Winter Sees Season Switch, Rules Changes
November 26, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A switch in the starts of boys and girls basketball and a number of rules changes in various sports are notable as 2018-19 competition begins in 12 winter sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments.
Beginning with ice hockey’s first games Nov. 12, five sports have started play during these last two weeks, while wrestling on Dec. 5 and skiing on Dec. 8 will be the final winter sports to begin competition. This season’s first boys basketball games are scheduled to begin Nov. 26 as the boys season begins, and ends, one week before the girls basketball season this winter in a switch from years past. The change was made for this winter to accommodate availability of Michigan State University’s Breslin Student Events Center, which will host the Boys Basketball Finals. The first girls basketball games will be played Dec. 3, and the Girls Basketball Finals on March 16 at Calvin College’s Van Noord Arena will close the winter season.
The further re-definition of the competition area to reward offensive wrestling is among the most significant rules changes taking effect this winter. Following a similar rule change a year ago to create a larger scoring area coming out of the down position, wrestlers will continue to compete as long as two supporting point(s) – be it two for one wrestler or one for each – remain inbounds. This change will provide a larger scoring area for takedowns, escapes and reversals. Supporting points include the parts of the body touching, or within, the wrestling area that bear the wrestler’s weight, other than those parts with which the wrestler is holding the opponent.
Other rules changes that will be most apparent this winter include:
• In basketball, a rule change allows any player located in the backcourt, for either team, to recover a ball deflected from the frontcourt by the defense. This exception to the backcourt violation ensures neither team is unfairly disadvantaged on a deflected pass. A player located in the frontcourt still may not be the first to touch the ball if his or her team loses control and the ball goes into the backcourt.
• Also in basketball, the previous 14-foot coach’s box in front of a team's bench has been extended to 28 feet.
• As with Lower Peninsula girls swimming & diving season in the fall, a pair of changes for boys and Upper Peninsula girls will provide more opportunities for divers. The diving event in dual, double-dual or other multi-team non-championship competition has been limited to six dives, but now may be expanded to an 11-dive competition – giving divers another opportunity to prepare for the 11-dive competitions at the MHSAA Qualification Meets and Finals levels. Also, while diving traditionally has been placed in the middle of the event order of a dual or other regular-season meet, it may now be conducted first, last or simultaneously with the swimming events. (Both require prior mutual consent by competing teams and officials.)
• In boys ice hockey, a penalty shot will be awarded when a goal cage is displaced on a breakaway or during the last two minutes of regulation. This is meant to deter players and goalies from attempting to displace the net during a breakaway situation.
The 2018-19 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments beginning with the Upper Peninsula Girls and Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 16, and wraps up with the Girls Basketball Finals on March 23. A reminder: The MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals at Ford Field again will be a two-day event this winter as opposed to a three-day event as in past seasons.
Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – Feb. 25, 27 & March 1
Regionals – March 5 & 7
Quarterfinals – March 12
Semifinals – March 14-15
Finals – March 16
Girls Basketball
Districts – March 4, 6 & 8
Regionals – March 11 & 13
Quarterfinals – March 19
Semifinals – March 21-22
Finals – March 23
Girls & Boys Bowling
Team Regionals – Feb. 22
Singles Regionals – Feb. 23
Team Finals – March 1
Singles Finals – March 2
Girls Competitive Cheer
Districts – Feb. 15-16
Regionals – Feb. 23
Finals: March 1-2
Girls Gymnastics
Regionals – March 2
Team Finals – March 8
Individual Finals – March 9
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 25-March 2
Quarterfinals – March 5-6
Semifinals – March 7-8
Finals – March 9
Girls and Boys Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 11-15
Finals – Feb. 25
Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving
U.P. Girls & Boys Finals – Feb. 16
L.P. Boys Diving Qualification Meets – Feb. 28
L.P. Boys Finals – March 8-9
Wrestling
Team Districts – Feb. 6-7
Individual Districts – Feb. 9
Team Regionals – Feb. 13
Individual Regionals – Feb. 16
Team Quarterfinals – Feb. 22
Team Semifinals & Finals – Feb. 23
Individual Finals – March 1-2
Council Reaffirms Winter Sports Will Play
January 27, 2021
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Representative Council of the Michigan High School Athletic Association reaffirmed its commitment today to play Winter sports when current restrictions are lifted by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS).
Winter contact sports – girls and boys basketball, competitive cheer, ice hockey and wrestling – are allowed presently to participate in non-contact activities only, per an MDHHS emergency order restricting contact activity and competition due to COVID-19.
Non-contact Winter sports – girls and boys bowling, girls gymnastics, girls and boys alpine skiing and girls and boys swimming & diving – are able to participate in those activities fully.
The MDHHS limitations on Winter contact sports were set to expire at the end of January, but were extended last week by MDHHS through Feb. 21.
“Each week, we see hundreds of examples of children and families competing in non-school competition, both in-state and out-of-state,” Uyl said. “This not only is in violation of current MDHHS orders, but sending all of these families into different states will only become an impediment to getting students back in school fulltime.
“But we can contribute to students returning to in-person learning by allowing MHSAA member schools to begin full activities, participating locally and against more local competition, and under the guidance of trained, professional educators.”
This past weekend the MHSAA concluded its remaining Fall tournaments with 11-Player Football Finals. Earlier this month, Girls Volleyball, Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving and 8-Player Football Finals were competed to conclude those seasons. All four were allowed to complete their seasons because those teams took part in the MDHHS rapid testing pilot program.
Results of that program were overwhelmingly positive. A total of 5,376 individuals (athletes, coaches, team personnel, cheerleaders, etc.) were tested, and 57 – or 1 percent – tested positive at some point in the pilot. Nearly 30,000 rapid antigen tests were administered – and 99.8 percent were negative. (All four data points were through Jan. 19 and provided to the MHSAA by the MDHHS.)
As of Monday (Jan. 25), Winter contact sports had begun in 38 states, including border states Indiana, Ohio and Wisconsin.