The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Manchester coaches not keen on switch
Girlsí basketball and volleyball coaches hope to avoid change
By Ed Patino, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 29, 2007
While the Michigan High School Athletic Association waits to see if its sports schedules will be changed, Manchester High School coaches and administrators are hoping a switch never materializes.
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Several coaches across the state of teams in which the change would have the greatest effect are against the proposed schedule switch and hopes the MHSAA's appeal will be heard by the Supreme Court.
The current schedule has girls' basketball as a fall sport and volleyball as a winter sport. If the Supreme Court elects not to hear the MHSAA's appeal, the association will be forced to change its schedule so basketball plays in the winter and volleyball plays in the fall.
Other sports forced to change would include boys' golf, from fall to spring; girls' tennis, from fall to spring; Upper Peninsula boys' soccer, from fall to spring; and Upper Peninsula girls' soccer, from spring to fall.
While Michigan's schedule has girls' basketball in the fall and volleyball in the winter, it's the other way around nationally at the collegiate level and in 47 states at the high-school level.
In 1998, Grand Rapids-based Communities for Equity sued the MHSAA, claiming the association discriminates against girls because basketball is a fall sports and volleyball takes place in the winter. In August, three 6th Circuit judges ruled 2-1 that the MHSAA is violating the equal-protection clause of the U.S. Constitution's 14th Amendment, Title IX and Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. The dissenting judge said it only was a Title IX case.
On Jan. 29, the association filed its appeal, known as a writ of certiorari, with the Supreme Court. A decision if the court will hear the case could be made Friday.
Among those wanting to keep the current schedule are Manchester varsity girls' basketball coach Cori Kastel and Manchester volleyball coach Mike Mininger.
Among the concerns both coaches have are how the change would effect off-season camps, gym time, officials and exposure.
Most girls' basketball camps take place in the summer. By pushing the season to the winter, there would be a four-month break between summer camps and opening night.
"I don't like the change because it wouldn't allow summer progress to flow into the season," Kastel said. "With our summer workouts, we're taking a Plan A, which is keeping as it is and a Plan B for what if."
With volleyball, club teams have tryouts in November, near the end of the state playoffs, and form in January. Players then can play a six-month club season.
"The biggest season is the club season, which provides more exposure and a lot of recruiting is done," Mininger said. "The only advantage the switch has is it would do what the lawsuit intended to do."
Another concern is conflicting seasons. Conditioning for girls' basketball would coincide with volleyball's regular season, thus putting those who play both sports behind when basketball season starts. If a volleyball team makes it to the state championships, players only will have two weeks to prepare for basketball. The Thanksgiving break would fall in that span.
"Kids in volleyball would have to go right into basketball camp," Kastel said. "That hurts in trying to learn and remember new plays installed in the summer."
Use of facilities is another issue. With both boys' and girls' varsity basketball and the junior varsity teams, along with wrestling competing at the same time, some times would be forced to hold practices at unusual times.
"With tripleheaders, we might have to go at 6 a.m.," Kastel said. "The quality of practice might not be as good because we're forced to deal with the clock."
Manchester Athletic Director Wes Gall likes to avoid having teams practice in the late evenings.
"With the schedule now, our facilities can allow us not to have the 7 to 9 p.m. practice," Gall said. "The switch would force some to go to that, which I believe is not good for academics."
Gall and Kastel also expressed concern about the quality of officials at girls' games. With limits on the number of games officials can take, the fear is the majority will take the boys' games, leaving the girls with less experienced officials.
Exposure is another concern. With the basketball seasons separate, girls' basketball doesn't have to compete with the boys for crowds.
"I like the schedule as is because it allows girls' basketball to be highlighted," Gall said. "They have an identity to their season, but attendance might go down if they switch."
Kastel likes how the current schedule helps college coaches recruit for girls' basketball. During ESPN's coverage of the NCAA women's basketball regional in East Lansing, the commentators mentioned out Michigan's prep girls have an advantage because of the current schedule.
"Other states get to see what Michigan has, and we get more of the spotlight," Kastel said. "College coaches are off, so they can come and watch high school games."
In Mininger's case, he would be forced into a coaching decision if the volleyball season is moved to the fall. Along with coaching Manchester during the winter, Mininger is an assistant coach at Siena Heights University during the fall.
"It's worked out really good for me because I can coach at the college level and recruit during the winter," Mininger said. "I have the best of both worlds and learn a lot coaching different styles of programs. The change would effect a lot of people and force lots of changes."
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