High School Softball in the Fall

[bruce408]

There's discussion with TSSAA about moving softball from a Spring sport to a Fall sport. What's your opinion?

[mchsballer]

theres no way they can do it,too many basketball players play softball.

[trojan1]

There would not be any overlap of basketball and softball in the fall. Currently our basketball season last until a week before softball games can be played. I don't remember any snow in the fall either.

I would like for softball and volleyball to change season.

[std]

This would also intefere with girls soccer. You also would end up playing the state in in late Oct or early Nov. with prospect of inclimate weather. The change won't happen.

[rSquared]

I think the bottom line is that TSSAA should do what's best for the sport of softball, which is to move it to the fall.

Other states are far ahead of us in this move, and it's high time we came around to the same conclusion. Hopefully, the TSSAA braintrust is looking very carefully at the way GA and some other nearby states schedule their sports seasons. It would work!

Thinking about all the quality practice time we wouldn't lose due to inclement weather nearly leaves me salivating!

Not to mention the prospect of having to reschedule and re-re-schedule near as many games due to weather!

 

But, now for the really important question that someone here needs to help us coaches with: How can we band together to voice our desires to the TSSAA?

 

Let's start by taking a poll here on a separate thread as to whether or not softball should be moved from the spring to the fall. Let's continue to voice our thoughts/discussion on this thread, but vote on the new thread.

 

---rSquared

[CoachB22]

Let's move football to spring along with soccer and volleyball. Then we can play baseball in the fall too. I'm sure all the baseball coaches would line up with us. After all, conditions must be the same for them.

 

Oh...you were just talking about girl's sports.....

 

Butch

[coachrt]

Unless they rearange all the other sports I think they may loose some good players. My daughter plays H.S. softball & soccer along with several others on the team that play multi-sports in the spring & fall. I know it would be hard to decide which sport to drop if you love to play both equally. One girl on the team last year got a dual schollarship for softball & soccer which wouldn't have happened if she had to give one up.

[mchsballer]

our basketball season and softball sesason already over lap this way,i play volleyball too,that would screw that up,then what would we do in the spring,sit around and get fat?this way i can be active all year round.

[FPFanatic]

first of all this makes too much sense to happen, the

people in charge will not allow it to happen.

 

also, softball has taken a second class status behind

other sports for too long for it to happen.

 

not to mention that there are too many other sport

coaches and players involved in softball for it to happen

(this goes back to softball being second class).

 

also, due to financial reasons, such as high school

tournaments that make a lot of money in the Spring, it

won't happen (also, schools won't hire softball only

coaches due to budget problems).

 

another reason is that the traditionalists who accept freezing their posteriors in the cold, just because that's

the way it always has been done, it won't happen.

 

these are just some of the reasons it won't happen as long

as softball is not a "stand alone" sport at most schools.

[Illini]

Let's say you moved softball to the fall. Soccer and softball participation would be split up and it would hurt both especially at the smaller schools. As for tournements just about every school holds one and playing softball on Friday night up against football no way, it won't happen. Alot of softball coaches are either vollyball coaches or assitant football coaches so their would be a conflict with that. The way I see it it will never happen for the betterment of girls sports. The way it's set up is the best way so girls can participate in sports year round. As for as being behind the other states in this as far as fall softball, most of them do not have girls soccer. Plus their is fall leagues for girls that don't play soccer so be happy with the way it is and lets move on.

[sportnut]

Why couldn't soccer be moved to the spring?

[ERA]

The evolutionary shift from spring to fall will happen when softball becomes the most important sport to the majority of girl athletes and not until then.

 

Moving it to fall makes pefect sense to the ones that love this game but as long as the other sports carry the majority of discord, it can't happen. Everyone wants what's best for their situation. This crops up each year because of the "weather situation" in Tennessee. No sport should have to go through this major rescheduling challenge each and every season. It wears thin on everyone's patience when expectations run so high.

 

My guess is the ones that have the most at stake are the tournament directors and the fundraisers that are a part of it. One bad night of rain and the whole weekend of fundraising can be wiped out. The dollar will have the ultimate call on this decision in my opinion. Right now, the districts through the state tournament are typically sitting in the window of clear weather on our calendars and are usually never impacted monetarily by inclimate weather. You certainly can't expect the governing body to make such a change when they suffer the least impact, climatically speaking. With that in mind, the ones screaming the loudest are the weekend tournament planners with tons of planning and money at stake.

 

So, we are right back where the conversation left off last year.....Pray to the Sun Gods, Sell umbrellas for fundraising and for gosh sakes...Buy A Tarp!