UPDATE: LANSING, January 4, 2020, 2 p.m. ~ Governor Gretchen Whitmer today announced that the ban on contact sports will be lifted beginning Monday, January 8. “I know these past months have been tough on all of us, and I know they’ve been really hard on student athletes who’ve been missing a sense of connection and belonging, as well as many other attributes that playing sports provides,” said Whitmer.
The updated order will require that masks be worn during both play and practice, unless doing so is deemed by organizers as unsafe for participants. Those participating in unmasked contact sport must adhere to specified testing guidelines, which will be issued on or before Sunday by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
RECENT PODCASTS:
February 4, 2021 ~ Michigan High School Athletics Association Executive Director Mark Uyl discusses with Guy Gordon the Governor\’s lifting of the contact sports ban.
February 4, 2021 ~ Livonia Churchill Athletic Director Marc Hage joins Guy Gordon to talk about winter sports resuming next week.
Let Them Play Sues Michigan Over High School Sports Ban
LANSING, February 4, 2021 ~ Parents and high-school athletics organizations are suing the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services over the recently-extended order that prohibits contact sports.
Filings by the group “Let Them Play” allege that the state\’s COVID-19 contact sports restrictions are unconstitutional, as they deny equal protection under the law, while violating students\’ rights to free education and due process. Contact sports such as wrestling, cheerleading, and basketball, have been limited to strictly non-contact practices since December.
“The ban on athletic practice and competitions has restricted the ability of these and many other student-athletes from achieving their career pathway – competing, practicing, and potentially gaining a college scholarship,” said Lansing-based Attorney Peter Ruddell. “We think it’s in the students’ best interest, both their emotional best interest, their academic best interest, and their long-term best interest, for those student-athletes to start playing.”
The contact sports ban continues under the current order through February 21.
RECENT PODCASTS:
February 3, 2021 ~ Peter Ruddell, Honigman lawyer and representative of \”Let Them Play Michigan,\” explains to Paul W. why the group wants children to be allowed to return to sports.
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