FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 13, 2003
Board approves mercy rule for basketball, elects Grasso president
TAMPA – The Florida High School Activities Association Board of Directors today gave the go-ahead for instituting a mandatory mercy rule in basketball at its year-end meeting at the Wyndham Westshore Hotel in Tampa.
The basketball mercy rule calls for a running clock when a point spread of 35 points is reached after the first half. The clock will run continuously during jump ball possessions, out-of-bounds plays and free throw shooting, but will stop for time-outs, injuries, technical fouls, or if the officials need to address a situation that requires excessive time to resolve.
“Losing by 30-to-40 points is embarassing, but losing by 50, 60 or 70 points is ridiculous,” said Commissioner Robert W. Hughes. “It creates a high level of frustration that is both unnecessary and lingering.”
The Board also elected Clearwater High School principal Nick Grasso president for the 2003-04 school year. Forest High School athletic director Dave Horner was elected vice president.
“I'm very excited about having the opportunity to serve in the capacity of president,” said Grasso. “I look forward to the challenges ahead and believe that with the outstanding leadership from the Commissioner and staff, along with the leadership in our schools and communities, we will have another outstanding year in Florida high school athletics.”
In other business, the Board of Directors:
• Approved a recommendation for the sport of basketball to change the tip-off time for all district championships and regional tournament playoff games from 7:30 to 7 p.m. local time.
• Approved recommendations for the sport of wrestling to: add a regulation making it mandatory that all weigh-ins be conducted by FHSAA-registered wrestling officials; and allow schools to participate in tournaments that may include up to 32 teams.
• Gave preliminary approval to the FHSAA operating budget for the 2003-04 fiscal year.
• Approved the expansion of a sanctioning fee pilot program to include basketball, baseball, soccer, softball, volleyball and wrestling, such that the fee for a jamboree, classic or four-team invitational will be $100, a five-to-eight-team tournament will be $250, and a nine-to-16-team tournament will be $500. A potential sanctioning fee pilot program for the sports of cross country, football, swimming & diving and track & field will be studied for possible implementation in the 2004-05 school year.
• Approved the following recommendations of the Officials Advisory Committee: to reinstate the awarding of promotional points for attendance at local association training sessions, promoting better training of local officials (training session dates will be identified in advance for FHSAA and officials involved); to exempt fifth-year Rank No. 1 officials from having to take the rules exam – an incentive that would remain intact in subsequent alternating years should the official retain the Rank No. 1 status (five-year period must be consecutive); and to use the Precision Timing system for the 2004 FHSAA Florida Girls and Boys Basketball Finals state tournaments.
• Tabled to the September Board of Directors meeting a recommendation to recognize girls & boys lacrosse as an interscholastic sport, pending further study, due to a number of schools that submitted letters of request for the sport's recognition reportedly sponsoring club teams comprised of students from different schools, rather than interscholastic teams comprised of students only from their school.
• Approved a recommendation to amend the policy interpreting the two-sports-per-season bylaw: to eliminate the requirement that one of the two sports in each sports season must be a team sport; to standardize state series eligibility guidelines for both programs (teams) and individuals to stipulate that both the program and individual must participate in a minimum of four regular season contests in a sport to be eligible for participation in the state series in that sport; and to eliminate definitions of teams in the various sports for the purpose of this policy.
• Approved a maximum pay scale for volleyball officials, taking into account the rules change instituting the rally scoring format, such that: for regular season contests, the maximum amount for the referee and umpire is $34 and for the line judges is $21; district tournament contests, $37 for referees and umpires and $24 for line judges; regional tournament contests, $40 for referees and umpires and $24 for line judges; and FHSAA Finals state tournament contests, $45 for referees and umpires and $27 for line judges.
• Approved a revision to the policy on "Schools' Reponsibility to FHSAA Officials," calling for more stringent enforcement of the requirements that schools provide adequate facilities and professional service for contest officials working post-district contests in FHSAA State Series competition.
• Resolved a tie between candidates for the Section 4 public school representative seat on the Board of Directors, electing Coral Springs High School athletic director Dianne Sanzari.
• Heard the following informational presentations from staff: changing the name of the FHSAA Hall of Fame to the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame; offering an official FHSAA state championship ring; developing and launching a new sportsmanship campaign, along with the potential implementation of a sportsmanship rating system to evaluate sportsmanship on the part of each school throughout the entire school year; and an overview of the recently released contest officials component of iFHSAA, the Association's interactive online database system.
The Florida High School Activities Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of 668 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 Sept. 28-29, 2003 at the FHSAA Headquarters in Gainesville.
Contact:
Jack Watford
Director of Communications, FHSAA
(352) 372-9551 ext. 170
jwatford@fhsaa.org
