Illinois State Finals For Disabled Athletes On Track | July 11, 2012

Student athletes with disabilities will soon get an equal footing with the rest of their fellow able-teammates.

The Illinois High School Association recently announced it would begin a two-year pilot program with state finals for disabled athletes this upcoming academic year.

State finals will be offered in cross country, bowling, swimming/diving, and track and field.

“We are confident that by working together, we will help raise awareness about the abilities of people with disabilities and ultimately more parents, coaches and physical education teachers will encourage athletics for students with disabilities,” said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in a written statement.

The announcement comes on the heels of a federal lawsuit filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan alleging the IHSA has discriminated against athletes with disabilities.

Up until this announcement, there has been no opportunity for disabled athletes to compete at the state level in Illinois other than wheelchair basketball.

Disabled athletes are allowed to compete during their team’s regular season, but in order to go to state they would have to meet the able-athlete standard.

A special ad-hoc committee was put together in February that has been reviewing ways to implement the pilot program. The IHSA is still working out the specific details of how it will administer qualifying for the state finals in each sport.

It is possible disabled athletes will have to meet a standard setup specifically for their disability or that all will be welcome to compete, such as what Minnesota allowed in their past state finals in track and field, officials said.

“At this point, it is too early to determine the exact process for qualifying, as well as the standards,” said IHSA spokesman Matt Troha. “We are in the process of working with some of the groups and individuals involved in our ad hoc committee panel sessions to determine the best course of action for the qualifying standards.”

Minnesota has been a long time leader in adapted athletics and has evolved splitting their disabled athletic competitions into two categories – physical and cognitive impairments.

IHSA is still working on whether it will do the same during this preliminary stage. The agency is gathering data via membership surveys on how many disabled athletes have an interest in competing, Troha said.

“We want to be able to offer a meaningful experience for all the student-athletes who are competing,” he said.

The ad-hoc committee chose to pilot these particular sports because they’ve had high participation numbers already, “which make them a good starting point to build our program off of,” Troha added.

# Article By SEAN STILLMAKER
Journal & Topics Newspapers Online, Des Plaines, IL

http://www.journal-topics.com/sports/article_9ada490a-cb79-11e1-88af-0019bb30f31a.html