All-State Academic Team applications are now available online.  Each IHSA member school is invited to recommend one boy and one girl for the All-State Academic Team.  To be eligible students shall meet the following criteria: 1.   The student must have a minimum GPA of 3.50 on a... Read more

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is proud to announce its seventh class of recipients of the IHSA Distinguished Media Service Award. The 2019-20 honorees include two of the longest active media members in the state, alongside a legendary preps writer. Fowler Connell is 95 years young and ... Read more

The 2019 IHSA Football State Championship games will air live on statewide television via Quincy Media Inc.’s IHSA TV Network on Friday and Saturday November 29-30. The eight state title games will be contested at Huskie Stadium on the campus of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. Fans ... Read more

The City of DeKalb, the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau & Northern Illinois University are excited to welcome high school football fans to the 2019 IHSA Football State Championship games on Friday and Saturday, November 29-30! All of the action will be unfolding on the Northern I... Read more

During his award-winning career at the Peoria Journal Star, Kirk Wessler covered every aspect of the IHSA Cross Country State Finals in Peoria. Kirk took on the monumental task of recapping the past 50 years of the state meet at Detweiller: 50 Years of Running In Peoria If anyone tries to tell... Read more

By Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Executive Director Case studies have revealed that kids want to participate in high school sports because they are fun. Being a part of a team gives them an identity, a sense of self-worth and, in some cases, a reason for engaging in academics. They are included, a... Read more

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) announced on November 4, 2019 that it is adding 13 individuals runners (8 boys, 5 girls), and one boys’ team, to its field of qualifiers for the 2019 IHSA Cross Country State Finals. Per IHSA Policy, runners from Chicago Public Schools (CPS) were... Read more

A total of 25 proposals for amending the IHSA Constitution and By-Laws were received from principals and official representatives of IHSA member schools. The IHSA Legislative Commission will review the proposals at its first meeting on Monday, November 4.  Then the proposals will be discussed ... Read more

The 2019 IHSA Football Playoff Pairings will be released on Saturday, October 26 via a trio of shows on the NFHS Network and Quincy Media Inc's statewide IHSA TV Network (see #IHSAPairings schedule below). The Chicago Public Schools teacher strike has created several questions related to the playoff... Read more

On October 25, 2019 the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors heard an appeal via conference call by administrators from Simeon Career Academy High School in Chicago. Simeon is not currently in session, as defined by the Illinois State Board of Education, due to a teacher str... Read more

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met at its regularly scheduled meeting at the IHSA office in Bloomington on Wednesday, October 16, 2019, where the Board voted to extend the IHSA Girls Volleyball State Final hosting contract at Illinois State University’s Redbird ... Read more

A longstanding IHSA tradition gets a new home, and a new twist, as the IHSA prepares to unveil its 2019 IHSA Football Playoff Pairings on Saturday, October 26. The IHSA Football Playoff Pairing Show, which will reveal the brackets and first round match-ups of all 256 playoff qualifiers across eig... Read more

Voting for seats on the Illinois High School Association Board of Directors and Legislative Commission closed at midnight on Monday, October 1, and the results were tallied and certified Tuesday morning, October 2. Jon Baffico, Principal at St. Patrick Chicago, has been elected to to Division 1 s... Read more

The Student Advisory Committee nomination form is now available for interested students. The SAC is a diverse group of students who participate in interscholastic athletics/activities and are focused on providing education and leadership through open and honest communication with all... Read more

By Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Executive Director When the annual High School Athletics Participation Survey was released by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) in August, many headlines across the country focused on the drop in the number of boys playing 11-player f... Read more

         The NFHS has partnered with Eknowledge, tabbing the interactive e-learning products provider as its official partner in SAT & ACT testing preparation. The NFHS is proud to make this servicee available to IHSA schools and students via an exclusiv... Read more

By Dr. Karissa L. Niehoff, NFHS Executive Director Recent articles have documented the rising costs of club sports, with one noting that about 62 percent of “travel ball” parents will go into debt to involve their kids in year-round sports. A USA Today article in 2017 suggested th... Read more

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors met at its regularly scheduled meeting at the IHSA office in Bloomington on Monday, September 16, 2019, where the Board approved one action item. ACTION ITEMS 1. The Board conducted its annual review of IHSA Policy 14, voting to co... Read more

The blind drawing that determines the state final pairings in bracketed team sports was held at the IHSA Office on Wednesday, September 11, starting at approximately 11:30 am. This drawing covered the fall sports of boys soccer and girls volleyball. Boys football, which operates under a different sy... Read more

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) is proud to once again support the Concussion Legacy Foundation's Team Up Speak Up initiative during National Team Up Speak Up Week from September 8-14, 2019. The goal of Team Up Speak Up is for as many athletes as possible to hear a simple speech. T... Read more