MHSAA considering move to spring football
It's an option on the table. They're gonna make a decision sometime soon.
August 13th, 2020 at 10:14 PM ^
My HS football team that I help out with just started practicing this week.
August 14th, 2020 at 12:27 AM ^
August 14th, 2020 at 7:20 PM ^
I graduated a long time ago.
August 13th, 2020 at 10:17 PM ^
For now
August 14th, 2020 at 10:19 AM ^
As long as they keep the low-risk sports like XC, girls golf, and boys tennis in the fall, this decision is understandable.
These sports can be played in the fall. No doubt about it.
August 14th, 2020 at 10:45 AM ^
Yeah, tennis and golf seem like great options for fall sports since there is so little contact between players.
I still hold that XC isn't as feasible, even if we limit it to mostly dual meets. One can't assume runners will wear masks the whole time (as a runner myself, it is harder to run with a mask and kids will simply take them off at times), and in the larger meets (like regionals and states), people have to be bunched together at the start and finish, to say nothing of runners sticking close to each other during the race. It's pretty clear that transmission outdoors is relatively rare but athletes breathing near each other for 20+ minutes during races feels like the exception to that rule.
We'll see. I don't envy any of these athletic associations.
August 13th, 2020 at 11:10 PM ^
This has been an alternate option since the beginning. Mlive article gave little context...MHSAA #1 plan is to play this fall. If that doesn’t happen, then spring is in play. (March-May).
August 14th, 2020 at 1:11 AM ^
The article isn't perfect but it is a good in-depth read of the overall HS sports situation in Michigan. One thing that stood out for me:
"I know from all the mental health research that we get on almost a daily basis, kids need some thread of normalcy, and during these strange and uncertain times, if that means that the one thread is being on a school athletic team, then I think that is actually a good thing, and not a negative," he (Mark Uyl) said.
Also mentioned was one key Covid testing metric that the MHSAA is looking at: the % of positive tests. It's just over 3% in Michigan which is a very good number compared to most other states.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:37 AM ^
Hate to be a Debbie downer, but are things really going to look much different in the spring?
August 14th, 2020 at 11:54 AM ^
Things won’t look that different in the Spring and things won’t look that different next Fall.
August 14th, 2020 at 2:11 PM ^
I was hoping a vaccine might start to save this country, but the recent number floating around that like 1/3 of Americans wouldn't want to get the vaccine is concerning
August 14th, 2020 at 3:00 PM ^
That seems like a crazy stat. I would be less concerned about ill effects but more suspicious regarding the effectiveness.
August 13th, 2020 at 11:20 PM ^
I believe the decision is coming on the 20th.
August 14th, 2020 at 7:21 AM ^
I could be wrong, but I think on or near the 20th was when the ultimate decision was supposed to happen anyway with everything up to this point being essentially "we are doing X for now based on current understanding and guidance". I seem to remember someone telling me that if a hammer was going to fall here, it wasn't going to fall until later in August.
August 14th, 2020 at 12:03 AM ^
This week of practice has been probably the happiest situation I have been in in months. The kids are in such a good mood and working so hard. Us coaches are in amazing moods. If they are going to pull the rug they better do it soon.
The mental health impact that can come from canceling the season needs to be looked at. As a mental health professional this pandemic has had a real impact. I have had multiple students attempt suicide over this time period. In one case, which was last night, had me called to the ER to meet with the family last night.
This virus has impacted so many people in ways that aren’t just viral.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:41 AM ^
Yea, let's just kill young people so we can have some football. The virus doesn't just impact individuals - it has a community-wide impact and can cost numerous others their lives too. This is not to trivialize the issues people are facing - by all means, get people the help they need: mental health counseling, anti-depressants, etc.
Also, pardon me for not taking my public health advice from a partisan hack who authored: Democracy Denied: How Obama is Ignoring You and Bypassing Congress to Radically Transform America – and How to Stop Him.
August 14th, 2020 at 10:48 AM ^
I certainly understand that normalcy helps mental health and do not want to downplay the 'contemplating suicide' aspect amongst young people, but saying "its unconscionable" is over-dramatic and over-simplistic and that guy knows it. We're still averaging something like 1,000 deaths/day in this country. There's no perfect solution that solves everything at once. It's unconscionable that this country is one of the only 1st world nations to complete screw up dealing with this pandemic and then blame the only people doing anything for their troubles
August 14th, 2020 at 1:14 AM ^
This gentleman makes a great point.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:33 AM ^
Wow.....I'm glad you can be with these families to help them through it, and thank you for being there for them, but I can't imagine what these kids must be going through. My wife and I are enough where the only child we have was just born, so it'll be a couple years anyway before he has even a slight inkling of what's going on, and hopefully by that point this is all behind us. But as for these other kids, they've been isolated from their friends and the outside world for months, then they're finally given a taste of it in hopes of getting back to normal, only to likely have the rug pulled out from under them again and sent back home. That has to be completely demoralizing.
This virus has truly put everyone, especially our younger population, into a 100% lose-lose situation. If they go back to school, they inadvertently risk infecting themselves and everyone around them, as this virus spreads like a California wildfire in the dead of summer. If they stay home, they're less likely to get infected, but they are again isolated from their friends, sport programs, and other extra-curriculars that give them joy and purpose. I imagine this virus has robbed a lot of our younger generation of a feeling of purpose. They can't go anywhere or do anything, so they're just alone with their thoughts all day.
While we may have a rough idea, when this is all over, of how many lives the virus takes directly, we'll never know how many lose their life because of everything the virus has indirectly taken from them, how many businesses it destroys, or how many lives it just flat-out ruins. We are truly living in the crisis of our generation.
August 14th, 2020 at 12:37 PM ^
Great post and absolutely nailed it. My son missed his SR spring, baseball, prom and other activities. Some are heading off to college, others are being told remote. These kids were robbed of the best time of high school and now the feeling of being off to college with that experience of independence and fun. Anything better than your first weekend on campus?? Looks like football will be the one sport cancelled in MA for fall, soccer(both), volleyball, field hockey, CC and golf looking to go. Modifying field hockey and soccer to limit or avoid contact??? Lost time that cannot be given back to all kids from 5 -19.
August 14th, 2020 at 12:29 AM ^
Although schools are starting in different places I have a feeling we will all wind up in distance learning, with no amateur sports. God help us. My three year old is in class but my kindergartener is struggling with video classes. She can sit for maybe an hour of it a day.
August 14th, 2020 at 1:12 AM ^
This won’t work! So many coaches are teachers who coach spring sports, too. The facilities at each high school will have a hard time accommodating all the teams. Bussing kids to all the different events will be a logistical nightmare. Also, football seasons will be crammed too close together with next fall. Two and three sport athletes on the football team will choose to play baseball or run track instead. No! I hate this reality, but no.
August 14th, 2020 at 5:21 AM ^
You probably should read the article before commenting.
They aren't going to play all the sports at the same time.
August 14th, 2020 at 2:13 PM ^
I read it brother. I’m very literate. I also have worked as a HS educator for 25 years in a large district and I just have severe doubts this can be pulled off.
August 14th, 2020 at 1:46 AM ^
Pigskins and lilacs in the air?
Oh so far away, it's hard to say.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:33 AM ^
EDIT: I commented before reading the whole article. Oops.
Golf, cross country, and to a lesser extent tennis in March in Michigan does not sound like fun, especially as you go further north.
August 14th, 2020 at 10:05 AM ^
Distance runners will not be able to do two sports at one time. Indoor track, outdoor track will overlap with a proposed spring cross country.
Cross country is an off-road running sport so the conditions of the various courses will be mostly in poor condition in March. Soils are either wet or partially frozen so early in the season. Even outdoor track on synthetic surfaces are less than ideal due to the often cold weather conditions in April in Michigan. (it wasn't fun)
August 14th, 2020 at 10:20 AM ^
That's why these low-risk sports need to be played now rather than later. We can play safely and make it happen.
August 14th, 2020 at 8:38 AM ^
Nothing like playing football in a foot of snow. It is still snowing in April up here.
August 14th, 2020 at 9:02 AM ^
Good thing you’re good with a shovel
August 14th, 2020 at 9:41 AM ^
I hope they let them play. I know my son was very disappointed not having a spring high school baseball season. Luckily the summer travel ball season was not cancelled. Playing ball with his friends really turned his mental attitude around, just sitting around was really bad for him and for our entire family dynamic.
August 14th, 2020 at 11:15 AM ^
Of course he was disappointed, he's a kid. It's up to us adults, to convey what's happening so that they understand, and provide what we can to keep their minds occupied. Putting everyone at risk during a raging pandemic, is not the answer.
August 17th, 2020 at 4:55 PM ^
Hope springs eternal.