The Michigan High School Athletic Association has a new start date for the spring sports season on Monday and has announced March 22 as the official start date for training.
March 22nd is a week later than the originally planned start date of March 15th. The spring sport competition can begin on March 26th. The MHSAA Council of Representatives made the decision based on feedback from a survey of member universities that found 74 percent of those in favor of delaying spring sports activity by at least a week.
“Apparently the reason is that the interior is overloaded and some students are still trying to switch between sports,” said Geoff Kimmerly, spokesman for the MHSAA. “Although the vast majority will be through with winter by then.”
Despite the one-week delay at the beginning of the season, the dates of the spring sports tournaments remain unchanged. The state championships for baseball, softball, and girls’ football conclude the 2020-21 postseason on June 19.
When questioned, Kimmerly said that sporting directors were asked to choose between a delay (March 15) or March 22, March 24, or March 29 as the start date. All data in the survey after March 15 corresponds to the rounds of state basketball tournaments, giving schools an option to wait until more gyms are available at the end of the basketball season.
Kimmerly added that there is currently no indication that contact spring sports like girls’ soccer and lacrosse need to go through any type of COVID-19 testing program, but all masking measures in place are being enforced.
The entire spring sports season in 2020 has been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, which means that spring athletes will be competing again for the first time in two years.
MSHAA enabled spring teams to meet for volunteer exercises on 16 contact days in September and October last year. According to the MSHAA, general conditioning is currently allowed with an unlimited number of students. Other out-of-season workouts such as four-player workouts and open gyms may continue through March 21. The MHSAA also removed pre-season downtime restrictions for spring sports that year.
MORE
Safe mask use an opening week issue at some Michigan High School Hoops games
Comments are closed.