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Originally Posted by CoachP
When you get outside of the bigger schools (Mich uses classes based on enrollment A-B-C-D) is where all the problems lie.
Most of the larger A schools and "some" B schools have gym sizes to accomodate everybody but that is not the norm.
With most schools there are 2 V teams 2 jv teams and 2 freshman hoops teams with even an A and B team on some freshman boys teams. All these teams need games and practices in the same gym all week.
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This is no different than in my state and I am sure in other states. Now the bigger schools might have a Sophomore A, B and C team and a Freshman A, B and sometimes C teams. So that is a Varsity team, JV team (varsity players with a couple of non-varsity players), 2 or 3 sophomore teams and 2 or 3 freshman teams. This is almost never an issue with the bigger schools because they have a field house (3 or 4 courts just in the field house) along with a main gym.
I started officiating in rural Illinois and you were lucky if a school had 3 teams per gender. Everyone had a varsity team and a sophomore team, but freshman teams were not always a constant because there were not enough kids to fill those teams. The way I understand this was most gyms have the multiple hoop gyms (courts running sideways through the main court) and that would be how a lot of practices would be run. The girls would practice and one time and the boys would practice at another time. They way it was done is one would practice right after school and the other might practice later that evening. This of course included when both teams were around. When the season started and one team had to go on the road, this was not the same issue.
I am not talking multiple gyms. I am talking a very small school with one gym for everything. Most of the schools in my state do not have over 1000 kids in the high school. And in some case the HS is the same building that the JH is located and they have to share the gym with those kids where many games at those levels are also played during a portion of the HS season.
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Originally Posted by CoachP
Volleyball normally filled up their game schedules with a week night and all day Saturday tourneys/invites. So they only required (a lot of times) one night a week for games. And one BBall court holds 2 VB courts for practices which for a lot of rural schools is V and JV only. So their practice scheduling was much easier....And they managed to play dozens more matches than other states because of the longer season.
Girls had a great benefit playing hoops on Tue and Thurs in the fall as they did not have to compete with boys sports (friday night football)
Girls VB will enjoy some of that benefit now except for the saturday part (college football coverage) |
You say that the girl's would have the benefit of their own nights. In my state they do not play girl's and boy's games on the same night most of the time. Girls usually play on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday afternoon throughout the state and they start a week earlier (Week before Thanksgiving) and the playoffs start a couple of weeks before the boys playoffs do. Boys usually play on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday and they start a week later (Thanksgiving week). There are not many schools or conferences that even try to play varsity contests on the same night. Now it is no secret that the boys usually get the bigger crowds and the bigger attention (unless the girl’s team is a state power). I do not think moving the season would help that. Just like you do not get a lot of volleyball attendance, I am sure nothing would change in this state.
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Originally Posted by CoachP
My biggest gripe is they passed it off as a gender equity suit so volleyball would match the rest of the country....which btw 10 years ago 8 other states played GBB/Fall GVB winter.
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That was 10 years ago. There was obviously a reason they changed. Change is not always bad thing. I thought the issue was about scholarships and playing in the normal season for college recruiters? Maybe the lack of defense of these issues is the very reason the lawsuit was successful and now there is change. If you ask me gym space and playing in their very own season is not a very good reason. It appears the Judge felt the same way.
I can see how a female basketball player or soccer player might be hurt if a college has to make a special trip or change their schedule to recruit a player from Michigan. Now this might not be that big of a deal Midwestern colleges, but for the bigger programs in volleyball are mostly on the west coast and I am sure it was inconvenient at best for many of those programs to come out to Michigan (or any other state that had this change) during an "off season" to recruit. I am not under the impression that volleyball is like basketball where it is played year round across the country (I am sure there are exceptions).
I equate this issue as what is happening here. Our state has had 2 classes for 30 years. Now the IHSA is going to 4 classes. Now I personally do not like it, but the change is here. There is nothing we can do about it now and many of the arguments to keep the 2 class system are minimal. The rest of the country has more than 2 classes and in some cases 5 and 6 classes. People gave similar arguments that it would change greatly affect the balance of competition and would change why people attended games. The more I think of it what I was holding on to was tradition because it was always done that way. I am sure we will get over it just like everyone else has had to deal with it.
Peace