Weather creating nightmares for athletic directors

NEVADA, Mo. -- Postponed. Canceled. Two words that make athletic directors cringe and players left wondering if they're ever going to play.

The recent rash of weatherrelated schedule alterations for area high school athletics have once again created headaches for Nevada High School athletic director Kevin McKinley.

"It's been the worst year," McKinley said. "It seems like we actually lost games in December, and during the month of January."

McKinley was referring to the basketball season, which had literally dozens of games moved or canceled. Snow and ice were the main culprit then, and Mother Nature hasn't let up this spring.

This week alone the NHS baseball team has had to postpone a game with Harrisonville twice, and a game with Butler might not be played at all.

The tennis team lost one of only five home matches this season, as their dual with Fort Scott scheduled for Friday was simply canceled.

The track team lost a meet in Paola, Kan., last week, then lost another when the Gorilla Relays in Pittsburg, Kan., were canceled Friday.

The freshman baseball team lost a tournament this weekend in Joplin.

The rain hasn't been isolated to this week either.

Tiger tennis was supposed to play Monett to start the season March 27, when rain first forced the postponement, then outright cancellation of that dual.

The only Nevada team that hasn't lost an actual event is the golf squad, but they've had difficulty getting any practice in.

"There has not been a spring sport that hasn't had something postponed or canceled," McKinley said.

The biggest problem McKinley faces is making games up.

The spring season is so short to begin with that the teams usually have the calendar packed with as many games as possible.

Making matters worse is that it isn't simply a matter of matching up an open date with the school you're trying to reschedule.

"You can't just pick an open date and hope for (good) weather," McKinley said. "MSHSAA has to certify the officials."

For sports like baseball, which requires umpires, the schools hoping to rescheduled games are at the mercy of their local umpire association.

Nevada gets its umpires from Joplin, and with so many schools in the region facing the same weather challenges, the diamond Tigers have to make sure there are umps available when rescheduling a game.

"There are some dates the Joplin association has said can't be done because they have every single official scheduled already," McKinley said.

The Tigers' home game with Harrisonville, originally scheduled for Tuesday, then moved to Wednesday before it was postponed again, is now scheduled for May 4.

The game at Butler originally scheduled for Thursday has not found a make up date yet.

The baseball team also had a tournament in McDonald County canceled two weeks ago.

"We've been fortunate to not lose any conference baseball games yet this year," McKinley said. "If you lose a conference game, you might have to look to your non-conference games to bump them."

McKinley said the situation making up games this season has him looking to play games on days the high school does not traditionally schedule contests. Wednesdays and Saturdays are likely possibilities for make up dates if more events succumb to weather.

The problem becomes worse if the wet weather decides to stick around all spring. The more games affected and the closer we get to the end of the seasons in early or mid May, the greater the challenges McKinley and the teams face.