Lansing - Dull lights hanging above a basketball court hum a monotonous tune that overwhelms eerie creaks from bleachers that line an empty high school gymnasium.
On any given day, this capital city gym is filled with the thundering sounds of basketballs or volleyballs bouncing off the floors and the squeaks of new sneakers.
Lauren Aitch knows these familiar sounds that fill the Lansing Waverly High School gym all to well.
Amid the claps and screams from the crowd, Aitch’s vocal leadership can be heard.
“I’m loud,” Aitch said.
The 6-foot-2 freshman center was an all-state honorable mention basketball player in her first season at the varsity level - she averaged 18.9 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.
She also played for the volleyball team in the fall, when she was bumped up to the varsity squad from the junior varsity team.
Aitch, whose father Matthew Aitch played basketball at MSU in the late 1960s, remembers the fifth grade and playing basketball with inner-city classmates. She hated her play, but loved the game.
“I was really bad and they let me know it,” she said.
From her days on the playground, she continued shooting hoops in hope of moving from the elementary hardcourt to the Division I hardwood.
She’s almost there.
The 15-year-old already has been looked at by MSU, the University of Michigan and West Point to play basketball, but her dream of collegiate basketball is three years from her grasp.
The multisport athlete - track and field, volleyball and basketball - knows by her junior year she might not have the luxury of being able to play all three.
In December, U.S. District Judge Richard A. Enslen ruled in favor of changes for prep girls and boys sports seasons beginning in the 2003-04 school year. The changes mean boys and girls would play the same sports during the same seasons.
Communities for Equity, a Grand Rapids-based organization that filed the lawsuit more than three years ago against the Michigan High School Athletic Association, felt that boys’ high school athletics were being favored over girls’ high school athletics.
Michigan and Hawaii are the only states that have different seasons for boys and girls sports.
The MHSAA has until May 24 to submit a plan that would change six girls’ sports seasons - basketball, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis and volleyball.
The MHSAA filed a notice of appeal in January with the U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo seeking to have the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati review the decision. The MHSAA also filed a motion with the district court to stay its order on the May 24 deadline.
Making her voice heard
Aitch’s play and her voice have made her the fearless competitor.
“I’m not afraid to say what I want to say,” she said.
Aitch said her ability to state her opinions comes from her family. And her voice goes beyond the playing field.
Aitch said the realignment may cause girls to have to choose one sport over another and that would be defeating the purpose of the ruling. “I don’t like it because girls may have to make a decision between basketball and volleyball,” she said. “It’s not fair that we have to make a decision - we should leave it how it is.”
Aitch said boys receive more attention at sporting events. She also said if boys’ and girls’ basketball were held during the same season, girls still would play on an uneven playing field.
“There would be a lot more competition for crowds if they switch it,” Aitch said. “It depends on the competition of the games, but boys always get more fans. I think they should leave it the way it is because there are certain advantages to the way high school sports are scheduled in Michigan.
She said the state has the notoriety of producing great female athletes.
“I think Michigan is a hotbed for girl talent - and it has been for a while,” she said. “I don’t think there’s any competition with college scouts.
“The scouts might not be able to see other girls compete in other states if all states play at the same time.”
Scout’s honor
But MSU volleyball coach Chuck Erbe said recruiting for college sports - especially volleyball - could reap benefits of having girls’ volleyball in a time other than the current season of winter.
“It helps us align correctly with the rest of the nation,” Erbe said. “Having the same schedule with the rest of the nation will allow a more-extended club season.”
Erbe said longer club seasons yield better high school athletes. He said under current state high school scheduling, he’s at a disadvantage with the level of experience he recruits as opposed to out-of-state athletes.
“We don’t have the same level of experience as kids in the other states,” he said. “It takes us about two years to catch up.”
Erbe said the decision is more important than just college recruiting, it helps Michigan high school female athletes gain equity.
“This is a bigger picture than just volleyball,” he said. “It puts the young woman on an equal footing with her male counterpart across the nation.”
He added the decision also may give female coaches more opportunities to coach girls’ sports without having a boys’ coach double dip.
Erbe said he expected the decision to be appealed, but he said if this issue came up under different circumstances, it quickly would be resolved.
“Change gender to race - there’s no issue,” he said. “It’s not legal, the MHSAA has to right the wrong of many, many years.”
Jack Roberts, executive director of the MHSAA, said the ruling didn’t fully examine what it would mean to Michigan high schools, though.
“I don’t believe it’s in the best interest,” Roberts said. “The schools believe they have the maximum participation and best quality of opportunities.”
The MHSAA is a nonprofit organization that oversees 1,300 member schools and manages postseason tournaments. Before the decision, it had no say as to when sports seasons are played - that was handled by the schools.
“It kind of turned things upside down,” Roberts said.
For the love of the game
Ashley Guerrant, a senior at East Lansing High School, loves the game of volleyball, but will not be furthering her career at the college rank. But she will compete in basketball at Georgia Tech University on a scholarship.
Guerrant had offers to play volleyball from Temple University, the University of South Carolina, and even MSU her sophomore year.
“Volleyball is so much fun for me,” Guerrant said.
Like most high school athletes, she participates in multiple sports.
“It’s hard to be recruited here because we are behind,” she said. “We don’t have the same opportunities.”
The lawsuit also stated that the MHSAA gives boys’ sports more opportunities to participate and better dates than girls’ sports.
Guerrant said while this may be true, the decision is a step in the right direction.
“Guys’ sports are more prevalent,” she said. “Things are beginning to change and some things stay the same, but we don’t need to be concerned with that.”
Guerrant’s volleyball coach, Bob Alim-Young, agrees club sports in Michigan suffer, but changing female seasons could fix that.
“Club sports out-of-state hold tournaments during this time and we’re just starting our (varsity) season,” he said.
Keith Froelich, athletics director for Okemos Public Schools, said the scheduling of female sports should be looked at closely.
“I think we have to really analyze and take a hard look at the implications to mirror the NCAA seasons,” Froelich said.
As to whether participation will be affected, he said that would be based on a sport-by-sport basis.
Froelich said one concern Okemos faces involves the golf program - the facility it uses is not owned by the school. Possible reductions in junior varsity sports may be needed to accommodate.
He said if the decision made in December is upheld, he’ll make appropriate adjustments.
“We need to balance the needs with what is really practical,” Froelich said. “But at the same time do what is best for the kids.”
What some of ‘U’ think
For MSU women’s tennis coach Tim Bauer, the decision will not benefit his sport as much as others.
Bauer, who is in the second year as head coach at MSU, previously worked as an assistant at Florida State University. He said there is no real advantage in having high school tennis in the spring.
“Tennis is one sport that between the fences is the most equitable.” he said. “Men and women make good careers as pros.”
Bauer said he recruits by looking at the in-state players first, then out-of-state and international last.
He said it’s probably better to leave girls’ tennis in the fall because that’s when he has time to recruit. It’s also a benefit, Bauer says, as he can evaluate players after they improve following summer months of practice.
“I get frustrated when people who are meaning to do the right thing end up making changes that aren’t logical,” he said.
Karen Langeland, an associate athletics director and former MSU women’s basketball coach, said recruiting would not change much.
“I am not in favor of changing the seasons,” Langeland said. “It’s not going to help the out-of-state schools in the fall who are recruiting Michigan people.”
Langeland said there are more positives to having the high school seasons where they are.
“I think there are more positives from a basketball standpoint in more media attention for boys and girls games and the facilities are better that way,” she said.
Ryan Wallace can be reached wallac89@msu.edu.
