By Staff
Coaching Management, 9.3, April 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0903/bbvirginia.htm
In Virginia, some high school volleyball coaches face big changes come 2003 when their playing season will move from the winter to the fall. The change in seasons was announced on the heels of a recent court decision against the Virginia High School League (VHSL).
For years, the large-enrollment schools (Group AAA) in the VHSL have competed in girls’ volleyball during the traditional fall season, with girls’ basketball taking the court during the winter. The smaller-enrollment schools (Groups AA and A), meanwhile, have played volleyball during the winter and basketball during the fall.
This inconsistency, however, sometimes created problems for female student-athletes when their school was reclassified into a different enrollment group. For example, if a AA school was moved up to AAA, female athletes who participated in cross country in the fall and volleyball in the winter would be faced with both their sports occurring during the autumn season.
In response, a group of students filed a Title IX suit against the VHSL, claiming gender discrimination. They argued that while some girls’ sports were split into different playing seasons based on a school’s size, no boys’ sports were forced to do the same.
A U.S. District court sided with the students, finding that the League violated Title IX and the 14th Amendment of the Constitution by scheduling athletic seasons differently for girls than boys. After initially indicating they were going to appeal the decision, the VHSL announced in December that it will not.
Instead, it will revamp the schedules so that all Virginia high schools will play volleyball in the fall and basketball in the winter beginning with the 2003-04 school year. This timetable coincides with the next planned reclassification of divisions and districts based on enrollments.
“It became clear during discussion of redistricting and reclassification for the next cycle that there has been a significant shift in attitudes about the alignment of the seasons,” VHSL attorney Craig Wood said in an association newsletter. “In order to deal effectively with the problems of long-distance travel and missed class time while maintaining an emphasis on athletics, schools need the flexibility to schedule competition across group lines. That can be done only if seasons are aligned. There was no need to appeal the jury decision on seasons if the outcome was going to be the same at the end of the day.”
As a result, coaches at the smaller Virginia high schools will find themselves back in the gym a few months earlier than normal. “I think once we get adjusted, it will be the best thing for our programs, especially for the girls who are playing at a higher level,” says Cynthia Burnett, Head Volleyball Coach at New Kent High School, which won the Group A state title in 2000. “They can concentrate on their high school season during the fall and their club season during the winter.
“The first year will be tough,” she continues, “and then after that we’ll get used to it.”
The biggest change for these coaches will be starting the season before classes begin. “We’ll have to do more conditioning,” Burnett says. “Now we get the girls who have finished cross country and basketball, so they’re already in good shape when they come to us in November. When we start in August, they’ll have had the whole summer off and a lot of them will be out of shape.”
“Right now, most of my players participate in basketball camps during the summer to get ready for that season,” says Donnie Qualls, Head Coach of both the girls’ volleyball and basketball teams at Rye Cove High School in Clinchport. “With the rule change, that will probably switch around a little bit.”
“We’ll have to do a camp or open gym during the summer to get the girls excited, especially the eighth graders who will be coming out for volleyball for the first time,” Burnett adds. “I’ll probably send a letter home to touch base with them in the spring and make sure they get their physicals done.”
Although Burnett is optimistic about the change overall, she is concerned about the impact the move to the fall season will have on officiating. By playing in the winter, the smaller high schools in Virginia had little competition for officials. Once they move to the fall, they’ll be fighting with the larger high schools and colleges for the same officials they’ve been using for years.
It will also force some people to choose between officiating and coaching. “For example, my husband referees in the fall and coaches in the winter,” Burnett says. “Once we’re all playing in the fall, it’s going to cut down on the amount of good, experienced referees and coaches available.”
A similar lawsuit, which has not yet gone to trial, has been filed in Michigan, where all the high schools, regardless of size, play girls’ volleyball in the winter and girls’ basketball in the fall. The suit filed against the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) alleges that the association violates Title IX by scheduling girls’ sports outside of their traditional seasons. It also alleges inequities in scheduling and championship site selection.