Sunday, July 23, 2017: (con't) NYSPHSAA Central Committee meeting preview

    • The committee will be asked to approval acceptance of Tommy Tough Football standards, a national educational and awareness initiative already embraced by Sections 8 and 11.

   There are no football rules changes involved other than having officials discreetly remove a player from the field for a minimum of one play for safety reasons related to targeting a defenseless player on an illegal helmet hit.

   What we might see materialize is the mandatory addition of a "player safety coach" trained by USA Football, but that's a discussion for down the road.

    • Declines in enrollments over the year have left Section 7 without a girls soccer represnetative to put forward in Class A. The committee is being asked to OK a plan to rotate the resulting first-round bye in the region among Sections 2, 3 and 10 instead of letting the Section 10 rep automatically advance to the quarterfinals against the 2 vs. 3 winner.

   Other sports have faced similar issues in the past, and baseball has a comparable situation to resolve, though it remains in the discussion stage (more below).

   Let's talk: The matters to be voted on this week for the most part began as inquiries and discussions somewhere between one and two years ago, giving representatives at the sectional and state level time to chime in and formulate the proposals.

   A development at the Central Committee meeting a year ago -- a story broken by the New York State Sportswriters Association -- offers an example. That's when NYSPHSAA Executive Director Robert Zayas announced the formation of sub-committees to study two ideas following the latest flare-up of the ongoing public schools vs. private controversy.

   One of the ideas -- moving private and charter schools into two newly formed sections conmparable to the existing 11 -- was mothballed earlier this year after an Executive Committee majority said it was not interested in proceeding in light of numerous hurdles unlikely to be overcome.

   Idea No. 2, forming an oversight committee to act as a second set of eyes after sectional classification committees make placement decisions for private and charter school teams, will get discussed further by the Central Committee and seemingly is on track for a vote later this year or early in 2018.

   The proposal has already been discussed to varying degrees at three Executive Committee meetings. The 11 sectional executive directors recommended late last year to apply the brakes until questions raised by NYSPHSAA legal counsel Renee James about procedural issues could be addressed.

   We should know soon if those questions remain unresolved.

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   Also for discussion: Whereas football and girls volleyball (see above) are at the finish line for mapping out new classification cutoffs, the process for the most important set of numbers is in the early stages. The so-called "five-classification" cutoff numbers are up for review and adjustment, presumably to take effect in September 2018.

   These are the numbers that apply to the most popular sports -- boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball, baseball and softball.

   It's too soon to tell where the cutoffs will land, but these are the numbers in play for the moment:

Class	Current cutoffs	Potential cutoffs
Class AA	910-over	965-over
Class A	480-909	500-964
Class B	280-479	270-499
Class C	170-279	150-269
Class D	169-under	149-under

   The hunch here is that the Class D ceiling will rise a little bit, which might have a ripple effect on the rest. By and large, though, these are the numbers to keep in mind as the process plays out.

NYSSWA All-Sport Championship   KERR CUP HOME  |  2017 top overall schools   Class-by-class boys  |  Class-by-class girls   Annual top 10 | Annual class champions   2016 Kerr Cup | 2015 | 2014 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009   More about NYSSWA Kerr Cup

   And, yes, that gap between the the smallest and largest Class A schools is getting very scary.

    • Expect a fresh reminder that schools entered in the NYSPHSAA competitive cheer championships need to follow licensing laws with respect to the music used in their routines. Given that Spectrum Cable decided not to broadcast last winter's tournament in large part over copyright concerns, this is no small matter.

   Speaking of Spectrum, we may get some fresh insight into the cable company's intent for the upcoming school year with respect to broadcasting championships in football, basketball, wrestling, lacrosse and some other sports. It appears increasingly likely that most if not all state-tournament content will be moved to online streaming platforms.

    • Incoming state baseball coordinator Al Roy is hitting the ground running, pitching a request to expand the regular-season schedule by two games to 22 in conjunction with implementation of a 10-run mercy rule. Part of the rationale in asking for more games is to compensate for innings lost in games ended prematurely by lopsided scores.

   The prevailing opinion seems to be that the two ideas should be unbundled and considered on their own merits. One obvious issue is that approving more games in one sport will lead to "me too" requests from others.

    • Baseball currently locks down its state tournament schedule in February but wants to move that back to May in order avoid some situations in which a sectiional champion can receive a bye into the NYSPHSAA semifinals. There was just such an instance last spring when Heuvelton and Fort Ann had to play a prequarterfinal but S.S. Seward advanced directly from sectionals to the state semifinals because Section 11 did not have a representative.

    • The softball committee already does not use the international tiebreaker system in the state final four. They're now putting forth the idea of ditching the rule for first- and second-round games, as well as adding a 12-run mercy rule to the tournament.

    • The New York State Athletic Administrators Association has been pushing for a minimum certification requirement for school and district athletic directors. Central Committee members will likely get an update on a meeting with the State Education Department that the NYSAAA characterized as encouraging.

    Many ADs already possess a Certified Athletic Administrator seal of approval. Superintendents in other districts are understandably concerned about a fresh layer of bureaucracy and the potential expense of a CAA for ADs who've already been doing their job capably.

    • The wrestling committee is looking at placing a limit on the number of two-day, non-bracketed tournaments during the regular season. There is a concern about the cost associated with overnight travel, which puts some teams at a disadvantage when it comes to individuals piling up wins that will help them land at-large berths in the state tournament.

   This is the first I've heard of it, but it seems prudent to at least explore whether it's a substantial problem.