MHSAA pleads case to Gov. Whitmer
Across the prep sports landscape, there is a lot of anticipation for what may or may not happen next week.
The three-week epidemic order issued by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services that put a stop to the fall sports tournaments for football, volleyball and girls swimming & diving expires on Tuesday, Dec. 8.
Should the order not be extended, or altered to allow for organized sports to take place in some form, the MHSAA has plans in place for all three postseasons to be completed by the end of December.
MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl joined “The Huge Show” radio program on Friday to provide an update on where things stand just days before a decision will be made by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the MDHHS.
“Like everybody, we are just kind of on the edge of our seats waiting for what happens next. I watched the governor’s press conference (Thursday). I was hoping to get some kind of sign or indication and it appears that they are holding that information pretty closely,” Uyl said. “We’ve got our plan in place and we are ready to go if we get the chance to move forward Wednesday.”
Since the order was put into effect on Nov. 18, the MHSAA has been in communication with Whitmer and the MDHHS. Uyl and the MHSAA sent out a letter to both laying out an argument as to why the fall sports should be finished and winter sports be allowed to practice throughout December.
“With that letter we were able to share all the data from the fall that 95% of all teams in football and volleyball were able to play each week in the season, and that
number was 98%-plus in all other fall sports,” Uyl said.
“To Gov. Whitmer’s credit, (her offices) reached out immediately and we had a video conference last week. We were able to layout the rationale, share some of the science and the data. The members of her office asked some real good questions, so there was some real good dialogue.”
One thing discussed during the video conference was that if the fall sports need to be finished without any fans in attendance, the MHSAA is prepared to make that happen.
“We even attached a caveat to that, that if they will allow us to play but it would have to be with no spectators, then so be it. We are putting our kids here first,” he said. “If the science and the data says that kids aren’t getting this or spreading this during the school day, in practice or during games; if the issues are crowds or gatherings, then this allows the kids to play safely and also addresses the concerns about crowds and gatherings.”
Uyl also stressed that the MHSAA’s focus on having sports resume is driven by mental health concerns among teenagers. While believing that COVID-19 is a matter to be taken very seriously, Uyl also believes that mental-health aspects of the pandemic are important as well.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention list that kids ages 5-18 have accounted for 104 of the 249,578 deaths nationwide as of Dec. 2. They also list kids ages 5-17 having a 16x lower risk of death if infected with the virus.
According to America’s Health Rankings, suicide deaths between the ages of 15-19 is at 11.1 per 100,000 adolescents in 2020.
“You talked about the low fatality rates of kids age 1-19 (from COVID-19). I don’t even want to bring up this topic, but you’ve got mental health issues. I would imagine over the last nine months, if you com
pared data of teenagers who have taken their own life to those with the coronavirus, those would probably…those would hopefully be both very low statistics,” Uyl said.
“I guess my point is, we’ve become so COVIDconscious with everything that we are doing, and that is important to do. But, we’ve got to take it at least under consideration — the mental health status of our kids. You don’t want to do everything you can to do everything that is COVIDconnected, but yet you are kind of ignoring some of the other health risks that exist in other areas. We have been doing more and more in the area of student-mental health over the last two years. All the feedback and all the surveys we see is that mental health issue during the pandemic, it hasn’t gotten better, it’s actually gotten worse. I just don’t want folks to forget about that part of the equation either.”
Currently, the MHSAA has plans for practices for the three fall sports to resume on Dec. 9.
Volleyball would then hold quarterfinals on Dec. 15 while finishing the semifinals and finals on Dec. 1719 from Battle Creek.
Girls swimming & diving would hold their driving finals on Dec. 22, while the swimming finals would take place on Dec. 23 at three different locations.
Football would hold its regional finals for 11-player football on Dec. 15 or 16. Semifinal games will be held Dec. 21 or 22, while the state finals would be held Dec. 28 and 29 from Ford Field in Detroit. The 8-player semifinals would be Dec. 15 or 16, while the finals would be Dec. 21 and 22 from Midland Community Stadium.
Should the order be extended and not allow the sports to resume, the MHSAA will have to wait until 2021 to finish the fall championships.
“We do have another plan. If we are not able to do anything until after January, we will need to go back to the drawing board to say ‘okay when can we finish volleyball, girls swimming and diving,’ and obviously football could not be played in our state in January and February,” Uyl said. “We then potentially look at a possible early spring finish, which nobody wants. I think for those three sports, if we are able to finish in December, to give those kids the closure they deserve, that’s the best-case scenario.”
Also waiting in the wings for the decision are winter sports programs, which were unable to even begin their seasons as scheduled. The current MHSAA plan calls for them to begin practices on Dec. 9 and then begin competitions in January.
“With our winter sports, if we’re not able to practice or do anything until January, what we then have to do is kind of re-tool our winter tournament dates. Because essentially if we are able to finish fall in December, but winter gets completely pushed off until after the first of the year, well then you’re left with two seasons left and six months of the school year,” Uyl said.
“Then really, you tweak things so winter can go January and February, finishing up their tournaments by the end of March. Then our spring sports are looking at April, May, and finishing up their tournaments by the end of June. So, things could get kicked back just a couple of weeks, but all the dominos fall much easier if we can get fall completed during this current month.”
Uyl had no indication of what will happen next Tuesday with the order, but is trying to stay positive that high school sports will resume this month.
“I’m an optimist by nature so that is where I will continue to live both mentally and physically. Again, if we are following the science and the data, we have shown that our fall activities could be done safely,” he said. “If we need to continue to play with masks on, we will continue to play with masks on. If it means that to get the chance to play with no spectators, which certainly is not my first choice, but if that is the reality, then that’s what we are going to do. I am just going to continue to be optimistic and hopeful that we’re going to get that chance come Wednesday.”