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Thursday, July 23, 2020
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
SPORTS
‘M’ football parents express worry over testing
Despite being optimistic about
conference-only play, Chris and
Mya Hinton still have concerns. So,
with two sons currently in college
football programs — Myles at
Stanford and sophomore defensive
lineman Chris Jr. at Michigan — the
Hintons have chosen to be vocal.
Tuesday night, Chris and Mya
appeared on HBO’s Real Sports
with Bryant Gumbel and expressed
their grievances about the approach
the NCAA and college football
programs have taken to reintroduce
players to campus and practices.
“As a parent of a student athlete,
actually, it pissed me off,” Chris said
on Real Sports.
“... Why can’t there be some kind
of universal procedures, protocol,
for integrating our sons back to
campus?”
This comes after the Hintons
appealed to the NCAA, expressing
their concerns. They said they
received a dismissive response
back, and the most frustrating part
is the lack of input from players and
their parents that the NCAA has
allowed.
“The players, who probably have
as much to lose as anybody, had no
voice, were voiceless,” Chris said.
“And as parents, we felt the same as
the kids — we were voiceless.”
In an attempt to have parents’
voices heard, Chris and Mya
founded
the
Facebook
group
College
Football
Parents
24/7.
There, parents could express the
concerns many of them shared.
What it all comes down to is
simple, safety:
“We just want it to be done right
and safely,” Chris told The Daily last
week. “We want our sons to be safe,
as any other parent would want.”
While
the
Hintons
have
expressed they felt Michigan has
handled COVID-19 well in the
past, their tone and demeanor on
Tuesday night’s program told a
different story. They were upset,
they were scared and there wasn’t
much sense of optimism coming
from them.
And while their primary concern
is about safety, their frustration
is kindled by what they see as the
reasoning behind bringing the
students back — money.
College
football
generates
billions of dollars a year, and their
two
sons’
programs
generate
over 200 million dollars a year
combined. For Chris and Mya, that
money isn’t worth risking their
children’s health, especially when
the universities aren’t even willing
to let their own staff on campus.
“The optics of that is alarming,”
Chris said. “What does it say about
your concern about our kids, our
sons?”
And while the Ivy League and
other smaller leagues have canceled
their fall season for the sake of
player safety, larger leagues have
not followed suit.
“This is ridiculous,” Chris said.
“They’re not even hiding the fact
that it’s all about revenue. It’s about
revenue. And it’s about the money.”
With both their sons currently on
campus for voluntary workouts, the
Hintons fear the worst is yet to come
if the NCAA and college programs
themselves don’t critically review
and alter their current approach.
“Just
based
on
statistics
somebody
—
somebody’s
kid’s
gonna die,” Chris said. “And so the
numbers are screaming ‘pump the
brakes.’ ”
ALEXIS RANKIN/Daily
Michigan parents Chris and Mya Hinton expressed distress about the way the NCAA is handling COVID-19 on HBO Tuesday.
NICHOLAS STOLL
Summer Managing Sports Editor
Dy and Schulz return to golf in amateur event
Opportunities
for
actual
competition are few and far
between this summer, but golf
remains one of the only sports
in the country where social
distancing
isn’t
a major obstacle.
This past week,
two
Michigan
women’s
golfers
seized
the
opportunity
and
competed
in the Michigan
Women’s Amateur
Championship at
Forest Akers Golf
Course.
Sophomores Anika Dy and
Mikaela Schulz competed in
two rounds of stroke play before
advancing in the top 32 to match
play, where Dy advanced to the
quarterfinals and Schulz was
eliminated in the first round.
Dy rode a strong putting
ability and overall good striking
to match play, shooting a 71
and 75 on the first two days.
She was forced to change her
approach for the match play to
a more aggressive style, which
carried her through the first
two rounds.
“I was pretty
consistent
through
those
two
days
(of
stroke play),” Dy
said. “Then match
play hit and it’s
like
a
totally
different mindset
and I’m definitely
a stronger stroke
play player. I was
more comfortable the first two
days, but match play was super
fun. I’m just bummed that I
couldn’t make it farther.”
Failing to recover from poor
shots, coupled with shaky wedge
and short game play, Dy lost in
the third round of match play.
She struggled right from the
beginning of her final round, but
was able to add some excitement
going down the stretch on a run
with some birdies. It wasn’t
enough –– she ultimately lost the
match with two holes to go.
Despite being eliminated in
the first round of match play,
Schulz was pleased with her
overall
performance
at
the
tournament, crediting her recent
work on her mental game with a
lot of her success.
“I’m really working on just
trusting my game and trust in
my abilities,” Schulz said. “My
game is more consistent than it
has been in the past so I’m pretty
proud of that. I think my game is
really headed in a good direction
right now.”
Schulz’ mental strength was
tested as soon as match play
began, when she was down three
with three holes to play. After
not hitting a single fairway on
the front nine, Schulz stepped
up confidently to the tee on the
16th hole and hit a really tight
fairway, setting up an excellent
approach shot to help her extend
the match.
With both girls competing in
less than half the tournaments
of a normal summer, this one
came with added pressure, but
both managed to treat it like any
normal tournament.
“It just motivates me and
drives me to keep working and
keep going,” Schulz said. “It’s
really why I play the game.”
LILY ISRAEL
Daily Sports Writer
FILE PHOTO/Daily
Sophomores Mikaela Schulz and Anika Dy played in an amateur golf tournament.
“I’m just
bummed I
couldn’t make it
farther.”