By Charles Hallett
staff writer

Rain. The enemy of high school sports. While many fall sports aren’t affected and many can play through rain, the weather has a major impact on spring sports and their season. This has been evident with the fickle weather this April. The girls varsity and JV tennis teams have both had their practices and matches cancelled three days in a row this week.

“Coaches are doing whatever they can with indoor practices,” Athletic Director Bob Wellman said. “Tennis can go to the tennis center and baseball and softball can use the batting cages in the gyms.”

All the cancellations and rain delays have been a major source of frustration for many coaches. Most games that are cancelled are cancelled for good; however, some can be made up later in the season.

“We will try to find other dates and reschedule matches and games,” Wellman said. “May could get very booked.”

Indoor practices are no substitute for real outdoor practice. Playing tennis indoors is very different from playing outdoors.

“There’s a difference between playing indoors and playing outside in the sun and wind,” girls varsity tennis coach Garrett Turner said.

Unlike many other sports, the weather has a major impact on tennis and when they can play.

“The court basically becomes like a sheet of ice and that can be very dangerous,” Turner said.

Being outside brings in a whole new set of variables. The tennis team is six weeks into their season and hasn’t had a single match yet. This inclement weather has also had an impact on team morale.

“You don’t feel like a team until you start competing, practice just gets old and you want to see where you stand against other schools,” Turner said.