By Staff
The Michigan High School Athletic Association on Wednesday received word that it had once again lost an appeal in its sports litigation case.
The MHSAA and a parents group out of Grand Rapids have been battling for nearly 10 years to get girls' basketball and girls' volleyball seasons switched.
We believe that it is time that a decision is made, which would be in the best interests of all student-athletes.
We don't want to take a side here at all.
Our job at the newspaper is to cover high school athletics whenever they are played.
We don't care if volleyball is played in the fall and basketball in the winter.
But after years of back-and-forth, we do believe that it is time to take a stance.
The MHSAA has put up a good battle defending the wishes of a majority of its member schools.
The state athletic association has put into place a plan to change its seasons.
Nearly all the conferences in Michigan have a plan in place should the decision be made to switch seasons.
So it is time to agree to disagree and get on with the process.
The state has 14 days to file for an en banc hearing, in which all the justices of the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals would hear the case, not just the panel of three.
Although appealing may be pointless because the court has now twice shot down the state athletic association.
The MHSAA said it was examining its options.
The state also said in its short statement that the 2006-07 school year would not be affected by this decision.
We feel that this coming school year, which is already under way athletically, should be used to prepare for the change in seasons.
Get the plans set in place and the schedules reworked.
The time is now to get the ball rolling.
Waiting will only cause more problems for schools.