Three unannounced days off for high school athletic teams has caused more than just scheduling headaches.

Now, seasons are starting to be affected.

With teams facing up to four games in a week going forward, coaches will have to juggle conditioning, practices and pray for the health of their athletes.

"It is giving the kids proper rest during the games, how to schedule practice and giving kids time off," Kennewick girls basketball coach Tarah Staton said. "A lot of it is communicating with kids and knowing how they are feeling."

Most CBBN schools have seven games left between now and the end of the regular season, which leaves just six days of practices -- and that's assuming tonight's games don't get canceled.

"We'll be healthy, but very rusty," Chiawana boys basketball coach Chad Herron said. "It's definitely a concern, but in this situation you can't control things that are out of your hands. We just have to do the best we can."

Health is a major concern going forward, as conditioning can be affected with the time off as well as with playing so many games in such few days.

"It is important that our guys are doing something active," Kamiakin wrestling coach Jordan Anderson said. "We've worked too hard for our guys to take this many days off. We have a great group of leaders. They called me and told me if practice was canceled they would get everyone together and go for a run or do something.

"You watch Rocky, and one of the exercises he does is running through the snow. With all the resistance it provides, it is a great workout."

While the Kamiakin wrestlers are apparently carrying railroad ties around the snow-covered forests of the Tri-Cities, Herron's squad has taken the break with mixed blessings.

"There is positives and negatives to this," Herron said. "If we do get hot here in the next couple of weeks and end up playing more games, it could definitely be a good thing.

"We did have some injuries going into the week and this has definitely given our kids extra time to heal up."

Staton has taken the time off to use as a teaching point for her basketball team.

"You have to roll with it and be ready to when we can play," she said. "It is going to be a big two weeks for us. They are all big games."

Most of Friday's CBBN basketball games were moved to Monday or Tuesday. Most wrestling tournaments scheduled for Friday and today were canceled and will not be made up.