SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Though we have a calmer week ahead, Michiana has of course been seeing wet conditions, which has been impacting some spring sports.
The high school sports in season right now are baseball, softball, tennis, golf, and track and field.
“They've all been affected in different ways, and then there's always a ripple effect because of that harder to get officials, you know, as we're all scrambling to get our games in and things of that nature.”
Jeff Hart, Athletic Director of Penn High School, says one of the biggest issues of the weather rearranging spring sports is finding officials that are able to cover the game for a different time.
Roger Griffith is an IHSAA umpire and tells me he's been feeling the crunch.
“Umpires and schools both have been great with rearranging things. And we like to go the next day. Every school wants to go the next day. It's a little tough when the other conferences are playing that same day on their regular schedule, so it gets a little dicey sometimes, but for the most part, we've got every game played, maybe not with two umpires, but we've got every game played.”
All spring sports are on a tight schedule, with games and meets needing to be finished before the postseason starts and school ends. As Hart says,
“I wouldn't say it's necessarily difficult. It's just time consuming. And so there's a lot of moving parts...just getting officials and then making sure our workers, announcers, ticket takers, volunteers, parents, spectators, and then community. Everybody knows if a game's gotten moved.”
One way that members of the community can help: becoming an official for the sport so high schools have a larger pool to pull from in rescheduling situations like this spring.
If you are interested in becoming an official for a high school sport, reach out to your local high school’s athletic director and they will point you in the right direction.
While rescheduling games and meets thanks to poor weather or playing conditions is time consuming and frustrating for anyone involved, players trying to hone their skills are the ones most affected.
“With the rain outs, you know, our guys are losing games and opportunities to get better with practice.”
Baseball Coach John Smolinski from St. Joseph High School says losing out on playing time itself can cause the biggest impact on student athletes, a sentiment even umpires, like Roger Griffith, echo.
“I tell the umpires always, I said, those girls practice seven days, six or seven days, and they get to play once. Practice is hard, playing the fun part, and that's what they're not getting by all these constant rainouts.”
Of course, an off day here and there isn’t all bad, as Jeff Hart, Athletic Director of Penn High School tells me.
“I think kids in schools all over the area are doing things year-round, and whether they're playing one sport, multiple sports, most of them are so active that a day off here or there is honestly not the end of the world. And I think our coaches realize that.”
Still as we head into the month of May, Smolinski is hopeful the weather will start to cooperate more.
“We're doing the best that we can to make, make this the best opportunity for our players. You know, we've put a lot of time and effort into our craft, and you know, we're hopeful that the weather will turn and we'll get some sunshine and nice seventy-degree weather.”
While this week is looking to be on the cooler side, hopefully we have seen at least the rain wrap up, so get out and enjoy some high school sports and support some of our local teams.