Mother Nature isn’t playing nice with Wooster athletic teams

  • brian questel
  • April 27, 2011
  • 270
                        
050211 weatherwoes Promo: April’s monsoon season has created scheduling issues for Generals Mother Nature isn’t playing nice with Wooster athletic teams By Brian Questel April showers may bring May flowers, but they also bring headaches – lots and lots of headaches. The monsoon-like rains that seem to have locked in over Ohio this spring season have created problems for athletic teams across the region and Wooster High School is no exception. Cancelations upon cancelations have created havoc for the Generals’ athletic office and coaching staffs, resulting in a spring that has been chaotic for coaches, athletes and administration alike. It’s hard to imagine what the baseball team could be doing with nicer weather. Wooster is 7-0 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference (9-3 overall), percentage points ahead of 5-0 Ashland, but head coach Derek Boyd was worried about the inability to work outdoors on a consistent basis. “It’s everybody’s favorite subject right now,” said Boyd. “Last week we played Madison once, on Thursday, at their place. Tuesday and Wednesday were a wash. We were supposed to play Massillon Friday over there … but were rained out. We were able to get the field ready play Saturday against Wadsworth and lost both. We’ve been fortunate we’ve made up all our league games, so we’re good there. But, we’ve been rained out of five non-league games.” Wooster is fortunate it can get inside the Gault Center to get batting practice and work on ground balls, but being cooped up isn’t productive in the long haul. “It does make it hard for the kids to stay focused and to get their work in,” agreed Boyd. “That’s one thing we try to do as a staff. I sit down with the coaches and figure out the best things to get work out of the kids and what they need to get, especially the pitchers. That’s the thing. We talked a couple weeks ago about our Nos. 3 and 4 pitchers not get much work. This week (the weather) got to our No. 2. “The only reassuring thing is everybody is in same boat,” added Boyd. “We’re trying to be as upbeat as we can and trying to do things to keep a competitive edge for our guys.” Even playing a sport on asphalt doesn’t bring any assurances for Generals’ tennis coach Stan Burris. “We’re 5-4 – we’ve only played nine matches (in three weeks),” said Burris. “We were supposed to play every day this week (April 25-30) and then Monday through Thursday next week and then OCC Saturday. Originally we had only one match scheduled. At some point stuff is going … to not get played or played during the week of sectionals.” Wooster’s April 25 match against Canton Central Catholic was called off with the Crusaders halfway to Wooster, said Burris. “Today the courts were dry, and then at 3:30 it started to sprinkle and then we had another gusher,” said Burris. “You can’t even practice then. I can’t remember a time when we’ve been indoors more than this spring. You scratch out an hour here and there to keep your hand in it a little bit. We’ve only played two conference matches and the conference tournament is a week from Saturday (May 7). We have five matches to play between now and next Saturday.” The boy’s lacrosse team may not be dealing with a crunch of games, but the soggy conditions are another thing. “We’re all in the same boat. We just have to keep rotating our fields,” said boy’s coach Curtis Didato. “That’s all we can do. We beat up a little spot of grass one day and move and keep the field in the best shape as long as we can.” The overcast, wet conditions don’t help in another aspect “Sunshine does lot for moods,” he said. “You come out to practice and its overcast and a chance rain every day, and that takes a toll. Today (April 23) some of our younger guys were having fun sliding through the puddles and they were caked head-to-toe. They were laughing. … but we’re hoping for nice weather and sunshine.” Rain doesn’t generally impact track and field teams in terms of their ability to compete, but the Generals have had a pair of meets cancelled this year. So, while the Generals have been generally weathered the weather, “I think we’ve not yet seen our potential in certain events because of the temperature and the rain,” said boy’s coach Doug Bennett. “I think we still will, but it’s going to come later,” he said. “Usually we would have had a glimpse of that by this time, but we haven’t seen it yet. The good thing is our kids have been real positive. It’s not impacted their mental mindset as far as doing their best, or at least I haven’t seen it. We had a good team showing at Mt. Vernon. “I would imagine (throws coach) Drew (Gerber) would say it’s holding the throws events back, and all the water can’t help us get to our potential, especially in the discus. The wind and water is impacting the high jump, pole vault and long jump at the take-off point.” Girl’s track coach Nikki Reynolds remembered miserable days in the past. “We’ve been fortunate the past 10 years and have had great weather,” she said. “I remember weather in the 1970s and ‘80s when we had some cold years where we didn’t take coats off until the end of the season. “With the rain, it affects field events more because we can’t get the technical things done that need done. Runners run. It is cooler, so we haven’t gotten the times we’ve been fortunate to run the past couple years. “When people talk to me about how we’re doing, I tell them: it depends on the weather.”


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