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WIAA Board of Control approves football practice contact regulations plus numerous winter sports changes

06/26/2014, 3:45pm CDT
By Travis Wilson

The summer meeting of the WIAA Board of Control is always a busy one, as it serves as a wrap-up of the sport season, is when winter sports rule changes are voted on, and whatever else comes up (such as the Valley Football Association vote a few years ago and the football contact regulations this season).

One of the big items on this year's agenda was that proposal to limit contact at football practices both before and during the season. If you're unfamiliar with the proposal, please check here for more info.

WIAA Deputy Director Wade Labecki, who is responsible for both football and the Sports Medical Committee, spoke briefly about the proposal and how it came forward, encouraging passage of the plan with implementation for 2014.

The Board of Control approved the plan by a 10-0 vote.

In the last few days I've talked to more than a dozen football coaches, including some of the most successful coaches in the state, and all indicated support for the plan and that it would not have significant impacts on their programs or how they setup practices. All indicated they've followed most of the guidelines previously, with several indicating their programs would have been in full compliance for many years.

In another measure, the Board of Control approved a slight modification to the mandatory scheduling agreement between the South Central and Capitol Conferences. In the past, the arrangement called for the leagues to schedule 2 football, 4 basketball, 4 baseball, and 4 softball games against each other. The modified plan, supported and advanced by both conferences, would reduce the commitment for basketball, baseball, and softball to just 2 games.

Winter Sports & Administrative Proposals

Nearly two dozen proposals for winter sports and administrative changes were on the agenda for the WIAA. Below are the recommended changes and the outcome of the Board of Control vote.

Basketball:

1. Recommend in the summertime (starting in the summer of 2015) June 16-July 31, Tuesday through Thursday only, member schools may have unrestricted school coaching contact in the sport of basketball for individual instructional use only. This does not replace the five unrestricted school days. Instructional and individual workouts can include work with no more than three players at a time for more than 1 hour. There may be no basketball contact by the school’s coach or their assistants, designee or proxy during the calendar week of July 4.  No vote

WSN note:  This item is a Constitutional item and will be on the Board of Control agenda in 2015 to vote to possibly advance to the 2015 Annual Meeting. 

2. Recommend that a 6-quarter waiver be provided to programs that have 12 or less players over 2 levels.  Yes 10-0

3. Recommend the warmup period be reduced from 20 minutes to 15 minutes.  No 0-10

4. Recommend the number of games for Grade 9 only teams be increased to 22.  Yes 8-2

5. Recommend coaches at all levels be allowed to use the coaching box (amended to apply to games from grade level 9-12, not middle school).  Yes 10-0

6. Recommend the brackets in basketball be set as half brackets with no allowance provided for member schools to vote on changing the design.  No 1-9

7. Recommend Division 5 teams having a conflict with their team playing in a Thursday sectional semifinal game and the Thursday state game have the sectional game moved to Wednesday night similar to what is done for Division 4.  Yes 10-0

8. Recommend an allowance be made for any school located 80 miles or more from the seeding meeting site to participate in the seeding meeting via electronic means.  Yes 10-0

9. Recommend a 3-point challenge be added to the 2015 girls and boys State Tournaments.  Yes 10-0

Wrestling:

1. Recommend the use of assistant referees for all final rounds at individual regional and individual sectional tournaments, and for semifinals and finals at the individual and team state tournaments.  Yes 10-0

2. Recommend the third and fifth place matches be run concurrently by weight class and division at the State Individual tournament.  Yes 10-0

3. Recommend all semifinal matches at state individual wrestling start at the same time for each weight by division.  No 1-9

4. Recommend the state team wrestling tournament be seeded by the head coaches of the teams that qualify.  No 3-7

5. Recommend Division 2 and 3 regional tournaments be combined into two larger “super regionals” using a 12-contestant bracket to determine advancement to the sectional tournament. Individual places 1-4 would advance to the individual sectional with cross bracketing and the top 2 teams would advance to the team sectional with cross brackets. If more than 12 individuals compete in a weight class, pigtail matches would be used and the defeated wrestlers would not advance. Implement for 14-15 tournament.  No 0-10

6. Recommend in Division 1, the top two teams from regionals advance to the team sectional. The semifinal matches would be cross bracketed with the winner of the finals advancing to the State Team Tournament.  No 0-10

7. Recommend the start time for the finals session at the State Team Tournament remain at 3 p.m.  Yes 10-0

Hockey:

1. Recommend the use of video replay at the State Hockey tournament to review questionable goals and correct time on the score clock.  Yes 10-0

2. Recommend the Thursday and Friday sessions begin at 11 a.m. with the second game starting 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first game. Evening session would begin at 5 p.m. with second game to start 30 minutes after end of first game.  Yes 10-0

3. Recommend coaches seed the top four teams in the boys and girls state tournament with the remaining four teams in the boys bracket being placed by random draw.  No 3-7

Gymnastics:

1. Recommend that “mathematical error” be deleted from the inquiry sheet.  Yes 10-0

2.  Recommend that a co-op would only be allowed if it consisted of a maximum of two schools or the combined enrollment of the co-op is less than the largest stand alone gymnastics school in their respective division.  No official vote

WSN note: This item is a Constitutional item and will be on the Board of Control agenda in 2015 to vote to possibly advance to the 2015 Annual Meeting. 

Medical Advisory:

1. Recommend the use of spider pads/hip/thigh protection on Day 4 and 5 in football acclimatization plan.  Yes 10-0

2. Recommend the fall practice recommendations/practice guidelines be implemented in the sport of soccer beginning in the fall of 2014.  Yes 10-0

Sportsmanship:

1. Recommend the WIAA office track the names of the officials that are submitting ejections.  No 0-10

2. Recommend a change to the Sportsmanship Public Address announcement to read as follows:

"'High school one' and 'high school two' and the WIAA require good sportsmanship at education-based sporting events. Attendance at interscholastic activities is a privilege with the expectation to exhibit positive and respectful behavior. For the enjoyment and respect of all in attendance, your cooperation in demonstrating the high ideals of sportsmanship is expected and greatly appreciated."  Yes 1-0

3. Recommend that rushing the playing surface during or immediately following a contest is prohibited. Incidents must be reported to the WIAA by the host school.  Yes 10-0


More information on the WIAA can be found on their website at www.wiaawi.org.
 

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