Leading off today: I spent half of my nearly 25-year career at the Rochester newspaper working a variety of jobs on the website. It gave me the opportunity to interact with every department, but I still had frequent contact with the newsroom.
At one point, we were asked to build a tool that would help the features department publish additional content to the website. They envisioned all sorts of bells and whistles at a time when "web development" tools were primitive at best.
Anyway, our webmaster and a contract web developer plugged away as requests for changes and still more features arrived. In the end, the publishing tool worked, but the code that drove it wasn't pretty; the process had a lot of components, any one of which could foil the daily production with one hiccup.
On the day we handed the interface off to the newsroom to start training employees, I met with the VP for news. "The good news is we gave you everything they asked for," I told her. "The bad news is we gave you everything they asked for."
Let's just say that I got my share of 1 a.m. phone calls over the next year from newsroom staff informing me that the publishing tool wasn't working.
I tell that story here because Wednesday's NYSPHSAA Executive Committee meeting in Saratoga Springs reminded me of that "good news/bad news" conversation. Three months after asking the association's office staff to fast-track something, the membership took a look at the specifics and said, "Um, wait."
The Three-Region Option is on hold for now
It took me awhile to grasp the Three-Region Concept, which creates consistency in regional scheduling for champions of the 11 New York State Public High School Athletic Association sections while introducing at-large berths in certain situations. But its six months later, and I've familiarized myself with the positives as well as some potential downsides.
Upon taking a look at the latest draft beforehand and then discussing it at the quarterly meeting in February, the Executive Committee voted 18-4 to instruct Executive Director Robert Zayas to give them a version they could vote on in May because they wanted to implement the Three-Region Concept this fall instead of waiting for the 2026-27 school year as planned.
It was understandable they were in that much of a hurry since the new format theoretically does make planning a bit easier for ADs and sectional staff while doing away with a lot of administrative busy work at the state level. But the fact that they made a hard left turn at that point of the process surprised me even though Zayas had said ahead of time that sentiment was moving in that direction.
I rationalized at the time that the Executive Committee, consisting of two representatives from each section, was calling a pretty big audible but the 18-4 margin was indicative that the respective sectional committees supported "sooner rather than later."
But everything changed in the minutes leading up to Wednesday's vote. Suddenly, there were questions and concerns, some of which I'd heard aired in the past. But I thought the membership had more or less accepted them over the course of time, begrudgingly or otherwise:
• Do teams losing in their sectional tournament deserve that shot at a state championship via the at-large route, even if we're only taking about one team in just some sports and just some classes?
• Might a potential sectional winner "tank" their championship game if the coach projects an easier path through the at-large berth?
• Why should all regional contests involving at-large participants we played in Section 4?
• Has anyone run numbers on the potential financial and logistical strain on Section 4 to host those at-large games each year?
On top of all that, there was reluctance to give Zayas (after consultation with the NYSPHSAA president) to make the final decision on unanticipated situations that might arise, particularly when a matter had to be decided almost immediately.
The longer the discussion went on, the more it became apparent that the "all systems go" for a September launch wasn't forthcoming. A new motion -- postpone the vote until July, therefore pushing implementation to no earlier than September 2026 -- was put on the floor, and Sections 2, 4, 5, 6, 7 , 8, and 10 cast their votes in favor of hitting the brakes.
I would have distilled the 15 paragraphs above down to maybe 200 words if not for what happened maybe an hour earlier.
With a vote scheduled on a proposal to require three nights of rest for teams between regional contests, the discussion turned after a committee member asked whether the proposal could be amended to two nights of rest. That motion was granted, triggering an objection on the grounds that a change that significant is worthy of further discussion at the local level; Executive Committee members vote in accordance with the wishes of their section, not their own preferences.
Nevertheless, the vote to amend the proposal to two nights failed 12-10. Moments later, the original proposal for three nights failed 17-5. Consequently, the sections will continue using current practices for scheduling regional contests.
If only the room knew at that moment what they would realize an hour later about the implications changing on the fly ...
What's next?
NYSPHSAA President Tim Mullins has committed to either reconvening the committee that formulated the Three-Region Option or assembling a new group to work through concerns that were raised Wednesday.
Since implementation for next school year is now off the table, it's not imperative that the next draft of the plan gets approved when the Executive Committee next meets July 29-30 in Schenectady as part of the annual Central Committee meeting.
If it doesn't gain approval then, however, then we're back -- at least temporarily -- to having various committees build, scrutinize, and approve new regional rotations under the Guiding Principles protocols. It's not exceedingly difficult, but it is a process.
Speaking of processes
The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee did a lot of work to get this far and now has more work ahead after the Executive Committee passed a motion instructing them to explore alternative strategies for enhancing participation and representation across committee structures.
The DEI Committee had been seeking voting positions on the Central Committee, Executive Committee and individual sport committees.
Even if the vote had gone a different way and approved the more ambitious proposal, it would have only been the first step in a longer process because it would have required changes to the NYSPHSAA's constitution.
That requires a referendum in which every member school submits a ballot signed by the AD, principal, and chief school officer. At least two-thirds of schools must approve the proposed amendment, and seven of the 11 sections must also support it.
Some of the day's other business
• The earlier concern about improvising on the fly aside, some quick changes are necessary. That's why the Executive Committee approved a motion to waive the seven-day rule for the remainder of the spring season, allowing teams to play seven consecutive days to make up the numerous weather postponements from recent weeks.
• On other scheduling matters, the Executive Committee approved calendar changes so that fall sports can begin two weeks before Labor Day and spring sports can start on the second Monday in March. Also, eight-man football's regional championship was moved up a week and co-located to the venue for 11-man football's west semifinals.
• The boundary between Gameday and competitive cheerleading is now better defined with the vote to no longer recognize the latter as a fall sport. That effectively ends the sizeable head start some competitive squads get in developing their choreography.
• Outdoor track relay entries at this spring's state meet will be limited to two alternates instead of four, eliminating more than 200 participants who don't actually participate since they did not qualify in other events. Indoor track is heading for the same reduction next winter.
(Somewhat related sidebar: An observation from the floor noted that sections can qualify more than a dozen competitors in events at the boys and girls swimming meets. While it's permissible under NYSPHSAA guidelines on the percentage of athletes advancing to championships, does a section's 12th or 16th best in an event belong at the state meet?)
The Executive Committee OK'd Valley Gymnastics in Utica (2026) and Cold Spring Harbor High School (2027-29) to host upcoming state gymnastics championships.
The proposal to create consistency in the number of awards handed out at state championships passed by a 12-10 margin despite a number of individual sports committees lodging the opposition.
Upcoming
The agenda for the two-day Central Committee meeting in July will come together over the coming weeks. Already, a proposal for ticket price increases for state championships will go up for a vote, and time will be penciled in for the yet-to-be determined proposal from the Schools Without Boundaries ad hoc committee.
