Return Of High School Contact Sports Welcomed With Excitement

(CBS DETROIT) – Michigan high school student athletes are back meeting for matchups for the first time following a ban on winter contact sports by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.

"Girls and boys basketball, ice hockey, competitive cheer and wrestling. They had been allowed to do non-contact activities going back to Jan. 16 when the non-contact sports started but this is the first day where they can have full activity again," said MHSAA Communications Director Geoff Kimmerly.

Michigan High School Athletic Association tournaments were scheduled for the end of March but dates have been extended to early April to accommodate teams effected by the pause.

"There shouldn't be a ton of effect aside from the fact that we're trying to really play a lot of games in a shorter amount of time," said Kimmerly.

Athlete testing and masks policies vary by sport.

Boys and girls basketball teams are allowed to play three games a week.

Competitive cheer can participate in 12 days of competition outside of tournaments.

Hockey teams can hit the ice up to four times a week, but more restrictions are placed on wrestling competitions.

"So wrestling will be tested because we don't want them competing with masks on so that was something that MDHHS set-up to be done," said Kimmerly.

Detroit Public Schools Community District games only allows two spectators per athlete and masks are required for entry.

"My staff does a great job and we were prepared for them to start today, tomorrow, whenever. So, we had like ten schedules ready and ten schedules ready to change at any moment, and so because we know how valuable this is to our student athletes to make sure that they get an opportunity to participate. So, we wanted to make sure that we're not holding them up and we're not in the way of that so as soon as we could go, we were going to go," said DPSCD Executive Athletics Director James Alexander.