| By Cody Cutter, NISB Publisher [email protected] Today is Friday, May 15, 2009. There are 29 days remaining in the high school sports year. Only 63 days until the start of the 2009-10 prep sports season, and 82 days until high school football starts. St. Bede Set to Join NCIC St. Bede Academy in Peru has been accepted into the North Central Illinois Conference. The Bruins will join the NCIC in all sports except football. The football program will continue to compete in the Big Rivers football conference. The school it replaces, Kewanee, will join the Big Rivers (TRAC-8 in other sports) in 2010. Final approval of the decision will be made by St. Bede's Board of Directors. They will meet on Wednesday, June 10. If approved, St. Bede will join in time for the 2010-11 school year. Besides football, St. Bede offers cross country, volleyball, golf, tennis, basketball, wrestling, track, baseball and softball. Wrestling started at St. Bede in the 2006-07 school year. St. Bede had been in the Tri-County Conference since 1998, when they came over from the Private School League. From 1982 to 1996, St. Bede was a member of the Corn Belt Conference. In this decade, St. Bede has won nine regional championships in: baseball (2001), boys basketball (2000), girls basketball (2000, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2009), softball (2006) and volleyball (2001). They have three sectional championships in that time frame: girls basketball (2000), boys tennis (2005) and girls softball (2006). St. Bede's possible entry comes at a time of huge changes in the NCIC. The current Reagan division schools are seeking to form their own conference, together with several Western Sun Conference schools. If and when St. Bede joins the NCIC, the conference will consist of themselves, Hall, IVC, Mendota, Princeton and Rock Falls. Yorkville Leaves Western Sun The first school of those that make up the newest 12-school conference has made their intentions clear. Yorkville's school board voted on May 11 to leave the Western Sun Conference. They will be joining a new conference that consists of four other WSC teams and the entire NCIC Reagan division. The other Western Sun schools intend to vote on the issue this month. Rochelle and DeKalb will vote on the issue on May 18, Kaneland on May 25, and Sycamore on May 26. Current NCIC Reagan schools are only discussing the proposal with their respective school boards. Sterling High School is expected to vote on the issue at their May 27 meeting. If all school boards agree on the new affiliation, the five Western Sun schools and Morris will consist of the eastern division, and the Reagan division will consist of the west. Kaneland to Hold Public Conference Meeting In order to better inform Kaneland area residents about the impending conference change, the the Kaneland Board of Education will hold a special public workshop meeting on May 18 from 7:00-8:30 p.m. in the Kaneland High School Library. At this meeting district personnel will address Kaneland�s history of athletic conference affiliations; several reasons why a change in conferences is being considered at this time; and, various aspects of the option that is being considered. An opportunity for questions and comments from the public will be provided. HB 272 in Quinn's Hands House Bill 272, which will assist the IHSA in drug testing, was passed by the Illinois State Senate on Wednesday. It was passed by the House on March 26. The bill awaits Gov. Pat Quinn's signature. House Bill 272 calls for at least 1,000 student-athletes to be tested each school year and will allow random testing to occur at any time during the school year. The Bill will also require representation from at least 25 percent of IHSA member schools in the annual testing pool. The IHSA expects that it will come to close to the 25 percent benchmark during the 2008-09 school year. The Bill would provide funding for the IHSA Performance-Enhancing Drug Testing Program directly from fines imposed on individuals convicted of drug possession and delivery crimes. Below is the synopsis of HB 272: �Amends the Interscholastic Athletic Organization Act. Requires an association that has as one of its purposes promoting, sponsoring, regulating, or in any manner providing for interscholastic athletics or any form of athletic competition among schools and students within this State and that has a performance-enhancing substance testing program to prohibit a student from participating in an athletic competition sponsored or sanctioned by the association unless (i) the student agrees not to use certain performance-enhancing substances, and, if the student is enrolled in high school, the student submits to random testing for the presence of these substances in the student's body and (ii) the association obtains from the student's parent a statement signed by the parent acknowledging certain information. Provides that a school district shall require that each district employee who serves as an athletic coach at or above the 9th grade level for an extracurricular athletic activity sponsored or sanctioned by an association complete an educational program on the prevention of abuse of performance-enhancing substances and complete a proficiency exam. Requires the Department of Public Health to provide oversight of the annual administration of a performance-enhancing substance testing program by an association under which high school students participating in an athletic competition sponsored or sanctioned by the association are tested at multiple times throughout the athletic season for the presence of certain performance-enhancing substances in the students' bodies. Contains provisions concerning confidentiality, funding, exceptions, and liability. Repeals these provisions on July 1, 2011. Effective immediately.� Calling Former Hall Football Players Former Hall Township football players have an opportunity to purchase their old jerseys. Most varsity jerseys are available from 1979 to 1983, and from 1990 to 2006. There are also freshman-sophomore jerseys available from 1989 to 2007. The cost is $20 for a varsity jersey and $5 for a frosh-soph. Only former players are open to this opportunity at this time. If interested, contact coach Jason Bland at (815) 780-1886. Additional information came from IHSA Press Releases. Cody Cutter is the Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat, and writes columns about Illinois high school sports. He can be reached at [email protected]. |
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| Friday 5: 05/15/09 |
| St. Bede Set to Join NCIC � Yorkville Leaves Western Sun � Kaneland to Hold Public Conference Meeting � HB 272 in Quinn's Hands � Calling Former Hall Football Players |
| Northern Illinois Sports Beat - May 8, 2009 |
| http://www.geocities.com/northernillinoissportsbeat |