FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 2, 2006


Board approves Academic Team Champion awards program, best-of-3 regional baseball final experiment

GAINESVILLE – The Florida High School Athletic Association Board of Directors today approved the creation of an Academic Team Champion awards program to increase recognition for the academic achievements of student-athletes.

The board also approved a Baseball Advisory Committee recommendation to experiment with a a best-of-3 regional tournament final series during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Games 1 and 2 will take place on the Tuesday of Week 45 in the FHSAA calendar. Game 3, if necessary, will be played the next day. All games will be held at the same site. The host school will be designated the home team in Game 1, the visiting school will be designated the home team in Game 2, and a coin toss held at the beginning of the series will determine the home team in Game 3. The host school will have its choice of dugout in all three games.

The pilot Academic Team Champion program, to be conducted in the sports of baseball, boys and girls basketball, football, boys and girls soccer, softball and girls volleyball, will recognize the team in each classification that has the highest average cumulative grade point average with a commemorative award. The one team having the highest overall average GPA in the sport (all classifications combined) will receive a $3,000 cash award from the Association. Because of the squad size differences that exist between the classifications in football, two such overall cash awards will be presented in that sport – one to the team with the highest overall average GPA in Classes 1A, 1B, 2A and 2B combined and one to the team with the highest overall average GPA in Classes 3A, 4A, 5A and 6A combined.

"This program is wonderful because it promotes the concept of academics as first priority, with athletic participation as a reinforcer and extension of the classroom," said Commissioner John A. Stewart. "I'm delighted the Board supported our efforts in this and I hope the schools will respond by striving for success in the classroom as well as on the playing field."

In other action, the Board of Directors:

• Amended its “General Policies on Interscholastic Athletics,” to strongly recommend the presence of automated external defibrillators at the site of every interscholastic athletic contest in which member schools participate, effective immediately.

• Approved a recommendation of the Softball Advisory Committee to apply for a second NFHS experiment using the 43-foot pitching distance.

• Approved a staff recommendation to delay implementation of an invitational state lacrosse series in Spring 2007 due to lack of sufficient interest. Staff will continue to monitor the growth of the sport and annually evaluate its eligibility for invitational state series consideration. In the results of a feasibility study on the implementation of an invitational state championship series in girls & boys lacrosse, only 41 eligible schools expressed interest in participating in an invitational state boys lacrosse series, and 39 eligible schools in a state girls lacrosse series.

• Approved an increase in the compensation to be paid to schools whose teams participate in FHSAA Finals state championship events in the sports of baseball, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, softball and girls volleyball. Each participating team will receive an additional $500 and will be paid the full amount it is due, regardless of the financial success of the event.

• Amended its “Policy on the Eligibility of Foreign Exchange and Other International Students” to create a separate category for immigrant students and exempt them from the need file international student paperwork with the FHSAA Office. Schools still will be required to certify the eligibility of immigrant students, including their age.

• Endorsed a proposed bylaw amendment that empowers the Commissioner’s Office to grant provisional eligibility to a student-athlete who suddenly becomes ineligible when in his or her opinion the circumstances causing the ineligibility are of an emergent and extraordinary nature until the student-athlete's undue hardship waiver request can be heard at the next scheduled meeting of the Sectional Appeals Committee. If the committee denies the waiver request, the student immediately becomes eligible. The school that allowed the student to participate while he or she had provisional eligibility, however, will not be penalized unless it is determined that the Commissioner granted the provisional eligibility on the basis of erroneous information.

• Approved the appointment of Frank Baquedano, athletic director at Southwest Miami High School, to fill the vacant public school representative seat on the Section 4 Appeals Committee.

• Adopted the final versions of the FHSAA and Land Corporation budgets for the 2006-07 fiscal year.

• Heard a report from the first meeting of the Cheerleading Advisory Panel, but took no action.

• Heard a second reading of the proposed comprehensive revision to the Association's membership bylaws. Board members will study the proposed revision and submit suggestions to staff. A third and final draft will be read at the Board's November meeting, and considered for submission to the 2007 Representative Assembly.

• Heard an update on the FHSAA Handbook Revision Task Force.

• Heard an update on the independent Student-Athlete Recruiting Task Force.

About the FHSAA
The Florida High School Athletic Association is the governing body for interscholastic athletic competition in Florida. It has a membership of more than 750 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 November 19-20, 2006 at the Robert W. Hughes FHSAA Building in Gainesville.

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