FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 1, 1999


Board adopts new system for classifying schools in sports other than football

GAINESVILLE – Each sport in which the Florida High School Activities Association sponsors a state championship series will be classified according to the number of schools participating in that sport, according to a new classification plan adopted today by the Association’s Board of Directors for implementation beginning with the 1999-2000 school year.

The plan, which was recommended by Commissioner Robert W. Hughes, will ensure that an equal number of participating schools will be assigned to each classification in each sport. The plan also establishes the criteria to be used by the Board of Directors in determining the number of classifications in each sport.

"As with our plan for reclassifying football, we believe this to be in the best interest of all member schools involved in participating in these various sports," Hughes said. "This system guarantees that an equal, or nearly equal, number of schools in each class will compete for a state championship in each sport. It also ends the long-standing practice of classifying all sports based on a system which favors the most commonly played sports. Finally, it eliminates the need for the Board of Directors to have to render, without any guidelines, arbitrary decisions on requests by coaches to add classifications in a sport. Those arbitrary decisions are what have led to such inequities as having four classes in weightlifting in which less than 200 schools participate, but only three classes in swimming and wrestling in which more than 200 schools participate."

Here’s how the system will work:

• The number of classes in each sport for a two-year classification period will be based on the number of schools which entered teams in that sport in the second year of the previous two-year classification period. If 85 percent or more of the total member senior high schools entered a team in a sport, the Board may approve six classifications in that sport. If 70 percent or more entered a team, the Board may approve five classes. It takes 55 percent to request four classes; 40 percent to ask for three classes and 25 percent to split into two classes. Sports in which less than 25 percent of the senior high school members entered a team into the state series will have only one class.

• A form requesting a commitment to participate in the state series in a sport for the following year will be mailed to each member school. Once those forms are returned by the schools, the FHSAA Office will list all schools which committed to participate in the sport in order of enrollment and divide the list equally by the number of classifications approved for that sport. The largest group of schools will be classified 6A, the next largest group 5A, etc.; and assigned to districts based on geography.

• The definition of a team for the purpose of determining classes is obvious in the team sports of baseball, basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. Additionally, FHSAA regulations already establish standards for team competition in cross country, golf and tennis. However, in the sports of swimming & diving, track & field, weightlifting and wrestling, a single athlete can score as a team. For determining the number of classifications in these sports, the following numbers will be used: swimming & diving – eight or more swimmers entered into the district meet; track & field – 10 or more athletes entered into the district meet; weightlifting – six or more lifters entered into the state meet regardless of weight class; and wrestling – one wrestler entered in at least eight or more weight classes.

Based on FHSAA staff projections, the sports of baseball, girls basketball, boys basketball, softball and girls volleyball will continue to have state series in six classifications; girls soccer and boys soccer in four classifications; and swimming & diving and wrestling in three classifications. The number of classes will be reduced from five to four in cross country and track & field, but could increase from two to three in golf. Weightlifting, the least popular state series sport, could drop from four to one or possibly two classifications.

The system will not deny participation in the state series to schools which are unable to field complete teams in any of the individual sports. Neither will it prevent individuals from scoring points for their teams in those sports in which they currently are allowed to do so. The team concept simply will be used to establish the number of classifications in a sport.

The FHSAA Office will mail commitment forms in all sports for the 1999-2000 school year later this month. Classification breakdowns and district assignments in fall and winter sports will be announced in March; and spring sports shortly thereafter.

In other action, the Board of Directors:

• Voted to adjust the current state series bracket structure in all team sports by eliminating cross-bracketing which ensures the champion and runner-up from the same district do not meet until the state championship game. Effective next school year, the champion and runner-up from the same district will have the possibility of meeting in the regional tournament final. Extensive travel on the part of participating schools was cited as the reason for this adjustment to the state series format.

• Accepted an invitation from the Gainesville Sports Organizing Committee to serve as host for the 1999 FHSAA Florida Tennis Finals in Class 3A. The state tournament will be played at either the City of Gainesville tennis courts or Southwest Recreation Center on the University of Florida campus, or both.

• Voted to submit to the FHSAA Representative Assembly a proposal to delete Article 9.9.2 in the FHSAA Bylaws, which prohibits coaches from having contact outside of the sports season but during the school year with any team comprised of more than 50 percent of students from the school or feeder school which the coach represents.

Contact:
Jack Watford
Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 170
jwatford@fhsaa.org