SPORTS: The Plight of Central Mass. Athletic Directors
What's an Athletic Director to do when fields, golf courses, tennis courts, etc. are just beginning to become playable? The Groton-Dunstable girls' golf season was scheduled to start April 3 but their home course, Groton Country Club, will not open April 11. After several phone calls, I found that other area courses are just opening up this week after the prolonged winter.
The schedule for the week of April 7 was riddled with red lines indicating games postponed, rescheduled, location changed...you get the idea.
"We hope to get clearance to have the varsity teams play behind the middle school," said GDRHS Athletic Director Mike McCaffrey. "I am just waiting for Steve Burns, head of grounds, to give us the ok."
Postponing a game is no trivial task. The 'schedule change form' while not as troublesome as filing your income tax, is detailed, involved and time consuming.
The form starts with, sport to be changed, opponent, original date, new date, original site, new site. Then notification must be sent to coaches, assigner, trainer, building/grounds, administrative secretary, media and maintenance. Bear with me now. The bus company, school administration, opposing AD, gates, cheerleading and the HS web page must be notified.
With nine varsity spring sports, JV and middle school teams, the rescheduling of games for administrators continues to be a daunting, challenging, logistical quandary.
Fortunately for McCaffrey, Brenda Palmacci, his administrative assistant is there when changes have to be made. "It is time consuming but she makes it work," praised McCaffrey.
Some HS fields are getting close, like girls/boys lacrosse, but the baseball infield needs three to four more dry, windy days with temps in the 60s plus. The girls' softball diamond to the backstop is still covered with snow and ice as of April 8, and grounds reports that it will probably not be available until after the April vacation.
An opponent may indicate their fields are off line. "By being able to flip games, that is, you come to my field first and, hopefully your place will be ready for the return game. We reschedule right then and there," McCaffrey said. "The down side is if it is a non-league game where you meet them only once. More juggling!"
If fields are under a foot of snow as they were a couple years ago after an October snowstorm, games could not be played. Paper work had to be submitted to the MIAA that no fields were playable and the game was considered no contest. "That year, some teams played 17 games instead of 18, but we make every effort to get all the games in," continued McCaffrey.
Playing all the games was critical I thought, considering user fees but McCaffrey responded, "I don't want to sound callous but that is the last thing I think of. My first concern is the safety of the athletes. Can we put them on good fields with safe conditions? We can't have kids that play contact sports, lacrosse/ track and field going back to back. Paying a user fee does not guarantee optimal weather conditions.
Games have to be played by the cut-off date established by the MIAA. This is the first year in my tenure that we have encountered a spring like this," McCaffrey added.
If your local AD has that glazed look in his eyes, you can understand. "It's great when Mother Nature cooperates," concluded McCaffrey.
