FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 31, 2005


Board approves calendar revision, reclassification plan

GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors today approved a revision of the FHSAA sports calendar, expanding the football regular season to 11 weeks and reinstating the "open date" so that a maximum of 10 games can be played in 11 weeks, and making a variety of changes to certain other sports.

Those changes include:
• Fall season – moving beginning dates up one week for football, girls volleyball, swimming & diving, golf and fall soccer. The FHSAA State Golf Series will be played one week earlier, while the state cross country series will occur one week later.
• Winter season – move entire seasons for basketball, winter soccer and wrestling up one week.
• Spring season – move entire seasons for baseball and softball up one week; begin practice for track & field one week earlier.

The Board of Directors also approved a reclassification plan for team sports other than football that divides the member high schools into six classes with a "108-108-108-80-80-All Remaining" breakdown for the upcoming commitment cycle. The Board made no significant changes to the classification policy currently in place for individual sports.

In other action, the Board of Directors:

• Approved a recommendation of the Cross Country Advisory Committee that regional meet hosts be given suggested starting times for a Friday or Saturday meet rather than mandating a specific starting time. The suggested times are 4, 4:30 or 5 p.m. for a Friday meet and 9, 9:30 or 10 a.m. for a Saturday meet.

• Approved a recommendation of the Cross Country Advisory Committee that coaches of teams that advance in the state series be permitted without penalty to substitute for any runner on the team even if the runner also is advancing as an individual qualifier. The caveat is that any runner, including the runner substituted for, who does not compete on each level of the state series will not be eligible for individual honors on any successive level of the state series.

• Approved a recommendation of the Cross Country Advisory Committee that the FHSAA absorb the cost of regional team trophies only if the regional meet host charges admission to the event. In regional meets where admission is not charged, the meet host will pro-rate the cost of the trophies among all participating schools entering a full team into the meet.

• Modified and approved a recommendation of the Football Advisory Committee to institute a mandatory running clock if the differential in the score is 35 points or more at the end of the third quarter or any point thereafter. The running clock will be optional in the third quarter at the request of the head coach of the team that is behind. The advisory committee had recommended a 40-point differential.

• Approved a recommendation of the Golf Advisory Committee that will assign responsibility for hosting the regional tournament to one of the two districts within the regional complex each year.

Approved a recommendation of the Girls Volleyball Advisory Committee requiring that a crew of four officials (referee, umpire and two line judges) be assigned to semifinal and championship matches in district tournaments. The use of a four-person crew remains optional for quarterfinal or earlier round matches.

• Approved a recommendation of the Girls Volleyball Advisory Committee that the application fees for approval of preseason events and invitational tournaments be reduced from $100 to $75 for preseason events, from $250 to $100 for invitational tournaments with a field of eight or less teams, and from $500 to $150 for invitational tournaments with a field of nine or more teams.

• Modified and approved a recommendation of the Officials Advisory Committee that baseball games below the varsity level have a two-hour time limit. No new inning will be started once two hours have elapsed since the first pitch. Any inning in progress when the two-hour limit is reached will be played to its conclusion. The advisory committee had recommended that the two-hour time limit be based on the game's scheduled starting time rather than first pitch.

• Voted to endorse a recommendation of the Athletic Directors Advisory Committee to significantly increase in the future the penalties for withdrawal from a commitment to participate in the FHSAA State Series in a team sport with the proviso that a committee be established to consider appeals filed by schools against which the penalties have been assessed. The penalties suggested by the advisory committee are a $2,500 fine and the invalidation of the school's commitment in all other team sports. The appeal committee, consisting of two members of the FHSAA staff – the Senior Director of Athletic Operations and the Director of Communications – as well as the president of the Florida Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, will be empowered to reduce or waive in total the penalties on a case-by-case basis once they are assessed.

• Approved meeting dates for the Board of Directors, Sectional Appeals Committees and Representative Assembly for the 2005-06 school year.

The Board of Directors also heard reports on the following matters:

• Both President Sam Ward and Commissioner John Stewart briefed Board members on the need to re-establish area meetings around the state. The staff will develop and implement a plan to conduct the meetings beginning later this school year.

• Ward appointed Dave Brousseau of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Buddy Collings (chair) of the Orlando Sentinel, Chase Goodbread of the Florida Times-Union, Rozel Lee (vice chair) of the Tampa Tribune and Derek Redd of the Naples Daily News to comprise the newly established Student-Athlete Nomination Committee for the Florida High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Ward also appointed Bill Buchalter of the Orlando Sentinel to replace Collings on the Hall of Fame Screening Committee.

• Stewart informed Board members that staff would be moving forward with the development of a strategic plan for the Association, and that a block of time will be set aside during the June meeting for Board members and staff to brainstorm the strategic goals and objectives of the Association.

• Stewart also informed Board members that it was time to establish a Student-Athlete Advisory Committee to give student-athletes a voice in the decision-making process of the Association. Staff will formulate a composition and selection process for the committee with the goal of having the committee in place for next school year. The committee will be funded using monies previously earmarked for the Student SID Program. That program will be discontinued.

• Stewart apprised Board members that 21 of the 52 school delegate seats on the 2005 FHSAA Representative Assembly are vacant and must be filled by appointment. A list of recommended appointees will be presented to the Board for confirmation at its April meeting.

• Stewart also shared with Board members three proposals to FHSAA Bylaws that he intends to submit to the Representative Assembly for consideration. They include a proposal to move up the earliest possible date of a physical evaluation for the following school year from May 15 to April 1, a proposal to move up the window for renewal of membership from May 1-15 to an earlier period to avoid conflicts with end-of-year activities within the schools, and a proposal to change the window for the August meetings of the Sectional Appeals Committees from Aug. 10-20 to Aug. 1-15 to accommodate the earlier starting dates for certain fall sports.

The Florida High School Athletic Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of more than 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 Apr. 3-4, 2005 at the Robert W. Hughes FHSAA Building in Gainesville.

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