Times Observer photo by Brian Hagberg Warren first baseman Celia Chase prepares to catch a throw for an out during the fifth inning of a game against Meadville at the Legion Complex, Friday, May 4, 2018. The Dragons defeated the Bulldogs, 3-0, in a weather-shortened five inning game.

The life of a high school athlete, and their family, can get a little hectic at times. Keeping the schedule straight with school, coursework, practices, games, work, family obligations and any other activity they might be involved in takes a lot of planning and coordination.

And that’s just for one kid. Those with multiple athletes, perhaps in different sports, need to double or triple that coordination.

The task would be exponentially harder without knowing the time and location of the next game.

That’s exactly the issue facing District 10 softball players and their families right now.

It’s currently 8:30 p.m. Friday night and D10 quarterfinal games are set to begin Tuesday. The only problem is the district has yet to announce the time or location for any of those games.

According to the 2017-2018 District 10 Team Bracketing Guide, “Quarter final, semi-final and finals will be held at a neutral site . . . (and) placement in the brackets may not play a major role in the determination of the game sites.”

So games beyond the first round have to be at a neutral site and no consideration is to be given to travel time when selecting a site. Seems like this should be a relatively fix.

So easy in fact, that it should have been set long before the season began. As long as D10 doesn’t use the home field of any of its member teams, the dates, times and locations could, and should, be scheduled as far in advance as possible. Alternate sites, in case of poor weather, unexpected repairs to the primary site, etc., could be planned during the season. It’s simply unfathomable teams are unware of when and where they’re supposed to play a game less than five days from said game.

Those athletes aren’t able to adequately prepare with their teachers for any potential missed assignments. Coaches and parents can’t give their employers specific times when they will need to be off work. Athletic directors and booster clubs aren’t able to finalize transportation.

This isn’t the first time this has happened either. The district was late getting information out during the basketball playoffs as well.

This is one of the fundamental aspects to setting up a postseason tournament, and District 10 is failing miserably. This is already a stressful time of year for many athletes, there’s no need to add scheduling chaos on top of it.