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NCHSAA makes changes for upcoming sports year [The Stokes News, Walnut Cove, N.C. :: ](Stokes News, The (Walnut Cove, NC) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) July 02--The North Carolina High School Athletic Association Board of Directors completed a recent Board meeting at the NCHSAA offices. "The Board had a number of very difficult issues to address," said Davis Whitfield, commissioner. "We had a very lengthy agenda, and, in the end, the Board was thoughtful and made decisions that it felt was in the best interests of all member schools." Annette Johnson, Stokes County Athletic Director said one of the most important changes is the elimination of the pod system for the 1A schools (North Stokes) in football. "The 1A football coaches have been asking to be aligned with 2A, 3A, and 4A schools. The Board of Directors listened and all football playing schools within the membership will be treated the same," Johnson said. According to Johnson, Stokes County athletics already adhere to several of the new stipulations such as offering the NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching Course, the Concussion Course, and the Sportsmanship course. "The Sportmanship Course has been a NCHSAA requirement for the past several years but they are changing the course the athlete has to take to a NFHS course which will not require payment. Any thought in how to cut cost is always appreciated," Johnson said. The NCHSAA Board of Directors annually adopts changes to meet the needs of the membership schools and athletes. "Our schools embrace changes that are made to improve the operation and safety of our sports programs," Johnson said. Among some of the items which were approved: --approved dropping pod system for seeding for 1-A schools --approved football mercy rule: if point differential reaches 42 or more by halftime or any point thereafter, game will resort to running clock with timeouts after scores or when called by teams, or will be terminated by mutual agreement --approved basketball mercy rule; if score reaches 40 point differential at halftime or thereafter, game will resort to a running clock, including administration of free throws or all other dead ball situations, except for timeouts called by coach --approved a 23-match regular season limitation for volleyball --approved state association adoption to allow conferences to have shootouts in regular season soccer games after the two 10-minute overtime periods --approved 2015 and 2016 football calendar, with August 1 date for beginning practice --accepted incident and penalty report --accepted ejection report, noting that fighting is down with ejections for fighting last year at 209, currently 145 --approved change to use now a different course for those ejected or disqualified: "any student-athlete who is ejected or disqualified from a contest is required to complete the NFHS Sportsmanship course before being eligible to return to competition." --increased minimum eligibility standard for officials on tests to score of 75; current standard is set at 65 --changed ejection/disqualification reporting protocol; athletic directors will no longer be required to submit report of ejection or disqualification, but will be required to send in confirmation email of receipt for that report; effective date would be August 1 --approved new regional supervisors of officials: Robin Forehand of Northeastern Volleyball Association, Steve Morgan of Northeastern Soccer Association, Charlie Jenkins of Southeastern Wrestling Association --approved fine for non-compliance with concussion management course requirement, approving $500 fine per game for coaches who do not meet the mandate to take the NFHS concussion course or equivalent course incentive of one dollar per presale ticket sold by member schools back to the schools themselves for state championship football and basketball --approved recommendation from swimming and diving advisory committee that referee and two stroke and turn judges be required for meeting using six or fewer lanes; a referee and three stroke and turn judges would be required for meetings using more than six lanes --approved the NCHSAA implementing two year pilot program in basketball to assess administrative technical foul to offending team for non-compliance with uniform rule code; second year of program will assess direct technical foul to head coach for more comprehensive enforcement of uniform rule code --approved regulation that licensed athletic trainers or first responders are required for all wrestling competitions --approved that all testers/measures be certified and validated prior to start of wrestling season (skinfold measurer/hydration tester) --change in weekly limitation in wrestling to include a quad meet in item 6 of the weekly limitations; it would read "one dual, one tri, or one quad plus one multi team event" --changed timeline for coaches to complete NFHS Fundamentals of Coaching Course to "prior to the first playing date of the sport he or she coaches", instead of the "60-day window", effective August 1, 2014 --dressing for game or practicing: recommend change in Handbook to "dressing and being in the designated team area"...also add that "athletes who are disqualified or ejected during a contest will remain in the team area for supervision." --for individuals who qualify to regional or state individual playoffs: "schools that have individuals qualifying to the regional and/or state individual playoffs, after the regular season is over for the team (for the sport of wrestling, once individual regional seeding is completed), may work out or scrimmage one-on-one against students from another school where competition is not available at their own school. The number is limited to one partner for each qualifier advancing, whether from their own school or another school." ___ (c)2014 The Stoke News (Walnut Cove, N.C.) Visit The Stoke News (Walnut Cove, N.C.) at www.thestokesnews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |