Organizers of a weekend wrestling tournament held in suburban Chicago in violation of state coronavirus mitigation policies reportedly encouraged event participants to “keep as low of a profile as possible” in order to “keep the noise down around the event.”
The Northwest Indiana Times reports that ahead of the event, Elite Athletic Club sent an email to coaches, parents and wrestlers urging them to avoid posting about the tournament on social media until Monday, after the event had taken place. Elite Athletic Club sponsored the event at the Southland Center in Lynwood, Ill., which was issued a citation and is now under investigation by the Cook County department of health.
An email provided to the Times read:
“In these challenging times we all want to wrestle. To help make this possible and to keep as low of a profile as possible we ask for you [sic] help on the following things. Please do not stream yourself to facebook [sic] or other places. Please avoid posting to social media about the tournament until Monday. This well help keep the noise down around the event and hopefully keep the negative wishes away that would keep us from wrestling.”
The state of Illinois is currently in Tier 3 mitigation, which puts any indoor group sports on pause.
Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker in his daily coronavirus press conference called the tournament “a terrible idea.”
Related: Sports Complex Cited for Hosting Wrestling Tournament
A spokesperson for the county department of public health said that the facility was under investigation, and that health department representatives would be working alongside village of Lynwood officials as part of the investigation.
Neither the Elite Athletic Club nor the Southland Center responded to requests for comment.
