Will we see sports this fall???
Written by Sammy Taormina
There have been a ton of conflicting reports lately and also school districts have cancelled athletics and other extra circular activities for the fall season.
In College Football, the Mid-American Conference cancelled their season and the Big Ten could be on the verge of cancelling theirs in wake of this coronavirus outbreak.
Now it has trickled down to the high school game as well.
The Lansing School district decided that for the health and safety of everyone that they will call off athletics and extra circular activities according to MLive’s Jared Purcell.
In another article according to Matt Mowery of State Champs, he said that Southfield was considering the same thing although no decision had been made.
If schools make the decision about their districts not having fall sports it could not only have major consequences for the health and wellbeing of student athletes but for other conferences as well.
Most if not all schools should start their fall semester online in my opinion.
If Southfield were to cancel their fall sports schedule it would hurt the OAA. It could create a ripple effect and could possibly force a breakup of the league.
The coronavirus outbreak could force major mega conferences to break up in favor of smaller conferences based on travel.
The MHSAA made a decision in July to keep the sports structure as is and start the season on time but added four contingency plans to the mix if coronavirus cases go up in Michigan.
Last week the league went with a phases approach with the low risk sports in boys tennis, girls golf, girls swimming and diving, and cross country starting up on Wednesday while high/moderate risk sports like football, volleyball, and boys soccer will start their practices this week as well but the MHSAA said a decision will not be made on those sports until August 20th.
Most of Michigan remain in Phase Four under Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s economic return plan but the Upper Peninsula and most of northwest and part of northeast Lower Michigan are in Phase Five.
In Phase Four of Whitmer’s plan indoor gyms are not allowed which greatly impacts volleyball and girls swimming and diving. Those sports are expected to practice outdoors.
It will be interesting in the next two weeks will be critical to see what happens in regards to fall sports but school districts and especially school boards have already went ahead with their plans.