The MHSAA board unanimously approved a contigency which will juggle the sports seasons in Michigan as early as next year.
The major changes would include girls basketball shifting to the winter and volleyball being played in the fall. Golf, tennis and soccer’s boys and girls seasons would flip-flop on the calendar as well.
‘We are not worried about it,? said Clarkston Athletic Director Dan Fife. ‘I would only be worried about finding officials for all those (basketball) games.?
The contingency plan will become a reality if the MHSAA loses its appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court.The lawsuit debates whether or not the old way of doing things discriminated against girls athletics.
Those who brought the lawsuit and others against Michigan’s current athletic calendar felt the girls exposure nationally was limited and therefore their chance to garner college scholarships diminished.
All of this started in 1998 with a federal lawsuit filed by Diane Madsen and Jay Roberts-Eveland, both Grand Rapids-area mothers of female athletes, in conjunction with their group, Communities for Equity.