Junior high and middle school sports are back on in Illinois.

At least for now in regards to the 2020-21 school year.

One week after announcing the cancellation of multiple junior high fall sports for the upcoming fall season because of the coronavirus pandemic, IESA executive director Craig Endsley informed member schools on Friday afternoon of a reversal to that action while also providing a plan for the entire 2020-21 athletic calendar.

Endsley’s latest announcement followed an IESA Board of Directors special meeting. The meeting was held in response to Wednesday’s announcement from IHSA officials about their 2020-21 sports calendar, as well as a press briefing the same day by Gov. J.B. Pritzker detailing restrictions placed upon youth and adult recreation sports that encompassed both the IHSA and IESA.

“I speak for the Board when I say they do not like to reverse decisions,” Endsley said Friday in a statement. “In this case, the Board believed the information that became available after their initial decision on July 23 warranted a review of that decision.”

On July 23, the IESA decided to cancel boys’ golf, girls’ golf, boys’ cross-country, girls’ cross-country, baseball and softball seasons this upcoming fall because of COVID-19 concerns. Endsley also cited a lack of direction from the governor’s office and Illinois Department of Public Health on being able to safely return to play in announcing last week’s decision.

Once both Pritzker and the IHSA made their respective decisions Wednesday, the IESA published a short response on its website indicating the board would review new information.

“The All Sports Guidance document that was recently released from the Governor’s Office placed the sports of golf, softball, baseball and cross-country in the ‘lower risk’ category,” Endsley said. “Sports in that category can hold practices and interscholastic games. As a result of these four sports being recategorized to lower risk and with interscholastic competitions being allowed, the IESA Board of Directors has approved a plan for the return of regular season contests in these activities and a limited state series.”

According to a document shared by Endsley with member schools, fall sports will consist of boys’ golf, girls’ golf, boys’ cross-country, girls’ cross-country, baseball and softball.

Winter sports will feature boys’ basketball, volleyball and wrestling, with girls’ basketball, boys’ track and field and girls’ track and field being spring sports.

Fall events will be held from August through October, winter events from January through March and spring events from February through May.

The only seasons of those listed above that are being significantly moved take place indoors.

Girls’ basketball was set to start Aug. 31 and now will begin March 8, boys’ basketball was slated to open Oct. 19 and now starts Jan. 4, and both volleyball and wresting were initially slated to begin Nov. 30 but now open Jan. 11.

“We are hopeful that the remainder of the sports and activities will be held,” Endsley said. “Currently, the majority of those activities have been deemed as medium or high risk. The Board felt that the plan they approved provides direction and a blueprint should we be able to move forward.”

Other revised start dates are this upcoming Monday (baseball, softball, cross-country) and March 1 (track and field). No start date is listed for golf because, according to Endsley, there are very few full junior high golf teams in the state and the sport is largely individualized.

No state series are scheduled at this time for any of these sports. Instead, regional tournaments will take place in sports with a three-tier state series (baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, wrestling) and sectional round will occur in sports with a two-tier state series (golf, cross-country, track and field).

Other rules handed down via the IESA’s document on Friday include:

— Teams are limited to a maximum of two contests per week, with the exception of baseball or softball being permitted three games in a week if two are held in a doubleheader, and cannot hold a tournament or event featuring more than three teams.

— If an EMS Region or county is placed in Phase 3 or lower of the “Restore Illinois” plan, all sports for schools in that area will be suspended or canceled.

— Spectator restrictions must follow IDPH guidelines on the topic.

— Regular-season events are limited to intra-conference, intra-region (“approximately a 30-mile radius”) or intra-EMS-region matchups. EMS Regions are used by the IDPH to separate different sections of the state during COVID-19 discussions.

— Students only engaging in e-learning are eligible for IESA events.

“Please know that the modified schedule and seasons as approved (Friday) apply only to the 2020-21 school year,” Endsley said. “Assuming we can return to ‘normal’ in 2021-22, the seasons and schedules would return to their traditional dates in the IESA calendar.”