DETROIT – High school sports are set to resume Monday morning in the state of Michigan.
It’s a moment that so many people have been anticipating. Not just the athletes, the parents, the teachers and coaches that have worked hard to train their teams.
Catholic Central High School Head Varsity Basketball Coach, Brandon Sinawi said his team is more than ready to get back out on the court -- as youth contact sports are allowed to resume in Michigan.
READ: Michigan youth contact sports can resume Monday -- here are all the rules, specifics and details
“We’re just we’re excited to get going. A lot of the kids are just anticipating to sort of get back to what basketball should be like, you know, I mean, the drills and the different things we’ve been doing in practice had been really good, but we’re just excited to get back to competition,” said Coach Sinawi.
But competition in the era of the coronavirus will be a little different than before. The locker-room will be closed and all players and coaches will have to be tested on a regular basis. On top of that, players must wear a facemask at all times.
“We have the ones that are most comfortable and most breathable, and so it’s been a challenge for sure and. But, again, it’s just one of those things that we have to do,” Sinawi said.
Even though most of the season is gone, the plan is for the team to give it their all in the few games left.
“It’s going to be sort of a sprint, because we have such a condensed season,” Sinawi said. “There’s going to be a few weeks we’re playing three games in a week and, you know, trying to get the our players sort of acclimated to competing.”
Everyone has their fingers crossed, hoping and praying this will be the last time they’ll be an interruption because of the COVID-19.
“We’re going to hope that we get a chance to discontinue and not have to worry about any other shutdowns and just continue to use the protocols that we’ve had in place. We’re not going to really complain about we’re just going to continue to try to adapt and figure out what works best for our kids and for our coaches and go from there,” Sinawi concluded.
MDHHS interim guide for athletics
The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) will be releasing its new interim guide for athletics soon. You can view it here.
More: Tracking coronavirus cases, outbreaks in Michigan schools
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