MHSAA’S Uyl frustrated by ban extension
Executive director wants benchmarks from MDHHS
Friday marked another blow to the Michigan High School Athletic Association and their hopes to pull off three full seasons of high school athletics.
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, along with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer extended the current epidemic order to Feb. 21. While in-person dining and other bans were lifted, indoor contact sports will continue to be banned until Feb. 22 at the earliest.
Under the current order, boys and girls basketball, ice hockey, wrestling and competitive cheer are unable to compete in events because they are labeled as “contact sports” by the MDHHS. All the sports will continue to be allowed to have non-contact, indoor practices through Feb. 21.
Currently, boys and girls bowling, boys and girls skiing, gymnastics and boys swimming and diving is able to compete as scheduled.
MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl didn’t hold back with his frustrations during an appearance on “The Huge Show” radio program Friday afternoon.
Uyl’s main issue with Friday’s news is that Whitmer and the MDHHS have not provide benchmark numbers for the state that would allow the ban to be lifted.
“What do the numbers, the data, what do those have to look like for winter sports to begin? That’s a question that I feel like all of us deserve that answer. We’ve heard it’s a combination of all the metrics and data. We need some numbers here about what the numbers that are currently preventing us from starting are. What are the numbers as of Feb. 1 that are preventing us from starting now? Then if we are going to fast forward all the way to Feb. 21, what do those numbers look like,” Uyl said.
“At this point, we need to know what the benchmarks are. What are the numbers, if this is going to be driven by the science and the data as we’ve heard for months, I think all of us – not just the association, but that’s kids, that’s coaches, that’s parents, that’s families – I think all of us deserve to know what that roadmap is going to look like moving forward. That’s really where the conversation needs to start.”
Uyl indicated that the MHSAA had no input on the latest decision and were only informed about the change at the same time as the general public.
“I heard about it the same time with everybody else this morning. We have been given no metrics, no data, which currently has things under pause. We have gotten no data in terms of what has to change for activity to begin,” he said. “Because we have not gotten any of that information, I think that’s what our staff – we need to try and get those questions answered. We have been asking for this information for quite some time and until we have it, I am not sure I can give you any other answer.”
Friday’s news drew a lot of criticism around the state from administrators, coaches, athletes and parents. Some of that criticism has been directed toward Uyl and the MHSAA as the state football finals are being held in Ford Field this weekend.
Others are frustrated as they see prep athletes in neighboring states able to compete in their winter seasons.
“There’s a lot of confusion and then you see that our three bordering states of Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin have all been fully participating in winter sports for weeks,” Uyl said. “For folks to somehow suggest that the MHSAA doesn’t want to be playing winter sports right now, hasn’t been fighting for this for two months, I’m not going to waste much time defending that position because all of our actions the last two months have
absolutely done that.”
The initial epidemic order was announced on Nov. 15 and put a halt to three fall postseason tournaments. Football, volleyball and girls swimming and diving were able to resume in late December after a pilot testing program was installed for those athletes to compete.
Each athlete was tested three times a week during the duration of the remainder of their postseason.
Uyl noted that the testing program simply proves that high school athletics are not a source of spreading COVID-19.
“We have had over 30,000 rapid COVID tests conducted over the last month with our three fall sports. The negative rate of those 30,000-plus COVID tests is 99.8 percent,” he said. “I am not sure how you can have much stronger data. That’s coming from one sport that is a full-contact sport and two other sports which were indoor sports.”
Uyl was asked about the possibility of the MHSAA allowing athletes to compete out-of-state over this latest extension period while still maintaining eligibility once their season is able to resume.
“We believe that at the scholastic level, we feel that it is the safest environment for kids to play given all of the safety procedures and protocols we have in place. I am not sure that kids going all over the place to play other club stuff over the next three weeks and then thinking that we can somehow be able to restart again (is the best idea),” he said. “If the COVID numbers are of a great enough concern to where we’re not able to play here in-state, I just think that all of that increased travel and mobility only makes the situation worse, not better.”
The MHSAA will now finish the football finals and regroup over the weekend. Uyl said the Board of Representatives will come together once again and have more direction on the next step early next week