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KINSMAN -- Badger High School will do something completely outside of the box on Wednesday, and it won't be the first time for the school, either.
The Braves have decided to move their boys and girls varsity basketball games against Newbury to the morning and afternoon while school is in session. The girls will tip off at 10:30 a.m., while the boys will start about noon.
The idea, which was put into action by former athletic director Steve Kochemba, actually started last year, when the Braves hosted Bristol for a baseball and softball doubleheader during school hours. That garnered a large response from the student body, and has since been followed by middle school events being moved to school hours, as well.
"We want to get the younger kids interested in sports," new Badger AD Bill Hamilton said. "A lot of these students have never seen a basketball game before, and we thought it would be a great way to get them involved. We have a program called Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) and since the kids have been so well-behaved this year, we thought this would be a little reward."
The games will be open to the public, and admission is free to anyone who would like to attend. Hamilton said there will be a roped-off section of seating for the public, while the rest of the stands will be filled with Badger K-12 students -- who are not required to attend, but are strongly encouraged to do so.
Seemingly, the logistics of holding games during the middle of the day could be problematic. But the roadblocks, such as coaches teaching in other school districts and finding game officials, apparently have been overcome.
"I teach at Windham, but the superintendent there was completely understanding of the situation and was totally on board with the idea," Badger boys basketball coach Josh Upshire said.
"(Preparing for the game) is going to be a different midset, a different approach. We'll still go about it like we do every game. We're gonna get the team together the night before and have a team dinner like we always do, and at the dinner, I'll go over the game plan with the guys."
Upshire said that the only drawback is that he usually arrives at the gym about an hour and a half before games, but this time around, it will only be 45 minutes.
Hamilton said the school has gotten a lot of positive feedback and an enormous response from OHSAA officials, with some even going as far as saying that they would like to be informed of any future events that will take place during school hours.
Ultimately, Hamilton said, the school is trying to do this experiment in all sports, at one point or another.
"The superintendent from Lordstown loved it (when Badger traveled to Lordstown for a middle school doubleheader) and we're hoping other schools get involved," Hamilton said.
"We're expecting 700-something kids for Wednesday's games, and the only real concern that the players have is they might get too nervous, since they're not used to playing in front of such a large crowd. Ultimately, we feel it's a great way to get the whole school involved."