High school footballers received the bad news on Friday that their season has been postponed to the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But an official from Michigan High School Athletic Association had good news for girls ‘golfers, cross-country runners and boys’ tennis players. In addition, he had encouraging words for athletes competing in boys’ soccer, volleyball and girls who swim and dive.
Golf and tennis can start with competition on Wednesday, while cross country can start on August 21st. MHSAA media and content coordinator Geoff Kimmerly told MLive.com that this is low-risk sports, and he does not see why those should not be played.
“Golf, land and tennis are a gong,” Kimmerly said. “Everything we feel we can really trust about, we can continue. At the moment, there seems to be nothing standing in the way of going through these seasons. These are low-risk sports, and there’s no problem we’re seeing. ”
Kimmerly added that a decision regarding the three remaining sports is expected to be released by Wednesday. The challenge with volleyball and swimming is that those sports are played indoors, and gyms and swimming pools remain closed.
“We still need to get teams in the gym and the pool for volleyball and swimming,” Kimmerly said. “Volleyball and football are moderate risks, but we feel we can place enough precautions so that we can play them safely. I feel right now that we can participate in that too.
“Swimming is considered a low risk, but we have to enter the pools. That is a factor there. But we text constant input back and forth between us and the state health department and schools. We think we will be able to put something together so that we can play these three sports.
‘I’m not saying on 19 (August) that we can say you can join tomorrow because there is a delay. But at the same time, I think we can have these seasons this fall. ”
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