MHSAA will do "Phased-In" Sched for Fall Sports; Football essentially TBD on Aug 20
"The Council (of the Michigan High School Athletic Association) affirmed that lower-risk sports – Lower Peninsula girls golf, Lower Peninsula boys tennis and Upper Peninsula girls tennis, cross country and Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving – may begin practice on Aug. 12 and begin competition on their traditional start dates of Aug. 19 and 21.
However, moderate and high-risk sports – football, girls volleyball and boys soccer – may begin practice but not competition. Decisions about competition timelines for these three sports will be made by Aug. 20."
Football can't be in pads until Aug 17.
The way I read this, unless there is a big change (e.g., cases decline significantly starting next week and stay there), football, volleyball and soccer will be either cancelled or postponed in Michigan (I know the MHSAA says they don't want to & don't plan to move sports like football to the spring, but we'll see).
https://www.mhsaa.com/News/Press-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/9180/MHSAA-Representative-Council-Approves-Phased-In-Practice-Competition-for-Fall-Sports
From a development standpoint, is there harm to a kid not playing his senior year and enrolling in January? I'm talking purely about the kids that have the offers that they want; not those hoping to draw the eyes of their dream programs.
I can see a benefit to avoiding the risk of injury and putting less wear and tear on your body.
I'm pretty sure for top-talent, who as you said have already got their desired offers, colleges would be fine with it.
There are exceptions, but colleges rely on their own coaches & program to properly develop players in their schemes & technique, so a recruit missing out on his senior season is sad for the recruit (who wants to play) but typically isn't going to harm their college performance (and as you noted, they stay healthy).
Who it really stinks for is the Ronnie Bells of the world, who get noticed and get the offers they want through their outstanding performance on the field in their senior season. They will have to attract notice in some other way.
Does anyone else get the feeling all these schools and sports associations are just cruelly and unnecessarily stringing these kids along?
EDIT: hahaha, right on cue, Illinois: https://twitter.com/kevin_schmit/status/1288566432515657732?s=20
Can't accuse us of being a nation of long-term thinkers... Gotta get that high off the possibility of imminent normalcy, just to have Lucy pull the football away again at the last moment.
It's like buying a lottery ticket in reverse.
Dashed hopes are better than no hopes, imo.
Unlike Illinois, Virginia and California (and I'm sure others), Indiana announced today they are going full Alabama and that they are a go for everything (though certain counties have already opted out or moved seasons around).
We'll see if that lasts longer than the Miami Marlins' season.
I heard that indoor sports were going to be cancelled or postponed a few days ago, but I wasn't sure if it was to be believed or not. I also heard that football is unlikely and that its already been decided.
Nope, the announcement makes it clear the MHSAA has punted the decision on football until Aug 20 (pun intended). They definitely are waiting.
As noted by Vlad above, this is stringing the kids & coaches along for what is more likely than not going to be a cancelled/postponed fall season for football, volleyball and soccer (I think they should move it to the spring, but they don't want to do that). But it's a tough situation and I can understand them wanting to try as hard as they can to get the season in.
Maybe this small chance will inspire everyone to be safe, but evidence suggests that's not enough. There are seemingly boundless supplies of idiots like at Harper's in East Lansing, basement house parties in Saline, and Crystal Gardens in Southgate who seem determined to continue to have high-risk / against the rules events that will keep the virus around at too high a level for parents and administrators to be reasonably comfortable to have students slamming into & breathing on each other on a football / soccer field.
What I'm saying is they've already decided but just dragging it out. Like I said, I heard about it a few days ago, and its kinda dropped like I've heard.
I hope that's not true. That would not be a real good look for the MHSAA who I feel has done as good of a job as they can
Yes, they're trying to make it work which I honestly appreciate but did I read the word salad correctly that swim & dive is considered lower risk than cross-country? In what possible world is that true? I have kids in both and that's just, uh, no.
No. Both are in the "lower risk" bucket.
Except it only specifies UP XC as lower risk, not LP.
You're misreading it -- "...Upper Peninsula girls tennis, cross country and Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving..."
If there is no "Peninsula" designation directly in front, it is for the entire state. For girls tennis, in the Lower Peninsula, they normally play in the spring, so they are not affected.
There is nothing in front of cross country, so it applies to the whole state.
https://www.mhsaa.com/sports
Okay, I see what you're saying. It could've been more clearly expressed as "LP and UP cross country," or "all cross country" but yes I now see that's what was meant.
Speaking of cross country, the two biggest XC invitationals in the state have now been canceled; Spartan (HS race) two weeks ago, and Portage just a few days ago:
Many more cancelations and/or modifications to come. Assuming that meets will still be held, I expect Division 1 schools to go mostly dual, Div. 2 to dual or tri, Div. 3 to tri or quad, and Div. 4 similarly limited. Anything beyond a few teams is just too complicated now.
I know what you're saying; I don't think that makes sense.
If they have already decided on cancelling it, announcing it earlier rather than later is better for everyone.
The most logical explanation is if the MHSAA had to make the decision today, fall football would be cancelled. However, since they don't have to decide today, they are hoping for the small chance that community spread in MI drops dramatically in the next week or so and stays that way so they can pull a rabbit out of the hat on August 20.
I thought important to note: no scrimmages and if the season gets postponed and then starts again in the fall or spring, we don't start at week 1. The games we skipped will be no contest.
I'm ok with no scrimmages if it means we get to the season (I'm still doubtful, like most everyone), but it does make preparing for week 1 more difficult without the opponent's scrimmage film
I'm a bit surprised they consider XC a low-risk sport; kids tend to run near each other for competitive and strategic reasons, and there's a lot of heavy breathing going on. I guess you could require masks for all competitors but that seems like it might be hard to enforce everywhere.
Anyway, there's vanishing little chance we'll have football in the fall and not great odds at all. I feel really bad for the kids who just wanted to play this year.
Well, XC boys are a lot more aggressive than XC girls but it's possible to greatly reduce risk in XC for both. Staggered starts, spread out start boxes, and -- most importantly -- pare down the BIG invitationals to dual meets to reduce the number of participants. Heavy breathing outdoors is much less of a concern; most races spread out naturally. Even in close races the heavy breathers won't be facing each other.
I can’t imagine wearing a mask while racing, but I agree with the staggered start idea. As you noted, invitational meets are quite crowded for the first several minutes But then wuickly spread out so the start would clearly be the biggest risk area. Even there, staggered starts would let you address this. Instead of several hundred runners starting at once, spread out 10 or 20 at a time and start each group a minute apart. It would be a very different feeling sport, but workable,
Yeah but masks? No. 100 runners might start with masks but only a couple (the slowest ones) would finish with masks ;)
I'd say girls are just as aggressive as boys, so I'm not sure that's much of an option. I assume the invitationals will be cut down but they'll still have regionals and states to deal with. And you always get little pockets of runners who are pretty close to each other in terms of ability and pace.
I agree generally that it's not the biggest risk, but compared to sports like tennis and golf (the other sports listed as safe), XC is far more likely to have meaningful contact between competitors and, at times, limited ability to distance.
In the Zoom today it was discussed that mouth guards that have any exhaust (the pacifier style) probably won’t be allowed and they aren’t sure about the regular mouth guards either
Talking to my two guys inside the MHSAA of things down the pipeline:
No scrimmages (that’s final and announced)
Cancel week 1 and 9 (potentially week 4 or 5)
Everyone makes the playoffs