On Monday, pitchers and catchers reported for local high school softball and baseball teams. This coming Monday they will be joined by lacrosse, outdoor track and tennis teams and the crunch to find practice facilities will be on.
Outside it still looks like January. But the calendar reads March and the first spring contests are less than a month away. So what to do with all those teams in need of prep time?
“We have set up a gymnasium practice schedule to accommodate all of our programs until the snow goes away and the fields dry out,” said Thornton Academy athletic director Gary Stevens.
It’s a common tactic in Maine at this time of year. But it can be difficult to make arrangements for everybody. There are only so many hours in a day and not everyone can adapt their sport to a gymnasium.
“Our plan at Bonny Eagle High School is to use indoor facilities and what outdoor facilities are available,” said Bonny Eagle athletic director Mike LeGage. “I am hoping and thinking we are going to be okay between the high school and middle school complex as well as the possibility of a local tennis center.”
So for the next few weeks, until the weather changes to help out, practice time will be a precious commodity. With just three weeks until the scheduled start of spring sports, athletic directors across the region could be scrambling to reschedule games.
“We begin our regular season in earnest at the end of April vacation,” said Stevens. “Hopefully we will be outside long before then. If not, we will simply reschedule contests as we would on a rain day.”
“If we get to game time and we are still waiting for facilities to be in shape, we will schedule on the next playable date,” said LeGage. “This could mean we play doubleheaders. I am just hoping it doesn’t mean we cancel. I am keeping my fingers crossed.”
In the mean time, teams will be forced to be creative to find the space to practice. That could mean using the parking lot or running in the hallways at school. At any rate, this is not the first time local teams have faced this issue and it likely won’t be the last.
“I have the utmost confidence that we will be all set for game time,” said Scarborough athletic director Chris Moreau. “We will be practicing inside Monday – Saturday in both gyms. Other than that I am doing the ‘lets have it warm’ dance.”
Stevens, who has been an athletic administrator in the area for many years, is confident the season will be played as it has been in the past.
“We always manage to complete the spring athletic schedule,” he said. “I do not anticipate anything different in 2008.”
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