Changes in the air

Fall preseason kickoff schedule undergoes some modifications

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

High school sports across Southern Maryland are also undergoing change with the onset of the fall campaign that coincides with the start of another academic year.

Most notably within the Southern Maryland Athletic Conference ranks is the change in bylaw of the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association –– the governing body of public high school sports in the state –– that mandates the start of the preseason for fall sports.

In the past, the preseason always began on Aug. 15.

That date is no longer etched in stone as the startup to the fall’s preseason.

Beginning this year, the MPSSAA has stated in its altered bylaw that fall’s preseason will commence the sixth Saturday following the first full week of July. Thus, a Saturday in August will always serve as the official first day of the fall preseason campaign instead of whatever day of the week, excluding Sunday, that Aug. 15 fell on in past years.

Generally, the proper Saturday will be the one closest to Aug. 15.

This summer, the newly enacted bylaw means the preseason begins on Aug. 16 –– instead of that Friday before as in the past when Aug. 15 served as the standard. The regular season begins Sept. 5 this year.

In 2009, Aug. 15 will actually be the fall kickoff as it falls on the right Saturday with Sept. 4 opening the regular season.

Aug. 14, 13 and 11 will open the door to the fall season in 2010, 2011 and 2012, respectively, coinciding with the regular season beginning on Sept. 3, 2 and Aug. 31 of those years, respectively.

‘‘The positive is that you start on Saturday each year instead of a day during the week, so everybody knows that Saturday marks the start,” Westlake athletic director and head football coach Dom Zaccarelli said. ‘‘People schedule summer vacations from week to week, so we shouldn’t have as many athletes not there for the start of practice [under the new bylaw]. I think this is going to be better in the long run.”

The announcement was publicized April 1, explaining the Maryland State Board of Education’s approval of the MPSSAA proposal to modify the start date to the fall season.

The new bylaw enables the regular season to begin each year on the first weekend in September and end by the first weekend in December, according to the MPSSAA, as the final date of the county, conference, district, regional or state tournament concludes the fall.

Additional benefits of adopting the standardized Saturday kickoff to the fall preseason, according to the MPSSAA, is it significantly reduces conflicts with winter sport tryouts for many schools, ends football season a week earlier most years, enhances scheduling opportunities with neighboring states and shortens the sports season by a few days for all sports teams.

Despite such perks of the new schedule, the seemingly slight change will take some time for certain teams and coaches to get accustomed to.

‘‘I’m looking to see if our [player] numbers will be different since a lot of people aren’t aware of the date. It’s been [Aug.] 15th forever,” said Huntingtown head volleyball coach Shari Turner, whose program has been the Class 3A state runner-up the last three years. ‘‘We lose a whole day [of practice this year under the new bylaw versus the former schedule], and I don’t like that too much. You start and you have to stop, because you’re not allowed to practice on Sunday.”

She added: ‘‘I’m sure the reason was pure [in passing the new bylaw], because the 15th can fall on whatever day of the week. But it just made sense to me to keep the same date [of Aug. 15]. I guess I’m just not a fan to start on a Saturday, then have nothing on Sunday, then restart on Monday. You lose some connectivity with starting practice. It seems like you have two starting dates to preseason practices.”

Other modifications to the Southern Maryland athletic landscape this fall are the brand new varsity life of St. Mary’s Ryken football and Waldorf’s Potomac Ridge Golf Course getting selected as the site for this year’s state golf tournament on Oct. 21-23. University of Maryland’s greens in College Park, the usual location for the state gathering, is closed for a year beginning July 1 for course upgrades.

Ryken’s first-year program, which began two seasons ago as a freshman unit, hits the practice fields beginning today to prepare for its inaugural gridiron varsity season.

‘‘There is a lot of buildup, our kids are really excited,” Ryken athletic director Mike Vosburgh said. ‘‘We don’t know what to expect since we’ve never played varsity football before. Our whole community is very excited about this.”

Last year, Ryken’s junior varsity team went 6-3.

The varsity schedule includes four Washington Catholic Athletic Conference opponents and six outside Ryken’s league.

The selection of Potomac Ridge for the state gathering could have positive ramifications locally, because it is the home course of Westlake.

And many other SMAC teams –– which perennially feature state contender La Plata –– are also familiar with the course.

‘‘I think any time a state championship is held at a home course, there are benefits [for the home team],” Zaccarelli said. ‘‘Just like the cross county [state meet at Hereford High School] is an advantage for Hereford, its works the same way for golf. But there are only two sports that have a home course for a state championship.”

Westlake is not projected as a state contender this year.

Zaccarelli noted that football –– especially at the junior varsity and freshman levels –– will be impacted from the change in the preseason startup date to the fall.

The first available regular season play date is 20 days from the first day of practice, falling on Sept. 5 this year.

Usually junior varsity and freshman games are played on Thursdays during the season, but the first Thursday in September will not be 20 days from the Aug. 16 first practice date. So the junior varsity and freshman games will be moved to Saturday in Week 1 and then resume their Thursday-heavy schedule from there.

Football teams are only allowed to play one game per week, unless approved for exceptional circumstances, but Zaccarelli said five days between games is satisfactory. There is another Saturday game for junior varsity and freshman teams scheduled during the season for schools within the SMAC.

‘‘Teachers report on Aug. 18 this year, and usually they don’t report until after two or three days of two-a-days [practices],” Zaccarelli said. ‘‘The [new preseason startup] could bump everything back –– that’s kind of the weakness of the whole thing. Other than that, it makes sense.”