The three-season structure
Middle school athletics in most US districts run in three seasons: fall (cross country, volleyball, football, soccer in some regions), winter (basketball, wrestling, swim), and spring (track, soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball). Each season is roughly ten to twelve weeks long, including practice, regular-season games, and the league championship.
The fall season
Fall sports start the week before classes begin and end the week before Thanksgiving. Tryouts are usually held the second week of August. Print the August through November monthly calendars and mark practice days, home games, and away tournaments. Travel to away games is the single most disruptive scheduling element of the fall season; mark it on the printed calendar so that the rest of the family knows when one parent is unavailable for the evening.
The winter season
Winter sports start the week after Thanksgiving break and end in early February. The season includes the longest holiday closure of the year (winter break in late December), which most teams treat as a one-week pause followed by a tournament-heavy week. Print the December and January monthly calendars side by side to plan around the break.
The spring season
Spring sports start the first week of March and end in mid-May. The season overlaps with state-testing windows in March and April, AP exams for high-school siblings in early May, and commencement weekends in late May. Print the March through May monthly calendars and mark the testing windows, the holiday closures, and the major game and tournament dates as a single planning surface.
Cross-season planning
Many middle-school athletes play in two or even three seasons. The transition weeks between seasons — the last week of November (fall to winter) and the first week of March (winter to spring) — are the busiest weeks of the year for these families. Print the relevant monthly calendars in advance and protect these transitions from extra commitments.