You’ve Been A Mother, Ms. Nature
WARSAW – If a good portion of you have felt betrayed this year, your feelings are historically justified. The weather has blown, spit, blanketed, stuck around too long. All of the above.
I could go on all day, but you get it. The onslaught of winter on northern Indiana and the greater Midwest as a whole, and really most of the central and eastern time zones, has been one for the books. To be specific locally, according to the National Weather Service readings from South Bend (which take it for what it’s worth, it’s about as local as I could find), this was the sixth snowiest winter on record going back into the late 1800s.
As of last week, measured recordings of snow were at 89.0 inches which pile up to more than 20 inches above normal. And that doesn’t include the miserable snow drifts and such the rural areas were oppressed with.
To be fair, and I’m sure Cari Peugeot and Mike Hoffman would appreciate my next statement, this hasn’t been nearly as bad as it’s been. As recent as 2011 – remember Snowmageddon? – the area saw almost 103 inches of snow, which then turned into over 17 inches of rain between March and May. Ball games and Easter Egg hunts and town parades were all told to figure it out.
Going back a little further, the historically famous Blizzard of ’78 was by far the worst. Talk about snow piles, there were 137 inches of snow in South Bend that winter, which makes our complaining now laughable. It’s just now people have Facebook and Twitter to make today’s plight sound unbearable. Which, it is.
So why all the weather talk in a sports column? Well, 89 inches is still 89 inches. And when 89 inches of snow needs to melt, it makes transitions from indoor to outdoor sports very hard to navigate.
If you have kept up with our sports feeds, you’ve seen all of the postponements. From college baseball to high school track and on down. Everyone is having to “figure it out”, and with time running out on the 2013-14 school year, spring sports are having to do whatever it takes to get the job done.
“It is what it is,” shrugged Triton softball head coach Steve McBride when asked about the weather. “We’ve got the black top and we’ve got the gym. So does everybody else.”
McBride’s athletic director, Mason McIntyre, reported the softball and baseball programs have been primarily sharing gym space and using the parking lots whenever possible to do long toss. The tennis program has used the elementary gym for practice. Track is using the hallways whenever possible if outdoor weather doesn’t permit. With fields that are still soft and soggy, the programs have had to basically made due.
Another element to the rub this spring has been scheduling. While most of the focus goes on the coaches and athletes and their delayed preparation plans, umpires and officials also have to adjust. Travel time, paychecks, availability, it all factors in when a Monday game can’t be played and an official can’t make it the next night.
“Umpires are very understanding of the weather and conditions, and we always attempt to reschedule the same officials when the event is moved,” said Warsaw Community High School athletic director Dave Anson. “Sometimes this does not work and we’re forced to seek replacements, which can sometimes be a challenge.”
Anson noted that every attempt is made to reschedule an event, whether varsity, junior varsity or ‘C’ team, but a premium is put on conference matches to be made up in the best manner possible. In the case of some of the March events, if umpires and teams have open dates, then a game can be made up. In other cases, such as what Wawasee has seen this March with its track programs, there isn’t much that can be done.
“When home games get cancelled or postponed it sometimes feels like the phone is glued to the side of my head,” said Wawasee assistant athletic director Cory Schutz. “Given the extreme weather that we have been dealing with so far this spring, we have attempted to make decisions earlier than usual.”
The Wawasee track program has already lost three dates on its 2014 schedule. Home meets with East Noble and Columbia City were scrubbed because of the cold and wet conditions, and another home meet with West Noble was postponed. Elkhart Memorial also scrubbed the Jim Eger Relays this Saturday because the forecast and the conditions just aren’t suitable for running an invitational. All of those alterations were announced more than a day in advance.
“We have a great staff that have done all they can to maximize the space we have available,” said Wawasee track head coach Scott Lancaster. “In the meantime, we can do more weight training, plyometrics, some explosion drills. It’s boring to the kids, but they need to have the training if they want to be a great track athlete. We may not have a lot of space, but we have the time.”
Added Warsaw boys track coach Matt Thacker, “You have to have a lot of patience with the weather. It can drive you crazy trying to train and get prepared inside. Everyone recognizes the situation this year. We have tried to mix things up with our practices inside to break the monotony. This is not the fun part of the season. It’s a grind.”
No, the world doesn’t end when an unhappy rain cloud cries, or when the Polar Vortex spins out of control. But the optimism of nearly everyone rises to Code Red levels when Hoffman or Peugeot say it will be 60 degrees and sunny this coming Monday. Too bad Tuesday is back down to 45 and a chance of rain, which is what the rest of the week looks like heading into a lot of area school’s spring breaks.
“There’s really nothing we can do about it but just keep working,” said Triton senior Mallorie Jennings, who is hoping her state-ranked softball team can make a run in the state tournament. “I can’t wait to get back into the circle and play again, but the weather has been awful. We just have to keep working in here (the gym) and keep focused on our goals. Looks like we’ll be in here for a while.”