Volleyball, girls swim & dive to resume practice on Monday
The Michigan High School Athletic Association has mapped out its latest proposed finish for the 2020 volleyball and girls swimming & diving postseasons.
Mark Uyl reached out to the remaining schools on Tuesday detailing the latest timeline to return to action under the pilot testing program set forth by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
On Monday, Jan. 4 volleyball teams and swimming & diving athletes will be allowed to practice after participants have completed one negative rapid test. Once the first test is administered, testing must continue at the rate of three times per week.
The state quarterfinals for volleyball will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 12, while the state semifinals and finals will be held Jan. 14-16 from Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek.
The girls diving finals will take place on Friday, Jan. 15. The swimming finals will be Saturday,
Jan. 16.
Rapid tests will be sent out to participating volleyball and swimming & diving schools on Wednesday, with expectations to be delivered by Saturday.
A virtual meeting will be held on Wednesday as well for schools to review the MDHHS pilot program requirements, expectations and paperwork.
Football teams were able to begin outdoor, noncontact drills on Monday with practices starting on Wednesday as teams complete their first test of the program.
The football playoffs will resume starting on Jan. 9.
The 32 remaining volleyball teams haven’t been in action since the regional finals on Nov. 12. The final week of play has been rescheduled two times since the Nov. 15 epidemic order was put in place by the MDHHS and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. The most recent was a return to practice on Dec. 21 that was stopped just 24 hours later.
Last week, Chief Medical Executive and Chief Deputy Director for the MDHHS, Dr. Joneigh Khaldun, was asked about how the testing program will work for high school sports. She had the following response:
“We see this as an opportunity to have our schools work through how testing can help get some things back on line, sports is one thing, maybe longer term supporting us having in-person learning which I know is a top priority for everyone. We have a team who is working closely with the high school athletic association and what we expect is, we will supply antigen tests for the schools that want to participate and at this point we do not know which exact schools will be participating. They will be getting this antigen test and depending on the results – obviously if it’s positive a student would not be participating. If they test, they will test three times a week, and then will be able to move forward with their play accordingly. Right now we are working through all of those details with the schools and hoping this is a promising pilot that we all learn from and helps get more things on line and in person.”