High school athletes in Traverse City are now free to return to indoor and outdoor practices -- but TCAPS and the governing Michigan High School Athletics Association (MHSAA) are taking it slowly and cautiously.

The MHSAA’s Geoff Kimmerly says he’s confident high school athletics will proceed with some form of competitive season this fall. MHSAA made the call in April to cancel all spring sports, as well as unplayed tournaments from the not-quite-finished winter sports season. 

“Right now, we feel pretty good about things,” Kimmerly tells The Ticker. “Michigan's numbers have trended in the right direction, and we're just hopeful that we're going to keep working toward that. We're definitely aiming at having a season in the fall. Obviously, there are a couple big hurdles before we get there, and I can't tell you that sports are going to have any semblance of crowds. I really don't know what that's going to look like, in terms of how many people will be able to attend [as part of an audience]. But we are definitely moving toward having fall sports.”

Traverse City, as part of Region 6 on the Michigan Economic Recovery Council’s reopening map, currently has more leeway than most of the state when it comes to getting back to school athletic activities. MHSAA’s 2020-21 calendar doesn’t allow schools to start official athletic practices until August 10 or 12, depending on the sport. However, Kimmerly notes that summer offseason training “has grown substantially in the last decade or two” -- fall sport athletes often meet during the summer -- usually at school facilities, like gyms, weight rooms, or fields -- to get a head start on season preparation. Since Region 6 (and Region 8, in the Upper Peninsula) are further along in Michigan’s reopening plan than other parts of the state, schools here have already been given the go-ahead to allow outdoor and indoor practices or workouts; schools elsewhere are only permitted to resume outdoor workouts.

Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) recently completed its “Return to Athletic Activity Plan” and shared it with students and their families. That plan, devised in accordance with guidelines from the MHSAA and the National Federation of High School Sports (NFHS), reopened TCAPS campuses for high school sports practices starting on Monday, June 15.

But TCAPS won’t be taking advantage of the region’s ability to hold indoor athletic practices initially. During this first week, only outdoor workouts will be permitted, and only if they do not require any “sport-specific equipment.” Indoor workouts and indoor or outdoor “skills practices” will be allowed starting next week, with “individual and partner equipment” also permitted. The “slow and steady” start, TCAPS has stated, is intended to avoid jeopardizing July and August training (and the fall season) for student-athletes.

The TCAPS plan requires all students wishing to participate in workouts to be registered via an online platform called FinalForms, which incorporates an NFHS athlete and coach monitoring tool for COVID-19. TCAPS personnel will screen coaches and athletes prior to each workout, conducting real-time temperature checks and asking a series of health-related questions. All data will be stored confidentially in FinalForms. Any coach or athlete who records a temperature of 100.3 degrees Fahrenheit or greater will be sent home and instructed to self-isolate and contact their primary health provider. Data in FinalForms will allow for easier contact tracing in the event that a student or coach does test positive.

In addition to the health screening, TCAPS has established new protocols for hydration, hygiene, and changing. School coaches will not be providing watering stations or water cups at workouts; instead, all athletes are encouraged to bring their own water bottles and not share them. Athletes are also required to report to workouts “in proper gear,” as TCAPS will be ceasing the use of locker rooms for the foreseeable future; there will be “designated restrooms with sanitation stations” instead. Finally, students are instructed to “immediately return home to shower at the end of the workout.”

TCAPS coaches are expected to share specific practice calendars in the coming days; students are not required to participate in any of these workouts and their participation will not impact their standing as part of any fall athletic team.
These safeguards are being taken out of an abundance of caution; Kimmerly notes the same safeguards won’t necessarily be possible during an actual competitive sporting season, but says MHSAA will re-evaluate matters as August draws nearer and the governor’s office issues more guidance.

“Obviously, the need to lower social distancing requirements is going to be pretty key when it comes to our fall sports,” Kimmerly explains. “Football can't really be played with social distancing. Soccer would be awfully tough too, as would some other sports. But we're moving in the right direction. And it's gradual, and it's slow, and I'm sure a lot of people would like to be moving a lot faster. But we really have our eyes set on mid-August, when practice would start. So we're fine taking a slower approach as long as it gets us to where we need to be once school sports would really start opening up.”