Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Basic road warrior, by necessity

It's game time.

The umpire signals, and Basic High pitcher Jen Redding rocks and fires the first pitch of her team's Sunrise Division softball game versus Vo-Tech. It's Thursday and a handful of fans are in attendance, enjoying the bright sunshine.

Nothing out of the ordinary here.

Except it's 8 a.m.

Asbestos removal and renovation of the Basic High School building has forced the school's students and faculty to become temporary double-session tenants of Green Valley High School. The construction work, which began Jan. 2, is expected to be completed well in time for the start of the new school year in the fall.

In the meantime, co-habitation at another school has meant juggling team schedules for Basic athletic administrator Dan Reese.

Through a deal with the City of Henderson Parks and Recreation Department, the Wolves can play night home baseball games at Burkholder Field and softball at White Middle School on Tuesday and Friday. Any other day, the first pitch flies in the morning hours.

For the Lady Wolves, the schedule has meant just two games on their actual home field at Basic, the last of which was Thursday.

With the Basic school day running from 12:30 to 5:30 p.m., morning games in most cases begin at 8 a.m., while night action commences between 7 and 8:30 p.m. Not exactly the normal routine of an average prep athlete.

"The rationale is that my kids don't miss any school and the team we're playing just misses school twice since we play each team two times," Reese said. "Otherwise, if we played at the regular time in the afternoon my kids would miss school 18 days, and that's not educationally sound.

"When the seasons started we had a few problems because everybody's schedule was so different from what they were used to. We had a few kids who thought maybe they didn't have to come to school after the games, but we had a talk with them and it's worked out pretty well. It's hard to say if it's been a strain on them or not."

Basic softball coach Barbara Gillaspy agreed that early morning practices present problems for a coach, but said she was pleased with the players' efforts to date.

"This is the situation, there's no way out of it," Gillaspy said. "We just make the best of it."

Reese said sacrifices had to be made in order to conform to the different game and practice schedule. Basic will not host any track and field events (it usually holds two per year), and busing to practice is available for athletes in need of transportation.

"I think we're about where we expected to be," said Reese. "It doesn't seem to have had as much impact as it might have been. I've always said in this double-session equation the most flexible people are the kids.

Added Gillaspy: "My biggest fear going into this was that I wasn't going to be in the right place at the right time."

With work on Basic's building running ahead of schedule, Reese said everyone connected with the school is ready for the fall and a return home.

"Green Valley has been really great, and everyone has been real accommodating, but you want to get back home," he said.

At 9:50 a.m. Thursday, Basic's Sandy Herberg catches a pop-up for the final out in the Lady Wolves' 20-0 victory over Vo-Tech. It's time to head for home and the shower -- but not for long.

After all, the first bell rings in less then a few hours.

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