Coaches, athletic directors, officials and parents were dreading the season switch in girls' basketball from a fall to a winter sport.

With the girls’ volleyball season now over, the reality of the change is hitting all involved.

“Just take a look at any schedule for boys’ or girls’ basketball and you’ll see the difference,” said Glen Lake athletic director Paul Christiansen. Sitting behind the desk in his paper-filled office, Christiansen pulled out official team schedules.

“Between the start of the girls’ season next week and the end of February, there are only a few Saturdays when either the boys’ or girls’ varsity team won’t be playing a game. We have games scheduled for every day of the week, except Sundays,” he said.

With middle school boys’ basketball and junior varsity squads vying for game and practice time, one of the biggest adjustments for schools has been scheduling gym hours.

“We have six teams going right now. I told the coaches I didn’t want anyone in the gyms before 6:30 in the morning, so our first practice goes from 6:30-8 a.m., then after school from 3:30-7:30 p.m. I didn’t want anyone here after 9 p.m. either,” said Leland High School Principal Terry Breen.

Suttons Bay athletic director Cody Inglis said while scheduling practice time has been a challenge, he credits coaches, players and parents for being flexible and understanding.

“Our coaches are showing a lot of cooperation. The teams have had to do some rescheduling and really the impact has been felt the most by the parents and families adjusting to the new schedule,” he said.

Inglis said one of his biggest concerns is for officials, not so much this year as next. The Northwest Conference has signed agreements with all of its basketball officials for the 2007-08 season.

“In my mind you’ll have officials who have worked 40 to 50 games this season not wanting to go through that again next year,” he said.

Northwest and Cherryland conference schools have scheduled Saturday games to help alleviate the scheduling concerns. “The officials are a little more willing to work on Saturdays. I can’t say I’m too excited about being in the gym on just about every Saturday, but we’ve all had to make sacrifices,” Inglis said.

Inglis and Breen said having enough volunteers to staff ticket and concession counters is another challenge. “We will need people just about every night of the week and it’s not like we have a huge pool of people to draw from,” Inglis said.

Leland parents were invited to an information session Tuesday night to gauge interest in forming an athletic booster group. Breen said the main purpose for a booster club would be providing volunteers to help out at games. Another concern is the cost of game admittance. With teams playing different days of the week, all of the county’s teams have family passes available. Breen said he would like to see the conferences set up a conference family pass as well.

“Going to two or three games a week can get quite expensive over the season,” he said.

Both St. Mary and Northport schools have addressed problems with practice space and volunteers. The Wildcats have plenty of practice facilities and a good booster club to help out at games.

The St. Mary community refurbished the historic old gym across the street from the school to provide enough practice space for the basketball teams. Eagles girls’ coach Paula Korson said the transformation has been phenomenal. “They redid the floor, insulated the windows, it really helps with our gym space crunch,” she said.