Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 22, 1993 TAG: 9310220093
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"Hallelujah!" said Carla Giles, Martinsville High School's coach, when told about the vote. "When we're playing in the fall, we don't have to worry about where we're going to practice or what time we'll practice. It's just two girls' teams [varsity and junior varsity] and you don't have to compete with four boys' teams for gym space.
"If we had gone to the winter, girls would have been in the back seat again with no one at their games."
Salem's Dee Wright said, "I think it's where it should be right now. I didn't think we needed the change. Most Division I schools know basically who they're going after by a player's senior year because of AAU ball and summer camps. So I don't think it affects recruiting."
Wright, who has helped coach at Division III Roanoke College, says small colleges might benefit because coaches at those schools, who often teach or have part-time jobs, now have a chance to see prospects before their own practice starts.
Two college coaches - Virginia Tech's Carol Alfano and Virginia's Debbie Ryan - didn't agree with their high school counterparts.
"I can't change how they feel," said Ryan, a member of the Governor's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, which urged that the state to have all of its girls' basketball programs play during the winter.
"I don't think that [making my job harder to recruit] was as much a concern as it is that they're [Group A and AA teams] playing out of season and there aren't any boys' [teams] playing out of season.
"It seems like the women are always moved out, and according to Title IX [federal guidelines on gender equity], they shouldn't always be moved out."
Mary Copenhaver, George Wythe High School's coach, says the issue is a more practical one.
"I guess everything would be simpler if everything was the same, but I definitely think we'll have more practice time," Copenhaver said of playing in the fall.
"We have one gym at Fieldale-Collinsville, and it would be very, very difficult to move girls' basketball to the winter," said Marcia Mincer, the Cavaliers' coach. "It's already difficult because the junior varsity [volleyball] practices at another school [during the winter]."
Ryan doesn't buy that argument, or the feeling among many high school coaches that girls' basketball gets more publicity in the fall than it would in the winter.
"Every other state gets it done and we won't," the UVa coach said. "That's not a good statement to make, but that's the way I feel."
Virginia is the only state that has a split season for girls' basketball. Four states - West Virginia, Michigan, South Dakota and North Dakota - play all girls' basketball in the fall.
Alfano is all for unification.
"I personally don't care if it's fall or winter," the Hokies' coach said. "I think there should be a lot of hoopla around here so everyone knows they're playing in the fall.
"I was at a game with a coach from North Carolina. We were talking about a school in a different part of the state, and she didn't know whether that school played fall or winter ball."
Copenhaver agreed, to a point.
"I guess everything would be simpler if everything was the same," the George Wythe coach said, "but I definitely think we'll have more practice time [in the fall]."
William Byrd's Richard Thrasher was one of the few area high school coaches who favored a move to the winter when a survey was taken in the spring.
"I can live with it either way," he said Thursday. "I prefer to do what most other states do. But there are good reasons to play in the fall. We have a lot of tradition to play in the fall. That's what kids seem to be used to around here, so there's nothing wrong with fall ball."
by CNB