This spring's crazy weather has created mega problems for coaches, players and athletic directors in northern Minnesota. Because of the April snow, games and meets have been delayed or canceled altogether and the chances of games being made up are now beginning to dwindle.
"It is almost impossible to make them all up," said Cloquet Activities Director Tom Lenarz. "The spring is already incredibly crowded with games and other school events. Trying to find time in late April and May where we and the other team have an opening is just about impossible. Very few of them get made up as a result."
Like many activity directors in the northern part of the state, Lenarz tries to schedule a few games to the south at the start of the season in hopes the weather will be better, but so far that has not been the case.
"The spring in northern Minnesota is always a crap shoot, even when we don't have snow on April 10th," commented Lenarz. "There are a number of games that we lose to rain, especially in tennis."
As of press time, Cloquet has canceled two softball games, one track meet, a boys baseball game and two boys tennis matches.
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"It isn't a matter of the kids toughing it out," explained Lenarz. "If there is snow on the ground, we simply can not play."
The art of scheduling games becomes mind-numbing at times as the balance of conference games, sectional seeding games and open dates becomes nearly impossible if the weather doesn't cooperate.
"The kids and coaches do a great job of staying with it and doing what they can to stay motivated," mentioned Lenarz. "We are lucky to have such dedicated people running our spring programs."
The spring is also home to the spring musical, band trips, choir concerts and other very important events, which are also scheduled well in advance of the season. Many are scheduled prior to the school year in an effort to allow activity directors the ability to know exactly what dates are already filled. Those events are every bit as important to those who participate as are the sporting events.
"The only plan is to try and find dates and we don't have access to anything indoors," explained Lenarz. "We usually don't play section opponents this early, but obviously those are games that are a priority for makeups. In most cases we are not the only teams canceling due to the weather."
As more games get canceled, look for teams to pare down their schedule to the essential games, which in this case would be games that have a bearing on their seeding in the sectional tournaments. Without enough seeding games played it becomes nearly impossible when it comes time to decide where teams will be playing in the sectional tournament.
