The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced on April 15, 2021, that it will not hold its 2021 Officials Conference in-person but will offer virtual clinics in its place. The event had been tentatively scheduled for July.
“Given the unusual IHSA sports scheduling this spring and summer, we felt it best to delay the traditional IHSA Officials Conference until 2022,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “Having so many sports packed into the spring and summer limits our staff’s ability to put the time and resources into developing a truly meaningful conference. We are excited to be able to offer some virtual clinics in this summer and to expect to see everyone again in 2022.”
The IHSA revealed that it anticipates the IHSA Officials Conference returning to its regular in-person format in 2022, with the conference taking place on July 8-9, 2022, in Normal. All IHSA officials that achieved milestone years of service (15, 25, 30, 40) during the 2020-21 school year will be recognized and receive their pin at the 2022 Conference.
“We know how much the IHSA Officials Conference means to so many officials around the state,” said IHSA Assistant Executive Director Sam Knox, who has over 20 years’ experience as an IHSA official in baseball and basketball. “It embodies the camaraderie and passion that keep so many of us coming back to this vocation year-after-year. The virtual clinics will be a great addition this summer, but we can’t wait to return to normal in 2022.”
The IHSA will announce more details on the virtual clinic formats for this summer soon. Officials who complete the virtual clinics will be provided clinic credit.
The Association also set its 2021-22 Officials License Renewal date to begin on July 1, 2021.
The IHSA Officials Conference ran for 20 consecutive years prior to being canceled due to the pandemic in 2020. The event annually draws around 700 attendees, with officials from around Illinois taking part in general and sport-specific officiating workshop sessions. The event has drawn some of the top officials from MLB, the NBA, and the NFL as keynote speakers in the past.