The Saline Reporter
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Season switch a go after court decision
By Joe Slezak, Heritage Newspapers
PUBLISHED: April 5, 2007
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will not hear an appeal of the sports seasons lawsuit brought by Communities for Equity against the MHSAA on June 26, 1998, ending the MHSAA's fight to keep volleyball a winter sport and girls' basketball a fall sport.
Advertisement
With Michigan the only state in the country to play winter volleyball and fall girls' basketball, and with MHSAA having suffered a series of previous defeats in lower courts, Saline athletic director Rob White felt the handwriting was on the wall.
"We've known this was coming for a while," he said Monday. "There will be some issues. We will have to make some difficult adjustments. But I really think we're going to be OK."
Communities for Equity maintained that girls' collegiate scholarship opportunities were harmed in the current setup.
"This final ruling has given young men and women in Michigan the opportunity to join together with equal protection and support for maximizing their potential," said Jay Roberts Eveland, a CFE founder.
At a press conference, MHSAA Executive Director John Roberts called the ruling disappointing for the member schools.
"It discourages our members to feel that when they decide something in the best interest of boys and girls, it can be overturned by the voices of the few," he said. "They thought democracy matters."
After losing with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last year, the MHSAA filed a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court on Jan. 29 with the hopes it would hear the case in the next docket year, which starts in October.
The Supreme Court justices discussed the case at their conference Friday, and announced their decision Monday morning.
As a result, eight sports will switch seasons in the 2007-2008 school year: statewide girls' basketball from fall to winter, statewide volleyball from winter to fall, Lower Peninsula boys' golf and girls' tennis from fall to spring, Lower Peninsula girls' golf and boys' tennis from spring to fall, Upper Peninsula boys' soccer from fall to spring and U.P. girls' soccer from spring to fall.
White says the season switch creates a number of problems, ranging from possible depleted attendance for Saturday volleyball tournaments as they now go up against college football in the fall to athletes being forced to choose between sports like baseball and boys' golf or volleyball and cross country.
But the biggest potential issues lie with coordinating two basketball seasons at the same time. Between arranging for four games in a week (two girls', two boys'), finding enough court time for all teams to practice, and hiring enough officials to work all games involved, White said the new winter season could be "a scheduling nightmare."
On the other hand, he added, Saline will be better equipped to deal with these changes than most.
"One thing I'm pleased with is that with our facilities, we won't be hurt as much as smaller schools. I'm not sure how they're going to handle it," he said. "Another thing working in our advantage is that our league (the Southeastern Conference) had the foresight to start looking at some different scheduling options."
Roberts challenged member schools to ensure that participation numbers don't drop because of the changes. He wrote in an e-mail to member high schools' principals and athletic directors that some states had double-digit drops in participation in basketball and volleyball when the seasons were switched.
He also urged member schools to accept the ruling with "guts and grace" — having the courage and persistence to play the full contest, and accepting the final outcome.
"As Jack has said many times, the athletes, the schools and all the participants indicated we were doing a lot of things right," said Gibraltar school Supt. Eric Federico, a member of the MHSAA's Representative Council. "We were ready for this to go to the Supreme Court because we thought our arguments had merit."
The only exceptions to winter girls' basketball and fall volleyball are Hawaii, where girls' basketball is a spring sport, and Vermont, where volleyball is not sanctioned.
Staff Writer Jerry Hinnen contributed to this report. He can be reached at 429-7380 or jhinnen@heritage.com.
Not all stories are guaranteed to appear
online. The Web edition contains a reasonable
sampling of the print edition stories.
For the most complete news coverage, we invite you to
subscribe
to the print edition of the paper.
Expanded
Web
Coverage
Staff Blog, "Inside The Newsroom"
TOP JOBS
