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The two high school athletic directors now face the "aligned" scheduling world of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, after the United State Supreme Court ruled not to hear a pending case, to determine whether or not the organization should force schools to align sports seasons with college. The effort was started almost 10 years ago, in belief of giving female athletes a more fair opportunity to receive athletic scholarships, by moving the high school sports seasons to coincide with the colleges.

Ask these two guys and "fair" wonÕt likely be used to describe it. Neither athletic director from Kalkaska county thinks the decision by federal law, to change the sports seasons in Michigan, will create more problems than itÕs solving.

"I donÕt like it," said Swoverland, athletic director for Kalkaska High School. "I donÕt think it helps the girls, I think it hurts them."

Carey, at Forest Area, agrees.

Ò"t will be a challenge," Carey said. "For districts with only one gym, having to service so many practices and games will be hard."

The changes, coming for the 2007-08 season, include moving girls basketball to winter, volleyball to fall and shuffling tennis and golf seasons. Both athletic directors were quick to point out, the potential problems with having two varsity basketball teams vying for gym space.

"Having two teams after that gym space for practices and games will be a challenge for us," Carey said. "One gym and two teams, it will take a lot of understanding and effort to make the situation work."

Swoverland raised another pair of concerns, already facing high school sports.

First, is the apparent lack of quality officials. He says there already is difficulty in finding enough officiating now, let alone when two basketball seasons are running concurrent.

"WeÕre already at a shortage for officiating, and these people were working 2-3 days per week," Swoverland said. "Now weÕll be asking them to do 3-4 days for basketball."

And while the health of girls athletics was meant to be in the balance, for the group that initiated the lawsuit against the MHSAA, Swoverland sees negatives for them.

"IÕm afraid girls are going to get short-changed when it comes to coverage," Swoverland said. "Now volleyball will be competing on Saturdays against college football on television and any schools that have Saturday football games.

"And before, womenÕs basketball coaches from college, could come and watch the girls play, after the college season ended," Swoverland said. ÒNow, those college coaches will be struggling to get to games, because the season runs with theirÕs."

Most athletic leagues have had back-up plans ready, in the event the season schedule needed to be juggled. Their contingency plans are now the focus, as athletic directors try to button-down their scheduling.

"We will need to fill in some spots for out-of-conference games," Swoverland said. "So there will need to be some time spent, to get next yearÕs schedule in order. But the contingency plan was in place, so we donÕt have to start from scratch."

And, he says there are a few silver linings in the cloud.

"On the plus side, our schedules will align with colleges and volleyball players will have the ability to play AAU in the winter,Ó"Swoverland said.