Rainouts rule high school sports this spring

Rain, rain go away.

Come again another day.

Little Johnny wants to play.

Replace Little Johnny's name in the nursery rhyme with that of any high school sports player, coach, athletic administrator, parent or fan dealing with another day of postponed games.

Everyone wants to play, but the rain won't stop.

"In the 30 years that I've been a coach or activities director, this is by far the worst spring I have ever been involved in," Hanover High Activities Director Bob Stratton said.

The cancellation of yesterday's scheduled track meet at Hanover was the 76th postponement or cancellation for Hanover this spring.

"It's very frustrating for all of us. There is no real scenario to make it all go away," said Stratton, chairman of the Capital District and Central Region athletic administrators. "Some games have been rescheduled four times."

Activities directors expect some rainouts. Richmond-area springs usually produce afternoon thunderstorms. Games are rained out, but schools prepare their fields and play the next day or on a future open date. This week's daily downpours have saturated fields so much that a light shower puts a field under water again.

Games in the League of Independent Schools (private school girls) softball, lacrosse and soccer tournaments have been played. Collegiate had home games in all three sports the past couple of days.

"It has been crazy, but having field turf [for lacrosse] helps. The soccer field [grass] was wet, but the majority of the field was really good," Co-Athletic Director Karen Doxey said. "It rained before the softball game [Monday], but the field took it really well."

Rain still caught the softball tournament semifinals. They were scheduled for yesterday in Charlottesville but were postponed until today.

Rescheduling isn't limited to finding a new playing date. Game officials, transportation, booster clubs and concession-stand workers are elements of the mix, too.

This is the next-to-last week of regular-season play in the Central Region (public schools) for baseball, softball and boys and girls soccer.

District track meets are next week. The Central Region tennis tournament starts next week, too, but this week's district tournaments are on hold because of the weather.

With so many rainouts, nondistrict games are the casualties.

"It's turned into a huge nightmare," Stratton said. "We're trying to finish district schedules to move on to the next level [playoffs]. We're really scrambling."

Capital District activities directors held an emergency meeting to develop plans for different scenarios. For example, if neither school can get its field in shape for a scheduled game, then the game will be moved to a site where the field is usuable.

Other districts in the region will have similar meetings with a similar focus.

The rain has had an impact all over the commonwealth. Hermitage AD Bruce Bowen is the executive director of the Virginia Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, which met Monday.

"It has certainly been the most challenging spring I have seen in 22 years," said Bowen, who is retiring at the end of the school year. "I have weather.com book marked on my computer, and I know Andrew Frieden's [WWBT] voice quite well.

"I do know that if Mother Nature wants it to rain, you just get on the phone and work it out. While we may complain, farmers are happy. There is a big picture to consider."

Contact Arthur Utley at (804) 649-6559