Looks like it wont happen this year!

The Michigan High School Athletic Association issued the following statement today from Executive Director John E. “Jack” Roberts after the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Association’s request for an appeal in the sports season litigation:

“Thousands of student-athletes, parents, coaches, administrators, officials, board of education members, sports media and fans of high school sports are breathing a sigh of relief that they will have another day in court.”

In granting the appeal, the Supreme Court vacated previous orders in this case by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, and remanded the case back to the Sixth Circuit for reconsideration. It appears that the previously-issued stay remains. All indications are that no change in MHSAA Tournament dates will occur during the 2005-06 school year.

As additional information becomes available regarding the many questions that remain, it will be posted to the MHSAA Web site.

Music to my ears. Girls' basetball in the Fall in Michigan.

MTD, Sr.

I have no clue about college recruiting procedures, but it seems like fall basketball gives Michigan girls and advantage for recruiting. I would think that college coaches could vist more games in the fall than in the winter during their own season.

Do any of you know if this is a valid point and who is pushing for the change, is it the girls basketball coaches and players, or is the pressure coming from elsewhere.

I think part of the problem is the girls season comes before the d2/d1 coaches are allowed to visit schools, or it might be the problem is the season comes before the coaches are ready to start traveling. Anyway as I recall the original lawsuit was because some parents living in Michigan thought their little Suzie was at a recruiting disadvantage due to when the girls season took place.

The entire reason behind the lawsuit was that it gave Michigan female athletes a "disadvantage"...particularly in Volleyball. The two families that filed the suit claimed that their daughters played their HS volleyball season AFTER most the scholarships had been handed out in other states. The MHSAA protested claiming just what you do, that it gives female athletes an even bigger advantage, especially in Basketball (more females play BB than VB - by far!)

This ruling throws then entire thing back into the lower courts again.

Meanwhile, the huge mess everyone has been bracing for is postponed for at least one more season!

Thanks, now I remember, it was the volleyball players who had the problem.

Its official......and as an official I am glad to see that I will be working basketball in the Fall (as usual).

In VA, we just switched to both boys and girls in the winter two years ago. The reason for doing so was because volleyball is played here in the fall. This meant that girls had to choose between one or the other. Obviously, many of girls, especially the tall ones, want to play both. As a result, they moved girls basketball to winter to coincide with the boys. Not everyone was thrilled with it at first, especially some officials associations who don't have big numbers, but now I think everyone likes it. Although, it did create gym space problems for some schools. A lot of the small schools only have one gym, and that makes it hard to have practice for 4 basketball teams and have everything end at a reasonable time.

<I>[From MHSAA <U>Bulletin</U> August 2004]</I>
2003-2004 participation records show:
<LI> Girls Volleyball participants 21,320
<LI> Girls Basketball participants 20,661

mick

I stand corrected - side out, point!

Here is the history!
 

The history of the sports seasons lawsuit is located at http://www.mhsaa.com

Michigan ranks #5 in country in number of girls recruited to play college VB. Stil can't see the disadvantage in having the college coaches look at you when their season is done.

Zebra44:

"He knew she was a moonshiner, but loved her still"

I don't know why but I found that hilarious. Original!

Anyway, I also live in Michigan and am glad to hear of the ruling (for now). The space issue for teams would have been a huge factor, we have freshman, JV and Varsity so SIX teams would have needed practice time somehow. I don't know if the junior high girls would have switched their season as well (anyone?) but it will be nice to have an opportunity in the Fall and Winter to officiate basketball. I am just starting and hope to get some games by then at whatever level.

Simple answer, MONEY!!!

I would assume that coaches have to make more of an effort to go watch VB players in states like Michigan. There better be something special about these Michigan players to make an effort to go watch them. All they have to do with other players is view them in their normal seasons or within their normal schedule.

I hear a lot of officials complaining about whether this is a good or bad thing for them. This is not about the officials. This should be about the kids and their possible opportunities. If most of the country can play Girl's and Boy's basketball at the same time, so can Michigan.

Peace

What most of the country does has no affect on this state issue, ...yet.