This is not breaking news because everybody knows by now that spring weather in Colorado can be unpredictable.

A warm pleasant day with the temperature in the 70s is followed by heavy, wet snow and rain the next day.

I once had an assignment to write a poem in elementary school and my rhyme went something like this: When it’s springtime in the Rockies and muddy on the streets, please help your mother and clean your feet.

That was the case a couple days last week when snow storms moved across the Denver area on March 26 and March 28, which forced six of the seven spring sports to scramble to secure indoor practice space. Boys swimming is an indoor sport and is not affected by the weather.

This involved mostly Douglas County schools last week since Cherry Creek, Littleton, Jeffco and Adams 12 schools were on spring break.

“We ended up creating an indoor weather schedule so teams come in and use the gym or the commons,” said Legend athletic director Kevin Boley. “Girls golf will go upstairs to the wrestling room. They have something like a birdie ball that they can hit. Indoor type things. The tennis team was hitting balls into the curtain in the gym or off the wall to work on technique. Everybody can do conditioning in the hallway.”

Baseball teams can sometimes rent a facility to take batting practice, and it isn’t unusual to see athletes running over hurdles in the hallways.

Rock Canyon athletic director Tom Brieske was at Shea Stadium on March 28 watching as the turf got covered with snow during a girls soccer game and wound up postponing the ensuing boys soccer game against Colorado Academy.

“It gets real hectic,” said Brieske. “There are a lot of moving parts. The safety of the kids is the prerequisite. You have to get creative. It’s a balancing act.”

Rescheduling for three levels of each sport can be challenging for coaches and ADs. Available venues and officials have to be secured, and that’s just for the sports other than baseball. For baseball, Mother Nature needs to help dry off the diamonds.

Change to transfer rule proposed

There are 27 proposals and 14 committee reports that will be voted on at the Colorado High School Activities Association’s Legislative Council meeting on April 26.

CHSAANow.com has listed the agenda and one noteworthy proposal is designed to create a clearer, consistent and stricter transfer rule. Mid-season and summer transfers are currently administered differently.

The proposal would give students junior varsity or below eligibility after 365 days from the date of transfer. The option of having 50 percent varsity eligibility would go away.

In other words, athletes that transfer without moving in a new district and not due to hardship would be ineligible for a year from the day they transfer.

The hope is the proposal would eliminate the rising numbers of summer transfers that could sit out for half the following season but still be eligible for the state playoffs.

However, the next step that needs to be taken is some kind of measure to curtail recruiting of middle school athletes who can open enroll at the school of their choice.

There is also a proposal, supported by the Equity Committee, that would extend the limit of softball games to 23 which would match the limit of baseball games that was approved in January.

The hockey committee recommended a new alignment and approved new varsity programs at Colorado Academy and Glenwood Springs.

The swimming committee is recommending a change from the top 16 for finals at state events to the top 20. Additionally the boys 4A and 5A championships would be at one site starting in 2019.

Jim Benton is a sports writer for Colorado Community Media. He has been covering sports in the Denver area since 1968. He can be reached at jbenton@coloradocommunitymedia.com or at 303-566-4083.