LANSING, Mich. – In a Friday afternoon announcement Gov. Whitmer said summer camps and youth sports could resume starting Monday, June 15th. The announcement coming as parents struggled to find places for their kids to go during the summer months.
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In downtown Detroit at Detroit PAL’s Corner Ballpark, private games were already being hosted Friday. But having guidance from Lansing the organization’s CEO said will help make up for lost time and revenue...as players and parents get anxious to return to sports.
“What we're trying to do first is put safety in front of everything,” Detroit PAL CEO Robert Jamerson said. “first thing that'll happen is we'll train our mentors who will be out there trying to make sure it's a safe environment and then we'll set up the protocols.” PAL also has volunteers who help run sporting events, which Jamerson said would also be trained to help keep the risk of spreading the novel coronavirus among players and fans
In Novi, the superintendent says they're starting with conditioning practices outside as they work through how to play by the state's rules, especially when it comes to contact sports, locker rooms and indoor facilities.
“As we engage in some of those activities and put in place some of the safety procedures. Making sure we have plenty of hand sanitizers around. Making sure we don't have common drinking bottles making sure everyone has to bring their own water bottle,” Superintendent Dr. Steve Matthews said.
And as for indoor sports like volleyball or basketball. There’s still hope tournaments could be played or practices could be held, but Matthews warned it could still be a few weeks.
“We're hopeful for example after the first couple of weeks we'll be able to get those girls back into the gym and start doing their drills,” he said.
Overnight summer camps are also allowed to restart Monday. The YMCA which runs some of the largest camps in the metro Detroit area is planning to relaunch operations at seven more day camps by the end of June. A spokesperson for the organization said the Y is also working to resume overnight camps in the near future saying they were never canceled or ended for the summer of 2020, merely suspended.
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