Rain, snow hurting playing fields
By: Bob Nuse
High school athletic directors expect a certain amount of inconvenience when it comes to spring weather. But this spring, well, enough is enough as far as they’re concerned.
"No question this is one of the worst springs we’ve had," said Marty Flynn, the Director of Athletics for the West Windsor-Plainsboro School District. "A lot of it has to do with the fact that we had a bad winter and the fields were never really able to recover. Our maintenance people are great at getting the fields ready to play, but this season has been tough because of the snow and cold from the winter. They never really had a chance to get out there and do everything they needed to do. And then the season starts and everyone wants to get out there, but it’s tough."
Many teams were able to play through the off and on rain of last week. But with heavy snow blanketing the area on Monday, who knows that this week will hold.
"I’ve already talked to some of the other ADs and, even though we have some open dates on Tuesday and Wednesday, we figured why try to get them in before we know what this will be like," Flynn said. "It makes it real tough on the kids. Spring is such a short season to begin with. It starts and before you know it, it’s Memorial Day. It’s a pretty packed schedule to begin with and then you try to squeeze in a lot of make-ups and you wind up with games three, four or five times in a week."
Wet fields and rainy conditions are nothing new in spring sports. But this year, with the heavy snowfall, it’s been tough to catch up.
"You always have rain and wet fields in the spring, that’s what happens in March and April," Montgomery High athletic director Tony Maselli said. "But this winter was particularly bad and the fields weren’t able to recover. We had snow and then they froze and when they melted, there was nowhere for the water to go.
"For the longest time we still had bleachers in our softball outfield, but we weren’t able to get them off of there because the tractor couldn’t get on the field because it was so wet. Our lacrosse field is already in bad shape just from the two games we’ve had on it already. But you don’t want to push back too many games because then you have to deal with rescheduling and having to cancel non-league games."
All of which makes a spring season with rain and snow tough to deal with for players, coaches and administrators.
"A lot of people don’t like the winter season because of the late hours," Flynn said. "But I really think the spring is the toughest to deal with because of the weather problems and all the rescheduling you need to do. We’re lucky here because we have a lot of great coaches who understand what the situation is like. They weren’t able to get out on the fields during March and now they’re not able to play. But they are able to adjust and do a real good job with that.
"I was a spring coach so I know how hard it is to deal with all of the problems that the weather presents. But there isn’t much we can do about it when the snow comes like this in April."
Especially when it follows a winter like the one that has just concluded.
"This was really like a double hit," Maselli said. "Usually if you have a rough winter you hope that the spring brings some better weather and the fields get a chance to dry out and recover. We have not had that stretch of a week or so with decent weather that has allowed the fields to recover.
"Our guys are out there doing the best they can and they do a great job. But these are pretty tough conditions to have to deal with."
This spring, all of the coaches, players and teams are in the same boat.

