The Illinois High School Association announced Friday that its proposed Stage 2 Return To Play guidelines have been approved by the Illinois Department of Public Health and can be instituted by IHSA schools starting July 5. 

The IHSA also announced it will no longer reference these guidelines as Stage 2 and will instead will refer to them as Phase 4, matching verbiage used by the state in its Restore Illinois plan. 

Phase 4 guidelines optimize safety while allowing IHSA teams to gather in groups of 50 coaches and students or less to conduct practices or contests. IHSA coaches can conduct team activities on 20 contact days between June 30 and Aug. 9. 

An IHSA member high school may not conduct team activities under Phase 4 unless they have local school district approval and are located in a region that is in Phase 4 under the governor’s Restore Illinois plan. 

Fans do not traditionally attend contests conducted under the summer contact day format, however, if a host school allows fans to attend, they will be limited to 20 percent capacity of their facility or less, based on the policy of the host school.

To view the full Phase 4 Return to Play guidelines, click here.