If it were possible to own a time slot, 4:30 p.m. on weekdays seemed to belong to Hawken soccer back in the day.
Heading to County Line Road to that soccer field in the back of the complex was a rite of passage.
A lot of meaningful matches transpired in daylight.
As they do, times evolved.
Turf was installed, including this version with a baseball diamond.
Lights eventually came to Walton Stadium next door, rendering afternoon matches obsolete.
It’s been years now, but it still doesn’t quite feel right to not see Hawken home matches at 4:30 p.m. on a weekday.
Every fall, I spend way too much time staring at my News-Herald coverage area master soccer match schedule.
Part of it is to ensure for my X nightly match scoreboard that the list is accurate. Part of it is to ensure match coverage is done with strategic targeting that maximizes windows to see as many coverage area sides as possible.
Enough time is spent staring at those lists to notice patterns.
Not to a point at which it’s memorized like a bad ‘B’ movie about a college mathematician.
Just enough to notice when reality changes over time.
A couple of interesting wrinkles are noticeable:
There are fewer weekday and Saturday matches, both of which seem a bit counterproductive.
In addition to Hawken, of course, several coverage area sides played their home matches at 4:30 or 5 p.m. for ages.
Gilmour did. Kirtland ventured to that back Recreation Park field for a while. Beachwood played at that field behind its middle school.
Lake Catholic has long flirted with dusk, shifting matches earlier as sunset gets earlier.
Cornerstone Christian, Andrews Osborne, Beaumont and University still play home matches in daylight, except when Cornerstone goes to Euclid or Beaumont heads to Denison Park.
Before the response becomes, “Well, duh …” — for the most part, the reason for playing during the day was obviously a necessity since these facilities didn’t or still don’t have lights.
As is well known, for example, Gilmour couldn’t have lights due to the bird sanctuary ordinance in Gates Mills.
Before most facilities had turf anyway, the idea of beating up the same grass field over and over with other sports and events was less tolerable. All the more reason to have Hawken play at that aforementioned familiar back field instead of the stadium.
There’s also logistics. Parents grumpy having to get out of work for their kids’ 4:30 p.m. match or getting a team on the road right after school is not ideal. Even on occasion.
Right at the top of the list, too, the notion of sports other than football getting primetime treatment is honorable.
Fewer sides contesting afternoon matches, though, still does feel like a missed opportunity.
Not to get into school funding woes — neither of us want that.
However, if cutting corners is a must for athletic departments because of school districts’ budget crunch, couldn’t afternoon matches be one solution?
Admittedly silly as it sounds, albeit with new lights being LED and consuming far less, wouldn’t afternoon matches as opposed to turning on the lights at night save a few bucks on an electric bill?
In an “every little bit helps” scenario, is it THAT silly to consider?
Next month, we have several local school districts seeking an earned-income tax increase at the polls.
The threat, should initiatives fail, range from more cuts to athletics and extracurriculars to further staff reductions to closing school buildings. Painesville City says it’ll close an elementary school. Willoughby-Eastlake says it’ll merge North and South into one combined high school.
But if and when it’s that serious — and voters on any side of the ideological spectrum demand fiscal responsibility regardless — wouldn’t saving on utility costs (again, silly as that sounds) be logical?
It could be a benefit. It provides student-athletes a unique experience beyond the standard 7 p.m.
Maybe with a rivalry match, have the students stay for a day after school, bus over the rival’s students and make a school-day event out of it.
And, not trying to delve into “well, duh …” territory again, but afternoon matches get everyone home faster on a school night. Which isn’t the most audacious thing to mention when, with conference splintering, road miles are longer than ever.
So much of this has been about weekdays. But Saturdays are less frequent as well.
Due to homecomings. Due to the fact many coaches and student-athletes can’t stand Saturday matches — seriously, ask them.
The problem is, football has vacated Saturdays, too, for the most part. If Sundays and Fridays are off limits, Mondays and Wednesdays are not heavy match days on the East Side (especially for boys matches) and you don’t care for Saturdays, that leaves Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Then we get days like that Thursday after Labor Day when a thunderstorm wipes out the schedule and you have to find somewhere else to mix in a postponed match. But where?
Or one like this past Saturday, where a bulk of the few matches taking place were pivoted to different kickoff times.
There’s a match, no names please, on Dragonfly right now listed with three different start times. (Don’t get me started on incorrect match info being out there in general, by the way.)
Boxing yourself in by believing soccer “must” be at night unless you can’t and Saturdays stink unless you must doesn’t leave much wiggle room.
But when you consider this outside the box, there is a decent case afternoon matches and Saturday matches aren’t all that bad.
In small increments, if you disregard it to that extent.
Basic approaches in an old-school era done due to necessity don’t necessarily have to be dismissed in a new-school era.
In fact, one could argue it’s forward thinking to incorporate some common-sense solutions from the old days to remedy some current problems.
The ownership of those afternoon slots might be up for grabs now as everyone opts for primetime.
But daytime might be a helpful answer right there in, well, broad daylight.