How prepared is your program?
I live in South Florida. If you know one thing about living here, you know the weather can sneak up on you at any time. The rainy seasons can make scheduling outdoor youth-sports events really challenging, and trying to complete games and not ruin fields by playing on them too soon after storms can really add to the stress of making official rainout calls when weather is approaching.
Once, after about 30 minutes of practice, a coach from another team asked if my team would like to have a practice game. I could tell that rain was coming fairly soon, but we might be able to squeeze in a couple innings.
After 10 minutes of play, the skies began to darken a little to the west. My team had scored a couple runs, and it was the other team’s turn to bat. I told the coach we needed to pack it in and get everyone to their cars. He was adamant that we had at least 20 to 30 minutes before anything “serious” arrived, and we should let his kids take their turn batting. Against everything I knew to be the right decision, I relented. “OK, let’s do this as quickly as possible.”
Within five minutes the skies turned black, the wind picked up, and a bolt of lightning struck a couple hundred yards from the field. It was the kind where the flash and the thunder are simultaneous. Needless to say, everyone ran for the cover of their cars and some to a nearby shelter. We got lucky. Very lucky.