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1
When is the best placement for the IHSAA baseball season? Baseball’s current regular season and postseason runs nine weeks (May 15-July 21, 2023).
2
We need to keep baseball the same. We already had kids miss games from spring sports. Making a kid pick between golf soccer, track and then baseball would be terrible.
3
None
4
Any other time period conflicts with Track, Golf, Soccer and Tennis. Iowa weather would cause cancellations more often than not.
5
Moving Iowas season earlier, but not all the way earlier will have a negative effect on baseball in our state. College level players will miss out on significant playing opportunities if their high school season is late March- early June or mid April - late June. Other states have established legion seasons/ programs for their top level players. Iowa undoubtedly would add legion programs but I fear that some of the top players would elect for 60-70 game summer seasons instead of an abbreviated high school season + a month long legion season.
6
Better weather
Bigger crowds (who wants to watch a baseball game in 30-40 degree weather)
No other sports going on (Inseason)
Kids get the opportunity to play 4 sports
Better coaching (more time with kids)
7

I don’t know what they are trying to fix/change. At the 1A level we offer golf, track, soccer, and we also have trap shooting. Of the 29 players I had out for baseball, only 3 didn’t compete in another spring sport. To continue to offer these other sports we can’t add another option to the mix. I sacrifice some practice time to allow our students to be more well-rounded and compete in as many things as they can. It’s what makes Turkey Valley, Turkey Valley. Now I know 1A schools aren’t on their radar, they have proven that with games being allowed the week of state track and district golf.
8
If you moved dead week to a week later, it would allow more time between spring and summer sports while also allowing baseball and softball to have their time.
9
Baseball in small town Iowa is not going to be able to survive if we move baseball up to the spring. It is in the best interest of our sport to keep it as is. This allows the state to showcase its best athletes in the sport of baseball. If the season were to move up we will lose very good baseball players in the state of Iowa as they will choose another sport possibly.
10
None
11
Moving the season up would cause athletes to pick either baseball or spring sports
12
I think baseball in Iowa is best where it currently is. Adding another sport to the spring will wreck havoc on multi-sport kids and force them to choose — is that’s what best for the kids?
13
Cory McDonald, New Hampton: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Not only is it not broken, it is a "only-state-in-the-nation" tradition to be preserved and protected.
14
Mid may thru late July makes the most sense in terms of getting max participation as baseball is the only sport that has to compete with other sports overlapping
15
Do not make the season shorter
16
Schools, especially small schools or schools with low baseball numbers already have to battle with overlapping golf/track/soccer at the start of the year. If season is moved earlier then some athletes may be forced to choose between sports.
17
I am tired of all the overlap and other sports taking time away from baseball. It is time to put baseball as a priority and play baseball when it is time to be played. Move other spring sports in Iowa to the time most NFHS states play their sports. Golf and soccer in the fall!
18
As a 1A school, either the baseball program, or the springs sport programs will have a decrease in participation numbers is the season gets moved away from its current schedule. If the student-athletes have to make a choice, and we add a sport to a season that already has more sports than any other season, it only stands to reason that one or more sports are going to see a decrease in participation.
19
It is the only way to keep kids out for as many spring sports as possible. Moving to earlier in the year will create more conflict
20
I like where we are at with the season. With the extra contact days that have been included the last few years I think we are in the sweet spot for the season.
21
There is zero doubt in my mind due to weather and other sports this is the best option
22
I know it may be hard to get umps in April but I think this option is the best of both worlds.
23
Love the current format.
24
I’m not sure this would have to change much. But for the season to already be as short as it is, it's hard to get more games in and have sufficient time to actually practice with your team. Allowing it to go to mid/late july allows you to spread out the games more and have some practices during the week. In order to actually develop players skills that needs to happen. Right now it feels like you almost just manage games and don't have any time to help players develop.
25
We have something very special going for us right now in Iowa. There is nothing like a summer night of high school ball in Iowa. It is an outstanding tradition. Baseball is meant to be played in warm weather and in the summer. We will degrade the importance of the high school game in Iowa by moving it to the spring or earlier in the summer. The games will be lower quality when the weather is cold. With the weather in Iowa, we would not even be able to consistently get games in until early May at the earliest. When the season ends, players will be forced to find expensive travel ball programs in order to make the most of their summer baseball experience. These programs skew largely in favor of those with immense wealth due to the extremely high cost of travel baseball these days. Just because other states are doing things one way by playing in the spring, does not mean that we should do it that way too. Just because a bunch of people do things one way does not mean that they are doing it the right way. We do not need to be like everybody else. Iowa has it right. Summer baseball also allows for more kids to participate in track & soccer in addition to baseball. By moving baseball to the spring, we would damage not only baseball, but also track and soccer due to competition for athletes. We would also likely have even more of an issue finding umpires, as colleges are also needing umpires for their games in March, April, & May. We would take away from the importance and excitement of town and community athletics in favor of travel organizations and pay for play programs in the summer. At the end of the day, it is clear that summer baseball is best for the kids. Summer baseball is special. We have a great thing going right now with summer baseball, I do not understand why there is a push to change it and ruin something great.
26
Spring will create many issues some known and many unknown, it will directly effect track and soccer but golf could be moved to the fall. None of the seen or unforeseen issues will be worse than trying to get a baseball season in under the current system. Our season is six week with two weeks of prep that are already overlapping the current spring championship season. Which means most small school like ours that shares athletes doesn’t get to be a full squad until week three or four of the season and we have to navigate keeping guys healthy, getting the ready, all while managing summer camps and obligations. We lose on average 3-5 kids to summer other sport commitments and 3-5 due to work and if you look around our conference, the upper class men athletes are the minority on most squads. The change would be difficult but all the other states have it figured it… I’m sure we could as well.
27
Moving it up even earlier will only increase our umpire shortage, force a lot of coaches out of the game, and decrease the ability to high school athletes to play as many sports as normal...along with 100 other reasons moving it would not be good.
28
I think we’d get more kids to play if it was earlier in the year. We lose a couple kids each year who either want to get a job or focus on another sport during the Summer.
29
State done by or near 4th of July
30
Limiting the number of games down to 30 limits the programs that have taken the time to develop the players to pitch at the varsity level. Most programs do an excellent job self policing the number of games they play based on the pitching that they see they have for that upcoming year. You are only hurting the players if you limit the games.
31
A slightly earlier season can ensure that the state tournament is completed by the 4th of July.
32
I had 16?kids grades 8-12 this season. We played 24 varsity game (3 rainouts) and played 16 JV games. 4 guys had to play both. The rule is 40 games per kid if I’m not mistaken. If we went to less games it would be really tough for kids to get enough games to make it worthwhile for all the time we put in.
33
As a 1A school, moving the season to the spring would dramatically impact the numbers for not only baseball, but all the spring sports as well. Additionally, field conditions in the spring would be much more difficult to manage and maintain.
34
Start game the week after State track. Move dead week to first week of August no sports need a camp week. The rest of the year there are not camp weeks for other sports. They can practice all summer they don't need a camp week
35
Start games week after State Track and MOVE DEAD WEEK a week later (1st Week of August). No Sports need a Camp week as that doesn't happen the rest of year.
36
I like it the way it is.
37
We would lose track athletes if we moved the season at all.
38
I would actually prefer that the season still started the week after state track, but I am fine with how it is now because teams have the choice whether they want to play or not. At a school my size having it any earlier than that could actually cause the end to a schools track team or baseball team. There simply would not be enough athletes to compete in both.
39
Too much overlap with spring sports to have season any earlier in the spring.
40
We have to get to many games in a short amount of time. We usually lose time to track because of state.
41
I love summer baseball, I would be ok with starting games a week or two earlier.
42
Are we moving Track?
43
Small schools are losing an entire week of potential games at the start of the season due to most of our athletes competing at the state track meet. Please consider moving the first week of official games back to after the state track meet.
44
We will lose players to golf, soccer and track.
45
This allows Iowa High School Baseball to stay where it belongs. In the summer! It also avoid conflict with spring sports and encourages multi-sport athletes. Playing more games during the school year is a daunting task for many schools and conferences with a lot of travel.
46
Far to many conflicts with spring sports as it currently stands, moving the season up would only create more issue’s especially in smaller schools where competition within programs is already a problem.
47
1. There are already a ton of spring sports, we don't need to move baseball up and interfere with all of those other opportunities.

2. There are many college players and coaches that serve as assistant coaches or head coaches during the summer. Moving up the season would remove the opportunity for our athletes to be coached by these qualified individuals.

3. Many of our great umpires are also college umpires. Moving up the season would remove these guys from much of the high school season.

4. All of our lower level games are umpired by alumni who now play in college. These guys wouldn't be able umpire these games if they took place in the spring.

5. The weather is so much more favorable for baseball during the summer. Many games would be rained/snowed out if we moved the season up.

6. Baseball is a great sport and playing high school baseball in the summer in Iowa is special. Don't change something that is already great!
48
I believe the Summer baseball season keeps student athletes connected to their school and classmates through the Summer. Travel ball in the summer in for students who have the talent AND money to be able to play. If you are lacking either of those you have no options if Summer baseball gets taken away. Without a school option in the Summer many of those students, especially in low income school districts will be at an increased risk of finding trouble throughout the summer.
49
Moving the season up created massive chaos due to multi-sport athletes having to compete in spring sports will also trying to prepare for a summer sport. It is a disaster for the kids and created un-needed animosity between spring and summer coaches.
50
Soccer, golf and track can be moved up easily to follow wrestling/basketball. Recently baseball was moved up but the other sports didn’t move. I love baseball in the summer but we are continuing to get squeezed by other sports in all directions. I would appreciate a no-contact time period during the month of June from the other sports. Currently, my players go to football/XC workouts and then basketball/wrestling workouts before 10 AM and that goes along with their lifting. At no other point in the school year are our athletes asked to do that.
51
Overlapping is already a mistake and has put numerous kids in a position of having to chose between track and Baseball/Softball late in the year. Kids and coaches should not be put in this situation.
52
The later season allows players to participate in spring sports and summer baseball.
53
Summer allows kids to not have to compete with other sports. If we had to play in spring, weather would not allow us to get many games in at all as well as having to compete with many other sports. Small schools would not have enough athletes to go around.
54
Summer baseball allows our student-athletes and community enjoy the sport in weather that baseball is meant to be played in. The conflicts that already exist between baseball, track, soccer, golf, and tennis during the spring season hurt smaller schools enough already. Baseball in the spring would force students to choose and we would lose some of our best athletes. Summer baseball allows our sport to shine and we need to take pride in being the only state that does it. We do it right.
55
Having summer baseball is what makes Iowa great. If we move baseball up and cut the number of games we are taking the game for the most part out the school districts and putting it in the hands of club/ travel ball. ending some traditions that small and some large schools have had. moving track further into the baseball season why would they go out for such a short season so they will just go to club/travel ball so conference, substate and state contests will be meaningless. We already make the kids pick between spring and summer sports enough they will kill one program or another.

some kids still need the structure and team that a school organized sport provides even in the summer. This is also Iowa we have a lot of small communities where economically club/ travel ball is not doable. School activities should always be an option for for Iowa children.
56
Only Change should be not playing week of July 4th for Districts.
57
What sports would be moved if you were going to move baseball to a spring time sport?
58
I would love to see the season stared later, to allow for spring sports to wrap up, and allow baseball to have practices with all of their participants. We had 2 practices with all players before our first game.
59
We will take away opportunities for our student athletes. We will force them to make a decision between one sport or another. There are very few schools that get the opportunity to have baseball only guys. Iowa has set the standard on producing multi-sport kids that learn and develop differently than other kids from other states. We would be doing a dis service to our student athletes by moving the dates of summer baseball. Weather also becomes a huge issue for a spring games. We are not college that have the opportunity to play on turn fields each week. Most of our fields will not be safe enough to play on in April. Playing baseball in 40-degree weather is not very fun for anyone involved with the game.
If things are going to change, Iowa High School baseball will almost go away at that point. We will lose the top end of the players as they will just play club ball to prepare them for college. This would be a major mistake by the powers to be to make any type of change.
60
It would be best to limit spring sports as much as possible with conflicting with HS baseball. Moving the season up a week to cause conflicts with the week of state track should be avoided.
61
We already have multiple sports competing against each other in May. Moving the baseball season to spring will cause kids to choose and hurt the participation numbers in each sport for the smaller schools.
62
I believe the ideal would be this: Bring the start date of official practice to mid-April (2 weeks sooner), and start games by early May. Do not change the end date. This will allow for better, improved health of varsity players by allowing more practice and game-rest time week to week during the regular season game schedule.
63
The only way to move baseball to the spring would be to move other sports in the spring to the fall. This includes soccer, golf, tennis, etc. the overlap would not work for small schools with multi sport athletes.
64
I personally would like for soccer and track and golf to not run into baseball season the way it already does. Some kids aren’t at a practice till we start games. Track, Soccer golf - one of those or two should be a fall sport.
65
You will KILL our program. It will not exist. Along with MANY other small school programs.
66
Keep the integrity of the sport!
67
Either where is at or mid April through June, but no earlier than that.
68
Moving earlier will cause more conflicts with spring sports athletes as well as putting baseball players in position to choose between high school baseball and club baseball.
69
Summer baseball needs to stay.
70
No way you can move baseball up.
To many other spring sports.
Baseball will lose lots of kids to other sports
Can’t have kids deciding on which sporting event they should attend.(example do I go to my soccer game, tennis meet, track meet, or to the baseball game).
71
If you start any sooner then you run into more bad weather. Then you have to try to make up games. With the umpire pool decreasing it makes it a nightmare for AD’s to schedule and find umpires.
72
I believe that summer baseball makes the most sense for Iowa High Schools. Not only has summer baseball in Iowa been a tradition since 1946--it provides the best opportunity for our student-athletes to compete at a high level. Under the current baseball schedule of 2 weeks of practice at the beginning of May before your first competition date--there are numerous conflicts with spring sports before the first date of competition. Having State Track coincide with the first week of baseball competition dates is already difficult enough to try to navigate, and I believe that if we move the season away from the season those difficulties will only be amplified.

Additionally, if the season were to be moved away from the summer, smaller schools in the state would not be able to field a team due to the fact that in many smaller schools the student-athletes that participate in baseball are also involved in some type of spring sport whether it be track, soccer, tennis or golf. All spring sports programs would suffer under that arrangement--not just baseball.

The other reason that I believe baseball should remain in the summer is the concern over weather. Spring weather in Iowa is so erratic that it would make playing a full schedule nearly impossible. Anyone who has ever been involved with spring baseball at any level in Iowa would say that March and April are difficult from a weather perspective. It's usually raining, the field is too wet to play, or it's simply too cold to play baseball. Nobody is interested in watching a doubleheader in the evening in early April when its 40 degrees, windy and cold. In addition to that, with school still going on in the spring, nobody will be available to work on the field during the day to make it playable for a game later that evening leading to more rainouts.

Iowa High School Baseball is special, I think, in large part because of the fact that it is the only activity going on in the summer that is affiliated with the school. In my opinion, the season getting moved would be a travesty that would have significantly more negative consequences than positive.
73
Regular season 2023 ran May 15 - July 6 which is actually 7 weeks and 3 days. The details provided in the question are false and very misleading.
74
Baseball and the summer is iconic with Iowa. I would hate to see that change. I also believe especially for smaller schools moving the season would negatively impact not only baseball numbers but numbers for other conflicting sports.
75
Keep the season where it is at, to many conflicts with other activities in spring. Need to start practices sooner-April
76
We typically have multiple athletes in other sports in the spring.
77
Weather and participation. If you change baseball to any of the other seasons listed you will hurt track / golf participation in our school, you may kill a baseball program in another school. Our team plays spring baseball on the weekends leading up the start of our season (end of March - Early May). There are years where we are lucky if we play half of the games scheduled during that time due to weather. Eliminate the season overlap with Track, shorten track by one week. Leave the season where it is on the current schedule.
78
I think the season, as it is, gives schools the best chance to share athletes with spring sports. As it sits right now, it's still difficult. A lot of schools we played had trouble getting kids to practice/games early in the season because of spring sports. My team had 5 players to go state track, which meant we were missing 5 starters the first week of the season. The next week, we had games the first 4 days so we had 7 games before we had a full practice. Everyone's in the same boat so it's fine, but moving the season earlier would really hurt every spring/summer sport at our size of school. Scheduling games opposite spring sport games/meets would eliminate practices for every dual sport athlete. I just don't see how the season could move to an earlier. Having taught at a small school in Nebraska, they eliminated baseball because of this and I worry about this happening in Iowa as well. A lot of schools we played this year didn't have enough players for a JV, which has been rare in recent history because participation numbers are down. There's no way it could help those schools get more kids out and field a quality team.
79
Leave the seaason as is.
80
Too many games not enough arms to pitch.
81
I just don't like how it goes so late. I have young kids of my own and it's hard to make time and see them let alone have any what of a summer left when you aren't done until mid June and then another school year rolls around.
82
A hybrid of playing half the games during school and the other half in the summer
83
Todays kids have way more on their plate. Not only do they want to play this sport but they also want to go to camps , vacation, etc. if they had the month of July, to do these things it will hopefully prevent them from missing during the season which has happened to me many many times. The question is would - area colleges then wait to have their camps until July and /or orientations.
84
Done by July 4th
85
You will get rid of small town baseball, if you move the season. I know almost every team in 1a-2A will be heavily effected.
86
Moving the season up a little bit should get more kids out in our district who do not want to give up their entire summer. Kids are able to do 2 sports that is already proven by our current model. It would help with recruiting as well.
87
Multi-sport athletes need a chance to compete in one season at a time. Baseball already takes it on the chin for practice time, hardly any schools have practice where all the members of the team are present at the same time. This does not happen in any other sport. If baseball/softball gets moved earlier, this would create a snowball effect for numerous sports. Our school simply wouldn't be able to provide transportation for another sport in the spring. Iowa used to be proud to be the only summer state playing baseball. We provided that model for others to use because we thought it was right. I'm not sure what changed. Administrators? Most do not come to games, they don't do field work, and they definitely don't ask the coaches or players what they prefer.
88
I think we have something very special in Iowa where we have a summer season to ourselves. I fear that moving things earlier into the spring will cause us to run into more conflicts with track/soccer/golf/tennis. Although big schools may be able to be okay, I know we would struggle to keep kids out if we played in the spring, and we could be in trouble with the weather constantly.
89
Only way it works with the spring sports!
90
by starting earlier the quality of play will suffer
91
Mid May through Late July is the best as it doesn't interfere with Spring sports or the questionable March and April Iowa weather. If the season starts before May our school simply won't have track as the baseball players would chose baseball over track.
92
If you move to spring you will for current spring athletes to choose 1 or the other instead of being able to compete and enjoy multiple sports. Track, golf, and soccer already take up a healthy portion of the beginning of baseballs practice season. Forcing kids to give up on 1 sport instead of the option to play both, I believe, is a disservice to the kids, and that’s the reason we all do this in the first place.
93
Baseball should play as much on the summer as possible.
94
Moving the start will make kids have to choose between track, soccer, golf (at smaller schools), tennis and baseball. Our current setup allows student-athletes to play as many sports as they want and allows coaches from multiple sports to work together to give our student-athletes they best high school experience possible. While moving our end date earlier only benefits other sports. If we end in June this only gives football and basketball another month to work with our athletes and continues to take away from baseball.
95
We have a rich tradition. It’s unique and it works. Players and coaches love it. Going to spring will be tougher scheduling with weather. It’s already hard enough sharing athletes with Track, soccer and golf. We have many players at 2A level that participate in both.
96
I would like to keep it how it is.
97
Moving the season to earlier in the Spring would make us share student athletes even more than we currently do.
98
I like the idea of being done late June, but the challenges that a Mid April start date would be tough. There are so many conflicts in the Spring like golf, tennis, track, soccer and end of year school activities that would need to be adjusted as well. Something would have to be moved and/or those seasons need to be shorter or end sooner, so there are less conflicts. This year I had 11 practices before our first game and only had 2 practices with everyone there the same time. If we move up the starting date, is there a chance that this is lifted? It would allow us more time to work with players that we can, on anything, as other sports get that opportunity in the summer? This would then allow us to get on the field and do team drills when the first official practice starts. Also, Spring sport schedules seem to be end loaded and create a bunch of dates where multiple sport athletes don't get to baseball practice or games. Thanks for your time.
99
Best weather, and much easier to manage when school is out. I think earlier season would also be tougher getting quality umpires as many also do college games.
100
We already lose some players to state track, why would we want players to have to choose between track and baseball.