FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 25, 2002
Board approves football classification proposal, sub-classes in 2A
GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Activities Association Board of Directors today approved a two-year football classification policy addressing concerns of athlete safety and the student population gap in Class 2A.
The policy, which assigns participating schools to six evenly divided classifications, further splits Class 2A into sub-classes 2A and 2B. This addresses safety concerns that have been growing in Class 2A due to the student population gap between its smallest and largest schools.
The policy also divides the northern semi-state of Class A into rural and urban regions. Earlier this year, 23 Class A football-playing schools located in rural communities across North Florida agreeed to withdraw from participation in the FHSAA State Football Series for the 2003 and 2004 seasons. The approved two-year pilot program, which effects only Class A and has no impact on schools in South Florida, keeps those 23 schools in the State Football Series.
"Several issues have become increasingly prominent the last two years," said Commissioner Robert W. Hughes. "With this experimental policy, we are addressing safety concerns and the issues of isolation, the geography of our state, and the population base that those areas have."
In addition to the other changes, the new football classification policy addresses issues of travel and balance within the region by giving the FHSAA staff flexibility in aligning districts within each classification to allow for four-district regions with no at-large qualifying and three-district regions with at-large qualifying.
The Board also approved the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association's (FIAAA) recommendation for contest limitations – an across-the-board reduction of the maximum number of contests allowed in each sport by 10 percent. Baseball, basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball were cut from 28 to 25 contests. Tennis and wrestling drop from 20 to 18 contests. Cross country, swimming & diving, track & field and weightlifting were taken from 15 down to 13 contests. Golf was cut from 16 to 14 contests. Citing the removal of the open date last year, football remains unchanged.
At its February meeting, the Board of Directors will vote on a proposed sports calender revision based on the new contest limitations.
In other action, the Board of Directors:
• Approved a recommendation to give the Commissioner and member schools flexibility to administratively assign geographically-isolated schools within 10 percent of the dividing line between the two classifications to the next lower classification, as well as permitting a geographically isolated school to request assignment to the next higher classification if it is more closely aligned with schools in the higher classification.
• Discussed a recommendation to revise the format of the State Football Series that would reduce the regular season from 10 to either nine or eight weeks (without mandatory district play) and allow every school to make the playoffs by using those two weeks as district tournament play similar to other FHSAA team sports, working within the framework of the current system to limit travel distances, maintain traditional rivalries and eliminate issues with runners-up and at-large playoff berths.
• Approved a recommendation for girls flag football to confirm use of National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA) rules, with potential modifications based on Florida Recreation and Park Association (FRPA) rules that will be recommended by the Board of Directors' Operations Committee at its February meeting.
• Set the terms and conditions for the 2003 FHSAA State Boys Weightlifting Series, implementing qualifying meets to determine participants in the FHSAA Florida Boys Weightlifting Finals.
• Approved an amendment to the "Policy on the Eligibility of Foreign Exchange and Other International Students" that gives the Commissioner authority to rule upon the eligibility of students possessing types of visas other than the J-1 and B-2. Student ruled ineligible by the Commissioner may appeal that decision to the appropriate Sectional Appeals Committee.
• Discussed an amendment to the District Tournament Seeding Policy to give districts an option to require one- or two-game district play to determine seeding for district tournaments.
The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of 700 middle, junior and senior high schools.
The FHSAA Board of Directors is the executive authority of the Association, establishing guidelines, regulations, policies and procedures within the framework of the Association’s bylaws. The Board of Directors also has the sole authority over all terms and conditions of participation and competition in the FHSAA state championship series. The Board of Directors meets five times annually. Its next meeting is Feb. 2-3, 2002 at the FHSAA Headquarters in Gainesville.
Contact:
Jack Watford
Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 170
jwatford@fhsaa.org
