The girls district game, originally scheduled for yesterday, Feb. 26, will now take place Feb. 28 at 6 p.m. The boys district game, originally scheduled for Feb. 28, has been moved to March 1. Both teams will play Jefferson City at Hickman High School. The last time weather affected a basketball district tournament was in 2008, RBHS Athletic Director Jen Mast said in an email interview, and the tournament also took place in Columbia. While rescheduling of district games for basketball is not as common as in outdoor sports such as tennis, golf and — if the host site has no turf — soccer, it does happen, Mast said.
“All district games must be rescheduled, and that decision is made by the district manager, with input from the district committee. Doug Mirts, the Hickman [Athletic Director] is the district manager for this year’s tournament, and since our district is made of only five schools, all the ADs from participating schools served on the committee,” Mast said. “Since the cancellations happened at the semifinal level, and there was already one school eliminated, those of us left in the tournament had input, but ultimately, it’s up the the host school to manage their own facility availability, fairness for teams involved, and perhaps the biggest factor for a reschedule is officials’ availability.”
Having two snow storms hit within a week has hindered practice for the girls, but also gave them time to reflect before the district tournament began. The storm last week closed school Thursday and Friday as well as yesterday and today.
“I think during last week’s snow, we just struggled with staying focused [since] it was so much [snow], and there was still some time before districts started,” senior Makenzie Skrabal said. “But this week we stayed focus[ed] really well. This past week we only missed one day of practice, so it has affected us a little in preparation, but we were still able to get some good time in the gym.”
With rescheduling post-season games, a key point is that “the tournament has to be fair,” Mast said. Mast gave an example that if there are two girls semifinal games, and one of the four teams was in a situation where arriving to a game on a certain day could affect the team’s safety, it would not be fair to play one of the game earlier than the other. In addition, another aspect to post-season is securing officials, which is more complicated since other district tournaments are happening at this time in addition to sectional and quarterfinal games for Classes 1, 2 and 3.
“We try to ensure the winners of our district’s tournament are not put at a disadvantage at the next (sectional) level,” Mast said. “For instance, a district in Kansas City has chosen to push their tournament to have the championship on Monday. That gives the winner only one day between the district tournament and the sectional game. If given no choice, sometimes that must happen, but it’s probably the sectional opponent has had several more days to prepare.”
Although games for this week’s district tournaments have all been rescheduled for boys and girls post-season, for other athletes, this week marks not the end to their season, but the beginning. Boys tennis, baseball, girls soccer and track and field all began their season this week. While a missed day of practice here and there might not seem like much, MSHSAA rules require there to be 14 days of practice before the first game, Mast said. For baseball and soccer, that first game is on March 15, which translates to 18 calendar days between this past Monday and game day.
“At this point, we are still in good shape,” Mast said. “Losing one day of practice (and two for some students) still allows 17 or 18 total days to get the 14 practices in. If we were to miss more days of practice, we would have to adjust our first games.”
Girls soccer held their first tryout Monday afternoon right as the storm hit. Because of the snow, the girls vying for spots on the team were not able to tryout on a standard soccer field. Instead, tryouts Monday and today were held in the new gym.
“The biggest issue was that we weren’t able to get out on the soccer field so we had to be in the gym. Because of that, we had to split up into three groups and each group only got an hour in there,” senior Morgan Bumby said. “It’s just kind of difficult playing in the gym, because it’s a lot smaller and a way different surface than the turf. We also only got to have two days for tryouts, so I think everyone, especially the underclassmen, felt a lot of pressure.”
The girls have not yet had a day on the RBHS soccer field yet this year, Bumby said, since every practice has been indoors. For the girls, winter weather on the fields not only changes up their practice ground, but will affect them financially.
“I’m not sure how long it’ll take for the field to clear off enough for us to use it,” Bumby said. “We’ll be practicing at the [Missouri Athletics Center] the next three days and that’ll be a little better, but it’s also expensive. The past three years I’ve played we haven’t had an issue like this due to weather. It’s been a pretty big inconvenience.”
Another sport that had to forgo its usual outdoor practice area is the tennis team. While the team is used to practicing indoors during off season in the winter months, it was still different starting the season this year with such harsh winter weather.
“This year, spring sports started a week early instead of the usual March 1. I guess we will be starting the same time we did last year, but … this year has been worse than the past few season. We have never had serious snow before,” senior Alex Jones said. However, the weather “hasn’t put a damper in the season. Almost our entire team plays year-round together, almost every day, so the start of the season isn’t a big deal to us.”
The tennis team also managed to score some practice time throughout the snow storms. While bad weather is usually the only factor deterring the team from practicing outside, the team still needs to practice with elements they would meet at a match.
“Well, practicing inside is a big difference because there aren’t any elements like the sun or wind and the ball plays differently,” Jones said. “But I’d say practice inside this time of year is much, much more nice than playing in freezing weather.”
Members of the track and field team did not fear the frigid weather. Although track and field opted not to have practice today, students from the team arrived at RBHS this afternoon to help clear off parts of the track. Junior Madison May and six other teammates made their way through the track and stayed for around an hour and 30 min to clear 200 meters of lane 1. May’s father also brought a snow blower to help clear off the track. Team members felt it was their duty to clean off the track if they wanted to practice when school is back in session.
“Coach [Neal] Blackburn probably would have ended up with a shovel doing it himself, which he tried earlier this morning,” May said, “and we decided if we wanted to use it, we should clear it.”
Usually winter weather doesn’t happen so late in the year that it affects practices, May said. But when there has been snow, it’s usually a small enough amount that the team just waits for it to melt.
“We haven’t got to have practice the last two days which isn’t ideal,” May said. “Everyone has just had to be really flexible.”
“All district games must be rescheduled, and that decision is made by the district manager, with input from the district committee. Doug Mirts, the Hickman [Athletic Director] is the district manager for this year’s tournament, and since our district is made of only five schools, all the ADs from participating schools served on the committee,” Mast said. “Since the cancellations happened at the semifinal level, and there was already one school eliminated, those of us left in the tournament had input, but ultimately, it’s up the the host school to manage their own facility availability, fairness for teams involved, and perhaps the biggest factor for a reschedule is officials’ availability.”
Having two snow storms hit within a week has hindered practice for the girls, but also gave them time to reflect before the district tournament began. The storm last week closed school Thursday and Friday as well as yesterday and today.
“I think during last week’s snow, we just struggled with staying focused [since] it was so much [snow], and there was still some time before districts started,” senior Makenzie Skrabal said. “But this week we stayed focus[ed] really well. This past week we only missed one day of practice, so it has affected us a little in preparation, but we were still able to get some good time in the gym.”
With rescheduling post-season games, a key point is that “the tournament has to be fair,” Mast said. Mast gave an example that if there are two girls semifinal games, and one of the four teams was in a situation where arriving to a game on a certain day could affect the team’s safety, it would not be fair to play one of the game earlier than the other. In addition, another aspect to post-season is securing officials, which is more complicated since other district tournaments are happening at this time in addition to sectional and quarterfinal games for Classes 1, 2 and 3.
“We try to ensure the winners of our district’s tournament are not put at a disadvantage at the next (sectional) level,” Mast said. “For instance, a district in Kansas City has chosen to push their tournament to have the championship on Monday. That gives the winner only one day between the district tournament and the sectional game. If given no choice, sometimes that must happen, but it’s probably the sectional opponent has had several more days to prepare.”
Although games for this week’s district tournaments have all been rescheduled for boys and girls post-season, for other athletes, this week marks not the end to their season, but the beginning. Boys tennis, baseball, girls soccer and track and field all began their season this week. While a missed day of practice here and there might not seem like much, MSHSAA rules require there to be 14 days of practice before the first game, Mast said. For baseball and soccer, that first game is on March 15, which translates to 18 calendar days between this past Monday and game day.
“At this point, we are still in good shape,” Mast said. “Losing one day of practice (and two for some students) still allows 17 or 18 total days to get the 14 practices in. If we were to miss more days of practice, we would have to adjust our first games.”
Girls soccer held their first tryout Monday afternoon right as the storm hit. Because of the snow, the girls vying for spots on the team were not able to tryout on a standard soccer field. Instead, tryouts Monday and today were held in the new gym.
“The biggest issue was that we weren’t able to get out on the soccer field so we had to be in the gym. Because of that, we had to split up into three groups and each group only got an hour in there,” senior Morgan Bumby said. “It’s just kind of difficult playing in the gym, because it’s a lot smaller and a way different surface than the turf. We also only got to have two days for tryouts, so I think everyone, especially the underclassmen, felt a lot of pressure.”
The girls have not yet had a day on the RBHS soccer field yet this year, Bumby said, since every practice has been indoors. For the girls, winter weather on the fields not only changes up their practice ground, but will affect them financially.
“I’m not sure how long it’ll take for the field to clear off enough for us to use it,” Bumby said. “We’ll be practicing at the [Missouri Athletics Center] the next three days and that’ll be a little better, but it’s also expensive. The past three years I’ve played we haven’t had an issue like this due to weather. It’s been a pretty big inconvenience.”
Another sport that had to forgo its usual outdoor practice area is the tennis team. While the team is used to practicing indoors during off season in the winter months, it was still different starting the season this year with such harsh winter weather.
“This year, spring sports started a week early instead of the usual March 1. I guess we will be starting the same time we did last year, but … this year has been worse than the past few season. We have never had serious snow before,” senior Alex Jones said. However, the weather “hasn’t put a damper in the season. Almost our entire team plays year-round together, almost every day, so the start of the season isn’t a big deal to us.”
The tennis team also managed to score some practice time throughout the snow storms. While bad weather is usually the only factor deterring the team from practicing outside, the team still needs to practice with elements they would meet at a match.
“Well, practicing inside is a big difference because there aren’t any elements like the sun or wind and the ball plays differently,” Jones said. “But I’d say practice inside this time of year is much, much more nice than playing in freezing weather.”
Members of the track and field team did not fear the frigid weather. Although track and field opted not to have practice today, students from the team arrived at RBHS this afternoon to help clear off parts of the track. Junior Madison May and six other teammates made their way through the track and stayed for around an hour and 30 min to clear 200 meters of lane 1. May’s father also brought a snow blower to help clear off the track. Team members felt it was their duty to clean off the track if they wanted to practice when school is back in session.
“Coach [Neal] Blackburn probably would have ended up with a shovel doing it himself, which he tried earlier this morning,” May said, “and we decided if we wanted to use it, we should clear it.”
Usually winter weather doesn’t happen so late in the year that it affects practices, May said. But when there has been snow, it’s usually a small enough amount that the team just waits for it to melt.
“We haven’t got to have practice the last two days which isn’t ideal,” May said. “Everyone has just had to be really flexible.”
By Daphne Yu
What has the snow kept you from doing?