On Friday March 26, AAPS Executive Director for High School Education, Paul DeAngelis, released a message stating that spring sports practices and competitions will be paused, starting on Saturday, March 27.

“By doing so, we aim to stabilize the impact of the local case surge on our athletic teams,” DeAngelis wrote.

However, this pause will not impact winter sports teams who are competing in the state tournaments.

According to DeAngelis, beginning Monday and Tuesday, April 5-6, every student-athlete will have to participate in a rapid antigen test, as required by the MDHHS and MHSAA for all high school athletes. The results of this testing will inform the decision for the next steps with spring sports competitions. Nonetheless, if a student-athlete is symptomatic or has been exposed to a case of COVID-19, they should not come to campus for this antigen test.

These decisions have been implemented due to the rising cases, including 18 just this week. AAPS student-cases for both winter and spring sports teams have summed up to over 150 athletes in quarantine or paused from participation.

“We know that this is a challenging time, yet we all have an important part to play in the successful completion of the spring sports season,” DeAngelis said.