The schedule for Eastern sports takes teams from North Dakota to Mexico during non-conference play.

Some Eastern coaches decide where their team will play.

Head men’s and women’s tennis coach John Blackburn schedules all matches and tournaments for the tennis teams.

Baseball coach Jim Schmitz does as well.

Frank Graziano schedules matches for his rugby team.

All three coaches consider travel time, budget, the teams they want to face and the weather when scheduling games.

Blackburn said location plays an important role in scheduling games.

“We would prefer to play most of our matches in a radius of three hours from campus,” Blackburn said.

The men’s tennis team will travel to Rockford this weekend to compete at Northern Illinois. Rockford is four hours away from Charleston.

Schmitz uses the Ohio Valley Conference schedule for the weekends and then adds game dates.

“I take the first two weekends and look at places to go where it is probably warm and doesn’t cost too much money,” Schmitz said.

The baseball team plays in 55 games in a season and has 28 conference games. Schmitz is responsible for scheduling the other 27 games.

The baseball team will travel to Evansville, Ind., to compete in the Evansville Tournament this weekend. The next six games will be played in at a tournament in Memphis, Tenn.

The baseball team will then compete in a five game stretch in South Carolina during Eastern’s spring break before its home season opener on March 21.

“As far as not playing at home until after our fourteenth game, that’s just the way it is,” Schmitz said.

While travel plans play a key part in scheduling teams, coaches also look at the record of possible opponents when deciding what games to schedule. The coaches said competition was a vital part of deciding what games to schedule.

“We look to play a mix of teams that provide a high level of competition for our two teams,” Blackburn said.

Schmitz said he looks at the competition level his team will face.

Graziano does also.

“I do not worry about division,” Graziano said. “We are independent so I schedule whoever wants to play.”

Eastern’s rugby team is the only Division I rugby team in the nation.

Weather plays another factor in game scheduling. The tennis teams do not compete at home until March 10. This past season, rugby competed at Eastern through much of September and then headed south to compete in Georgia, South Carolina and Arkansas.

“The weather dictates that we play indoors until at least March 1, so finding courts where we can do this is a big art of our scheduling in January and February,” Blackburn said.

Graziano said rugby will not play just because of the weather.

“I never go north or stay in the Midwest in November,” Graziano said. “Last year we went to Loyola on Nov. 4. It’s cold. Players are OK but spectators were cold. We had a lot of spectators.”

Graziano, because of the cold, plans on going south in November for the 2007 season.

The coaches, when planning their schedules, realize their athletes need the experience before starting conference play.

“We want to play the games at the beginning of the year,” Schmitz said. “It is very important to have our team with some experience before conference play.”

While the games provide valuable learning experiences for athletes, it also allows the players to bond before conference play.

“It provides an opportunity for the team to face the challenges of playing on the road early in the year,” Blackburn said. “In some ways, that can make us a tougher team.”