ShawneeDispatch.com

I thought the disappointment was behind me when my youth soccer days ended.

I vividly remember sitting in my room, with my jersey and cleats on, staring out the window and hoping against hope that the rain would subside so I could get outside and play.

It rarely worked, and my Saturdays were often ruined. Why else would I have gotten up so early?

Fast forward 20 years later and I find myself in a similar situation. The past two weeks of cold and rainy weather have wreaked havoc on the spring sports schedules at the high schools we cover. Games have been postponed, meets have been pushed back and matches have been canceled. My disappointment has returned.

Watching games get canceled is hard on me for two reasons. First, I genuinely enjoy covering these games and it's a bummer when they're called off. Second, the cancellations send me on a mad scramble to find something to fill the pages of our sports section.

But, as rough as it is for me, it's 10 times worse for the people at the high schools who are in charge of rescheduling the events.

At Mill Valley High School, the bulk of that work falls on the shoulders of athletic director Matt Bohm. Bohm said he usually he waits until the last possible minute to cancel an event. After hearing his routine after he does, I can see why.

"When we decide to cancel a game, I'm on the phone for a couple hours at least just letting everyone know," Bohm said.

After that, it's a few more hours of talking with coaches, officials and opposing ADs to find a new date that works for everyone.

"It's a nightmare when we have to do this," Bohm added. "But we try to anticipate it a little so that helps. Plus, personally, I like to be in the loop."

Down the road at Shawnee Mission Northwest, the rescheduling duties are delegated to a variety of people. In all, six different departments are in charge of lining up the make-up dates.

The coaches talk to their counterparts about dates that will work for each school. Northwest AD, Jeremy Boldra, gets involved here, as well. The findings are then taken to the AD for the Shawnee Mission School District, Rusty Newman, who coached baseball years ago and once saw an entire 20-game season crammed into two weeks.

In addition, athletics secretary Cheryl Horseman is in charge of coordinating the school's transportation needs, and the district's operations and maintenance department weighs in with its thoughts about field conditions. Officials at the 3&2 complex do the same for Northwest baseball.

Although the schools differ in the way they reschedule events, they both put the rescheduling priority on varsity events.

They also agree that the stretch of bad weather that has plagued the spring sports so far this season is as bad as it has been in quite some time.

Temperatures are expected to return to the 60s and 70s from here on out, but rain is in the forecast for five of the next eight days. Looks like the rescheduling squads at both schools should keep their cell phones handy.