2, 3 or 4.

For example, high-risk sports can play at Level 1 while medium risk sports can play at Level 1 and 2. Medium-risk sports include basketball, soccer, water polo, flag football, wheelchair basketball and volleyball.

“It should be a choice so that if the parents are OK with their kids playing sports, then they should be able to,” Miller said. “One thing overall with COVID-19 that is driving me crazy is that the first thing they do is shut everything down and do nothing instead of trying to be creative. It should be the parent’s choice.”

Miller’s daughter, who will start her freshman year in the fall, received word earlier this summer that she would not have a traditional school experience. 

“They had a teacher come visit all the freshmen outside their home and they answered any questions since you can't go inside the school,” Miller said. “I thought that was a nice thing. When the teacher got around to our house, we asked him about sports and he said, ‘It’s not the schools making the decisions. It's going to be the governor making decisions. That was two or three weeks ago.”

Miller added that it’s not only Pritzker who is acting like a king.

“We have that with [Chicago] Mayor Lori Lightfoot, too, where they act like little dictators and think they have to rule everything,” she said. “It's happening a lot. They are taking away freedoms from adults who are entitled to make their own decisions.”