Seabury Academy already finds it difficult to compete against schools around the area, but now the girls’ fall-sports programs are starting to battle with one another for athletes within the school.

With the school splitting the co-ed tennis squad that played in the spring, the new girls tennis team has cut into the girls cross country and volleyball squads.

“We should have six girls coming out this week that are high school girls,” said new girls tennis coach Scott Elwell, a Lawrence High graduate. “But it is tough when you’re dealing with a school this small. You don’t have a whole lot of girls that are even available to play sports.”

Volleyball was the only team to have more than five girls participating in drills Monday.

Cross country was just as thin, and coach Eric Nelson is skeptical about the future of the program.

“Now that we have girls tennis in the fall, it is going to be tough on numbers for the girls cross country team,” said Nelson, who is also the new athletic director. “I may end up filtering girls toward volleyball and tennis so we can keep those programs going.”

The boys cross country team, on the other hand, is looking strong and ready to improve on last year’s ninth-place finish at the Class 1A state meet.

“I expect us to be a state-qualifying team again, and hopefully we’ll be able to make some waves at that level,” Nelson said.

The teams aren’t worried about the turnout right now. They are more concerned about the heat – including the volleyball team, which plays in a gym that lacks air conditioning.

“We’re going to change our practices and come out Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 in the morning to try to get away from some of this heat,” volleyball coach Craig Friedrichsen said. “Some year I’m going to actually put a thermometer in here and see what it gets up to.”

Veritas Christian School’s Doug Bennett, coach of the 8-man football team, already has taken the early-morning approach, having his squad start at 6:30 a.m. for two, two-hour sessions.

“By about 10:30, I started feeling the heat, so I think we made the right call,” Bennett said. “Kids aren’t always awake that early, but they woke up soon enough. I think they appreciated it when we were picking things up at the end of practice and realizing how hot it was already getting.”

Veritas’ volleyball squad was fortunate enough to find a cool place to practice, starting its weeklong camp at Grace Evangelical Presbyterian Church.

“It was great to see the girls again,” Veritas volleyball coach Kyle Billings said.

Seabury is without one boy’s fall sport: soccer. The school has decided to shut down the boys soccer and start 8-man football. Practices will begin in a few weeks and, according to Nelson, the first year or two will be “instructional,” with the hopes of scheduling games by the third year.