Practical obstacles to changing seasons

<p>Forget athletic politics, where are we going to play?</p><p>Coaches, players and parents in the North Bay League have been asking that question since principals from the nine member schools voted to move soccer season from fall to winter beginning next year.</p><p>Montgomery, Piner and Santa Rosa have all-weather fields and Elsie Allen, Montgomery, Santa Rosa and Ukiah have lights. In addition, Rancho Cotate is expected to have its all-weather, lighted stadium ready for play next fall.</p><p>"It comes down to where do these kids train? You can't train on the same field that you play on because that will just tear it up with day-by-day use," Ursuline coach John Gilson said. "And in winter, basically every game is going to be played under lights."</p><p>With sunset around 4:45 p.m. in the winter, practices could require lights too.</p><p>At Montgomery, a school-board-issued use permit prohibits lights from being used more than 50 times a year -- 25 with more than 500 spectators and 25 with fewer.</p><p>In the current arrangement, with both soccer and football played in the fall, Montgomery hosts about 15 major and 15 minor events a year, athletic director Dean Haskins said.</p><p>Currently, varsity and junior varsity boys play soccer games on Tuesdays and Thursdays while girls play Wednesdays and Fridays. Factor in daily practice and football practices and space becomes scarce -- another reason some athletic directors thought moving soccer was a good idea, said Jake Fitzpatrick, the girls athletic director at Santa Rosa High.</p><p>"It's going to reduce the load on fall fields," he said, recalling the discussion.</p><p>Making more room for football was seen as a benefit by some directors, he said.</p><p>"I think that was definitely one of the driving factors," he said.</p><p>Cardinal Newman Athletic Director Nicki Limoges said with their natural grass, sharing a field between football and soccer is hard on everyone.</p><p>"Soccer is kind of tough for space," she said. "It makes sense practice-wise and facility-wise to have them separate."</p><p>But she acknowledged that the school's field would take a beating in a wet winter.</p><p>"At Newman, for sure we have a facilities issue because we have a real field, we have grass," she said. "But soccer doesn't tear it up half as bad as football. If it rains all week, we will have to try to do something different. We would have to look into renting a field."</p><p>Even on campuses with all-weather fields, the varsity squads are likely to monopolize the turf. Coaches questioned how they would encourage younger players to try out for soccer if junior varsity is relegated to sloppy side fields or the tennis courts.</p><p>"I think the program might eventually fall apart if it goes to winter," Santa Rosa High School girls coach Nicole Miller said.</p>