Coaches relieved to get the green light for action
Problem averted.
On the verge of basketball players leaving the state to play club ball on the weekends in protest of a continued pause keeping the 2021 season from tipping off, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services green-lit the start of “contact” winter sports across Michigan beginning Monday.
Earlier this winter, after a pair of previous delays related to the pandemic, Whitmer and the MDHHS pushed back an intended Feb. 1 start date back to Feb. 21.
Players and coaches’ frustrations reached a boiling point two weeks ago with the creation of the “Let Them Play” movement. Last weekend, there was a rally at the capitol in Lansing, where a number of Oakland County players took the podium and spoke.
Whitmer’s announcement Thursday was met with a giant sigh of relief.
“Taking basketball out of this, I’ve never been so amazed or proud of student-athletes,” Orchard Lake St. Mary’s basketball coach Todd Covert said. “It was just incredible to see how mature and respectful these young men and women were through such a difficult time. They did everything right. The power of sports and how it can bring a community together is truly unbelievable. Now, it’s time to move on and focus on the season.”
Covert has the No. 1 team in the
county, not to mention the whole state, entering the 2021 campaign. Mr. Basketball candidate Julian Roper (Northwestern) heads the Eaglets attack.
Stoney Creek girls basketball coach Kellen James was relieved that waiting game was finally over.
“Thank god, we’re finally here where we know we’re going to have a season and these kids are no longer in this holding pattern and no longer in the dark,” he said. “I’m just elated for the players. They deserve this more than anyone.”
Birmingham Brother Rice head coach Rick Palmer and his team are already in “Git-R-Done” mode.
“We’ve been ready to go for a while now, so this is great,” he said. “The turnaround is going to be a fast one, but one I’m pretty sure that everybody around the area and around the state is embracing. I’m happy we can get back to a state of normalcy here and just concentrate on winning ball games and making the most of this opportunity.”
Brother Rice will have a young roster in 2021, one that despite its age, should still be one of the best clubs in Metro Detroit. Sophomores Curtis Williams, Henry Garrity, Xavier Thomas and John Blackwell are four of the most touted 10th graders the MHSAA has to offer.
St. Mary’s juniors and seniors have been playing on the club ball circuit outof-state under the name Michigan Elite for the last couple months. Covert never convened non-contact practice in January to allow for his upperclassmen to travel to weekend tournaments and stay in playing shape, per MHSAA rules.