MHSAA optimistic that Michigan will have high school sports, including soccer, this fall

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An official with the Michigan High School Athletic Association is optimistic that soccer and other sports may begin this fall.

The MHSAA plans to issue a detailed guideline Thursday morning that officials say should help many schools, parents, and coaches better understand the path Michigan High School athletics will have to take to return to the normal routine.

“We have said from the beginning that we are going to try to keep the fall sports season intact as much as we can, but there is no telling what will happen between now and next month,” said MHSAA media and content coordinator Geoff Kimmerly. . “We will have some contingencies in case we need to be creative, but as of now, nothing has changed regarding the plan for the fall sports season.”

The guidelines will come a day after the state announced 891 new cases of coronavirus in Michigan, the highest number in the state in two months.

“We are checking the numbers every day around 3 pm like everyone with an interest in sports,” said Kimmerly. “We look at the numbers of cases, hospitalizations, death rates, positive test rates and all of those things. All of those numbers are the most important to helping the state health department because this is how they organize the phase we are in and that will ultimately determine when we will get students back to school and when student athletes can get back to playing sports.

“For example, most of the state is currently in phase four, and you can’t hold large indoor events at that stage. “That would endanger volleyball and the girls swimming and diving. For those sports to happen, we really need to get to phase five. ”

A final decision on fall sports is not expected until the end of the month, when the vision for the future is a bit clearer and more information can be processed.

“We are planning to release a statement tomorrow morning that will shed a little more light on where we are headed, what some of the contingencies will be like and what our guidelines will be for the coming weeks,” said Kimmerly. “We hope to have some more concrete decisions in the next two weeks. We know we don’t have much time before fall sports practices are supposed to start, so we want our plans and contingencies to be resolved by the end of the month or early August at the latest.

“For now, we will continue our discussions with the board of representatives, but I can tell you that we want to have three sports seasons this academic school year and we will do everything we can to make that happen.”

Michigan joins Ohio and Indiana among the current state plans for fall sports.

“We are tracking what Ohio, Illinois and Wisconsin are doing because we have several schools that play in other schools in those states over the course of their seasons,” said Kimmerly. “We also have our CEOs as members of a Midwest group that stays in constant touch almost daily.

“In many of the decisions we have made and continue to make, we consult with what our neighboring states are doing and give them ideas. It is definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution, but we are trying to stay on the same page with what many states in our region are doing. ”

The Ohio High School Athletic Association announced Tuesday morning that it plans to host its regular fall sports line during the 2020-21 academic school year while following the coronavirus guidelines. OHSAA noted that the governor’s office had approved inter-school practices and competitions for boys’ and girls’ golf, girls’ tennis, and volleyball, but had not yet approved soccer, cross country, field hockey, and competition soccer in Ohio. However, all fall sports can start practicing on the scheduled date of August 1.

The Indiana High School Athletic Association plans to take a similar course of action as they prepare to return to fall sports in a month.

“We are still scheduled to start the fall sports season with fan attendance beginning August 15,” said IHSAA Commissioner Paul Neidig. “Obviously, there is still a month to go, but that’s where we are today. We all know that things are changing rapidly with the conversation about starting school, but as of today, we are still scheduled to start on their normal schedule. “

Neidig, who will officially take over from retired Commissioner Bobby Cox on August 1, believes that the top priorities for the future should be the safety and health of athletes, coaches and spectators and be as transparent as possible as the information be available during uncertain times.

“The biggest challenge has been providing accurate and timely information with everything that happens,” he said. “I think you have to resist the thought process of looking too far because this is not a situation where you can look at six weeks and decide what the future holds. It just won’t work that way. We have to keep people punished, keep people focused on short-term goals, and make sure we’re following experts on social distancing, wear masks, and do everything we can to make sure we get back to sports as soon as possible. ”

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