EDWARDSVILLE – The passing of Winter Storm Gia made a hash out of this weekend’s high school sporting schedules, as just about every event scheduled was postponed because of the snowstorm that dumped, according to multiple reports, eight to twelve inches of snow on the St. Louis Metro area.
Get The Latest News!
Don't miss our top stories and need-to-know news everyday in your inbox.
Those postponements included the Southwestern Conference boys basketball game between Edwardsville and Alton, which was originally set for Friday night, but now rescheduled for Jan. 22 at the Redbirds Nest.
The Tigers made the best of a bad situation by staying in contact with each other and even welcomed the opportunity to gain some extra rest.
“It’s out of our control, so you don’t want to feel disappointed,” said Edwardsville head coach Dustin Battas. “Our guys were excited to play on Friday night, but there’s nothing we could do about it. The safety of our players always comes first, but they were OK about it.”
Always in situations such as this, the only thing the Tigers could do was wait.
“Usually, it's just waiting and see,” Battas said. “We couldn’t practice today, either, because of the weather, so you just stay ready when it does get better.”
And if there’s a silver lining to the situation, the players welcomed the opportunity to get some extra rest.
“At this point in the season, a little bit of rest does the body good,” Battas said. “Basketball is a long season, so when the kids get a day to let their bodies heal, they take advantage of it.”
And of course, staying in communication between the players and coaches is very important. Using today’s technology has made things much easier than in the past.
“It’s pretty easy with the technology today,” Battas said, “but they made an announcement at school yesterday, and we stay in touch with group messaging.”
And with the Tigers set to play this week in the Jersey Mid-Winter Classic, the schedule’s set up to get the needed practice time in to prepare for the games ahead.
“The way the schedule is set up, they’ll get their rest, and we’ll still have a day or two of practice before the Jersey tournament,” Battas said.
And as the second half of the season gets underway, the Tigers are looking forward to competing and playing the games, and Battas feels his team will be ready after having played in so many close games in the first half.
“We’re looking forward to the second half of the season,” Battas said. “Because we’ve been in so many close games, we look forward to having the opportunity to win some of those in the second half.”
