Michigan High School Athletes Call On Whitmer To 'Let Us Play'

MICHIGAN — High school athletes and district officials across Michigan have taken to social media to urge Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state health administrators to allow contact sports to begin Feb. 1.

"If we have a season, our team will follow ALL COVID-19 safety protocols. Share this message and a photo of yourself if you feel the same way. This is my last chance," said Julian Lewis, a Huron basketball player who is committed to playing at William and Mary upon his graduation.

"I am a senior student-athlete at South Lyon high school and am posting on behalf of my team. If we have a season, Our TEAM will hold ourselves and each other accountable for all COVID-19 safety regulations. Please give us our chance," Lucas Doty, a senior at South Lyon High School said in a tweet directed at Whitmer.

Contact sports in Michigan also were set to continue on Feb. 1, but an executive order issued by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and announced by the governor on Friday that allowed Michigan bars and restaurants to reopen to limited indoor service also pushed the start of basketball, hockey, wrestling and competitive cheer to Feb. 21.

Nikolai Vitti, the superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District, has been at the forefront of the student-athletes' fight to play. In August, when football was delayed, Vitti wrote a letter to Whitmer asking her to end the delay and allow students to play.

Vitti on Monday wrote another letter to Whitmer, asking that she again rethink her delay and allow high school athletes to play.

"It is troubling to see that our state is one of only 20% of states not playing winter "contact" sports and that all Michigan boarder states are playing with higher positive infection rates," Vitti wrote in his most recent letter to the governor.

Vitti cited data provided by the Michigan High School Athletic Association in his letter, noting that 5,376 students and coaches affiliated with high school sports in Michigan have been tested for the coronavirus in a pilot testing program. The results of those tests showed about 1 percent had the virus, according to MHSAA data.

Legal Action?

The governor's extension of the order prohibiting contact sports garnered such a reaction from Michigan high school athletes and school officials that a recently incorporated non-profit group called Let Them Play retained legal counsel and is willing to take the issue to court, MLive reported.

In a three-page letter sent to newly appointed state health director Elizabeth Hertel, attorneys representing Let Them Play asking her to amend the order and to allow contact sports on Feb. 1. If the state doesn't listen to the non-profit's pleas and take some sort of action, attorneys for the group said they have the option of suing the state.

“The Governor has a very high batting average in these cases,” Peter Ruddell, an attorney for Let Them Play, told MLive. “The courts have been very deferential to the Governor’s declaration of emergency. But this is a different case. There are different issues at play that have not been litigated so far.”

Additional pressure was added on to Whitmer's administration Tuesday, when nine Michigan Republicans introduced a resolution to urge the governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to lift the suspension on high school sports and allow play to resume immediately.

"We urge the Governor and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to lift the suspension on high school sports and allow play to resume immediately," the resolution reads.