Snow blanket, cold weather puts sports on ice

Today’s temperature of 35-37 degrees and the melting snow is a stark contrast to just six days ago, Jan. 19, when the high was five degrees with a wind chill between -13 to -30 degrees. The cold temperatures and snowfall, which resulted in four snow days, left athletes and fans with questions about the rest of the season. Throughout all swimming, wrestling, basketball and cheer levels, 14 different events and games were postponed because of the winter chaos. Out of these postponed events, two bowling meets were canceled indefinitely and one varsity basketball game against Omaha Northwest has the possibility of being canceled as well.
“The longer you go in the season, the less of the season you have to be able to make up for the cancellations,” Athletic and Activities Director Ryan Garder said. “Not only do you have less time to work with and have to make sure the rescheduled day works for your schedule, but you have to make sure it works for the opposing school as well.”
The varsity wrestling individual Metro Conference tournament at Bellevue East High School was originally scheduled for Jan. 13, but got pushed back to Jan. 15. For girl’s and boy’s varsity basketball, their game against Omaha Bryan on Jan. 11, got rescheduled to Feb. 13. The varsity bowling team originally had meets scheduled on Jan. 11, for the Bellevue East Dual and a Millard North Dual on Jan. 16, both of which will not be rescheduled. For swimming, there was a Millard North Invitational on Jan. 13, that was rescheduled to Jan. 20, and their Bellevue East Dual from Jan. 16, has yet to be rescheduled.
Not only did the snow days affect games, but they also impacted practices. With it being the winter season, all sports practice inside, so space is limited. Cheer, basketball and dance hold practices in the gym and when days get taken away, they have to find time to make up for it. The swim and bowling teams have also faced challenges trying to make up for lost time as they have had to work with the Gretna Crossing YMCA and the Bowlero, formerly The Mark, to schedule additional practice times.
“It’s tough because we have so many activities going on between dance, cheer, show choir, multiple basketball teams and wrestling,” Garder said. “We’re all kind of fighting for that same space.”
On top of the snow days, the fact that they led right into a scheduled day off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 15, made for an even longer stretch between practices.
“The long break away from the team was hard,” junior varsity basketball player, Cole Edwards said. “I could tell everyone was a bit rusty the day we came back.”
Fewer practices lead to fewer opportunities to grow as a team and an individual.
“We don’t want the last five weeks of the season to only be games and never practice,” Garder said. “I know that’s fun for students, but it doesn’t make us necessarily better.”