Newsflash

The Florida High School Athletic Association's board of directors voted 15-0 Wednesday to rescind a policy that, due to budget restraints, would have reduced almost all sports schedules for the 2009-10 school year.

The FHSAA's decision leaves it up to individual school districts and high schools to decide just how long a season they are willing - and financially able - to schedule for each of their sports.

"Holy cow, it's huge," said Bishop Verot basketball coach Matt Herting. "With the cuts, it was almost impossible not to have big gaps in your schedule. You had no continuity. You had an open week and then one with three games, so this will give us the chance to balance it all back out."

Responding to a plea from cash-strapped school districts statewide, the FHSAA board approved the schedule reduction, known as Policy 6, in April. Under the plan, the maximum number of games for all sports except football and competitive cheerleading were cut by 20 percent on the varsity level and by 40 percent on the subvarsity level.

The plan drew the ire of coaches, parents and advocates of Title IX, a federal law prohibiting discrimination in school programs based on sex.

A group of six parents of female athletes - the Florida Parents for Athletic Equity - sued the FHSAA, arguing by exempting football from cuts, the association forced female athletes to bear an unfair share of the reductions.

Despite the result of Wednesday's vote, that lawsuit is still pending.

Just how much money Policy 6 would have saved school districts statewide is unknown. In fact, critics of the plan pointed out the FHSAA never did a financial study before approving the cuts.

For the 2009-10 school year, Lee County high schools each will receive $35,000 from the district for transportation, security and staffing costs for athletic events. That's $5,000 less than they received in 2008-09, an amount athletic directors said didn't cover their expenses.

"Just because we get the OK to go back to 25 games doesn't mean the district is all of a sudden going to find money to give to athletics," said Mariner High School athletic director Vito Mennona. "I really don't know what's going to happen."

"The key word is 'maximum,'" said Estero High School athletic director Jeff Sommer. "We don't have to play 25 games. Last year, with our budget crunch, most of my sports were already two or three games short to save on officiating and travel."

Another stumbling block will be adding as many as five games to fall sports such as volleyball, whose schedules are set.

"Everyone is going to be scrambling," said Fort Myers volleyball coach Stephanie Martin. "The problem is finding open dates now. You have holidays, and some football games are on Thursday nights, and you can't play four games in a week, so that will be the tough part. That and tracking down other coaches in the summertime.

"They could have decided this before school was out. That would have been helpful."

Volleyball player Kaitlin Holm already knew which games she wanted back. The Fort Myers High School senior wanted chances to face crosstown rival Bishop Verot and Class 5A rival Venice. The Green Wave had just one match scheduled with each school for the fall season.

Holm said those are always the most competitive games and her team learns the most when it faces tough competition.

"Playing more games is always more fun," she said. "When you're practicing as much as we are, you want to play as much as you can."

Mariner outfielder Daniel Alimonti is just as happy to have more opportunities to play after resigning himself to a shortened senior baseball season.

"You're representing your school and trying to take them as far as you can," he said. "The challenge of that and the rivals you develop makes high school different.

"It's my last year with these guys. I want to play as many games as I can."

by Dan DeLuca, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and Annabelle Tometich, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it