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Girls wrestling, boys volleyball and more proposals coming at IHSAA board of directors meeting

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PLAINFIELD – The Indiana High School Athletic Association board of directors will meet Monday to vote on several bylaw proposals. I attended a meeting Wednesday morning at Plainfield High School, where IHSAA commissioner Paul Neidig addressed the proposals with athletic directors from Central Indiana.

The bylaw proposals can come from principals, board members or the commissioner, at times the behalf of the coaches associations. This is a year for team sport proposals (next year will be an individual sport year for bylaw proposals).  I marked the straw poll results below from the meeting at Plainfield, but note there are six meetings statewide.

Here are some of the highlights of the proposals that will come before the board on Monday:

Vote on girls wrestling and boys volleyball as recognized sports

Girls wrestling and boys volleyball were approved unanimously as emerging sports two years ago, paving the way for those to become full “recognized” sports by the IHSAA.

Neidig reported “amazing” growth in girls wrestling, which has boomed from less than 300 girls participating in club wrestling five years ago to 1,444 girls representing 177 high schools in the state this season. As of October, 44 states sanction girls wrestling.

“The growth in girls wrestling has been phenomenal,” Neidig said.

The IHSAA changed the rule a year ago that requires 50% of the membership to participate in a sport to be approved as a recognized sport (that bylaw change will also be officially voted on Monday). The minimum requirement is now 100 schools across the state’s three districts. Once a sport reaches that threshold, the board can consider it for adoption as a recognized sport.

Neidig said 105 schools are participating this spring in boys volleyball.

The straw poll at Plainfield was heavily in favor (62-4).

Girls lacrosse’s potential as emerging sport

Neidig said coaches associations from both boys and girls lacrosse have expressed interest in moving forward as emerging sports, though only girls lacrosse will likely be up for vote on Monday.

Last spring, Wisconsin became the 25th state to sanction high school lacrosse. Most states play lacrosse in the spring. Neidig addressed the athletic directors’ concerns about adding another sport to an already busy slate, but added that an opportunity for participation should be a reason to consider adding lacrosse.

“Not every school in the state of Indiana participates in every offering the association has,” Neidig said, adding that about 75% of the schools participate in boys soccer and about 20 schools fewer in girls soccer. He added that the status as an “emerging sport” could last longer than a two-year period if necessary.

The straw poll at Plainfield showed 34 in favor and 27 against.

Criteria for classifying schools

As the rules are currently written, 95% of membership schools must play a sport for it to move to four classes. A proposal submitted by Franklin principal Steve Ahaus calls for that number to be lowered to 75%.

This proposal calls for team sports (other than football) to be classified up to a maximum of four classes according to the following criteria:

∎ If 25% of member schools sponsor a team (a little more than 100), the sport would have two classes.

∎ If 50% of member schools sponsor a team (a little more than 200), the sport would have three classes.

∎ If 75% of member schools sponsor a team (a little more than 300), the sport would have four classes.

For example, boys volleyball would start with two classes. Boys soccer, Neidig said, is just over the 75% threshold and would go to four classes under that proposal.

“Another thing the board would have to consider is if it is OK for boys soccer to have four classes and girls to stay at three,” Neidig said.

Because the IHSAA just went through a realignment process (sectional alignments will be released on Tuesday), this proposal would not go into effect for two years if it is voted through.

The straw poll at Plainfield showed 61 in favor and 11 against.

Change to tournament success factor

Stacey Brewer, the principal at Yorktown, submitted a proposal to address the change that has been made to the one-game regional and two-game semistate and how it relates to the tournament success factor.

As it stands, if a school is moved up a class via the tournament success factor, it must earn three points (a regional championship is worth two points, a sectional one) during a two-year period to stay up (that was changed from two points last year). Under Brewer’s proposal, another point would be added, meaning a school would have to accumulate four points during a two-year period to remain up a class.

The straw poll at Plainfield showed just 15 in favor and 52 opposed to that change.

Proposal on limited contact program

This proposal, submitted by Neidig on behalf of the participation study committee, deals with the out-of-season limited contact program. Currently, out-of-season athletes are allowed to participate in limited contact sessions twice a week, for two hours at a time. This change would allow three sessions per week for two hours at a time, but also would not change the total number of contact days allowed or the time span for the limited contact program.

“Let’s say you take your fall break and are gone for a week,” Neidig said. “Instead of losing those two limited contact days, you could bank those days and use them another time when it’s open by going three times a week.”

This proposal would be for team and individual sports. There were 45 in favor and 23 opposed in the straw poll at Plainfield.

Volleyball players on a non-school team

The Indiana High School Volleyball Coaches Association submitted a proposal to raise the maximum number of players on a non-school team from the same school from three to four (baseball allows five, basketball three, football six, soccer seven and softball five).

There were 44 in favor and 27 opposed in the straw poll at Plainfield.

An additional moratorium week

There is a currently a moratorium week that starts every year on the Monday corresponding with July 4 that includes no contact with coaches, no athletic activities or conditioning.

Under this proposal, there would be another five week days of no contact between athletes and coaches, athletic activities and conditioning. Those five days could be selected by the schools and spread out at their choosing.

“There has always been talk about a second moratorium week and the schools designating a week and some schools do that currently,” Neidig said. “I think this proposal has some merit.”

The majority at Plainfield (49 votes) were in favor.

Right to review committee timeline

Under the current bylaw, an affected party has seven days to request a review of an adverse decision from the IHSAA. This proposal would change that to 30 days.

Neidig said the IHSAA has been flexible on this rule in the past, often extending past 30 days. “We’re trying to clean this up a little bit,” he said. “We think 30 days is reasonable. Once we get to the 30-day mark, we’re going to hold to the standard of that the ruling becomes final.”

There were 60 in favor and seven opposed in the straw poll results.

Rulings on transfer investigations

This proposal deals with the transfer process. In addition to the usual rules for eligibility, this rule regarding the limited eligibility waiver asks for the sending and receiving school principals to have a conversation.

The proposal reads, in part: “The principals of the sending and receiving member schools each affirm in writing that the principals consulted, the transfer is in the best interest of the student, and there are no athletic related motives surrounding the transfer. A written verification from both the principals of the sending and receiving member schools is an absolute prerequisite.”

Neidig believes this proposal will help with transparency in the process. “It can’t be done blindly anymore,” he said.

This proposal had strong support with 57 in favor and eight opposed.

Past link rule

Neidig said the “past link” rule, which falls under undue influence, receives more discussion in the IHSAA office than any other.

“We’ve seen a ten-fold increase in (past link) cases,” Neidig said.

The proposal coming to a vote Monday on the past link rule: The student would be ineligible in the sport with a past link for 365 days. The student would have full eligibility in all other sports.

There were 61 votes in the straw poll in favor and nine opposed.

Moving up baseball season one week

A proposal from the baseball coaches association would move up practice one week (not games). There were 38 in favor and 31 opposed via the straw poll at Plainfield.

Guidance on beach volleyball/volleyball

Roncalli Kevin Banich submitted a proposal that distinguishes the indoor high school volleyball season as a different sport from beach volleyball. This issue came up last year when a Roncalli volleyball player was not allowed to play beach volleyball during the high school season, though that decision was later overturned by the review committee.

The bylaw proposal would consider beach volleyball a different sport than indoor volleyball. Neidig said the IHSAA’s original decision was based on health and overuse issues of the athletes and potential conflicts with the high school team.

“The question really comes down to, ‘Is beach volleyball a different sport from indoor volleyball?’” Neidig said, adding that he believes it steps closer to allowing travel baseball to play at the same time as high school baseball or AAU basketball at the same time as high school basketball. “Is a coach OK with an athlete stepping away from that commitment? With this change, it puts those two things relatively close to each other.”

The straw poll at Plainfield had 16 in favor and 51 opposed.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

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