Wisconsin High School Sports | Wisconsin Sports Network | WisSports.net

By Travis Wilson

WisSports.net Content Producer



There was so much information and discussion (what would you expect from a meeting that lasted 3 hours and 57 minutes) from today's meeting, that it was impossible to cover it all in one article. We've already gone in depth on both the 5-division basketball discussion and the district football proposal. Now its time to examine some of the "other" topics that generated discussion from today's Area Meeting in Barneveld that could end up having huge impacts on the high school sports landscapes.



The first item on the agenda was an open forum to voice concerns or questions that were not specifically to be addressed in today's meeting. Among those topics were:



- A waiver to allow schools to hire first-time coaches that may have coached players in the summer or out of season periods. Currently those coaches cannot join the staff immediately, but some schools would like them to be eligible if they are the most qualified candidates. WIAA Executive Director warned it was an opportunity for "calculated abuse", but it would be considered.

- The idea of a running clock in basketball for a "Mercy rule" was brought up, with the WIAA stating they would consider it with the coaches advisory council.

- There was a debate on whether to implement the new 43-foot pitching distance for softball in 2010 or 2011. The WIAA stated the coaches advisory council would address that soon.

- The rule on lightning was clarified to indicate that cloud to ground lightning would result in an automatic 30-minute delay, not just lightning off in the distance. A request was also made by a member school to clarify the procedures for ending a game early due to weather. Currently a "coaches agreement" provision applies, but sometimes coaches can't agree on whether to end, suspend, or make up an event.

- The question was posed if there were any considerations to reducing the number of contests. Deb Hauser stated that was not a widespread concern she had heard, and that the coaches are asking for more contests. Also stated that limiting contests could further push athletes to compete with club teams.



One issue that came up during the basketball state tournament in 2009 was that of an ineligible student causing a forfeit that was then appealed based on the "contribution to victory" clause in the rulebook. However, because of the tight turn-around time, it caused a great headache. An anticipated constitutional change for next season would remove that clause during tournament play, meaning forfeits due to ineligible players would be unable to be appealed using the "contribution to victory" clause.



Another anticipated constitutional change would be to increase the penalty for voluntarily withdrawing from a conference. Currently the problems lie with football and some schools leaving conferences, causing great disarray for the remaining members. The current penalty bans that school from post-season play for a period of four years in football. The proposed amendment would remove that school from the conference in all sports, not just football. It was described as a move to dissuade schools from leaving established conferences.



Summer contact was a hot topic as well. The WIAA proposed adjusting the calendar to make the "summer period" start date uniform as of the Saturday before Memorial Day. Some schools objected since they are in school until mid-June and wouldn't want winter coaches to use contact days while spring sports are still competing.



A similar issue revolved around calls for unlimited summer contact for sports. Right now, only some sports have unlimited summer contact, such as baseball, tennis, golf, and swimming/diving. Some schools are in favor of having unlimited contact extended to all coaches, while others were in favor of trimming that back from the existing sports.



One of the positives of having all sports receive unlimited contact as described by some is to alleviate some of the rural/urban pressures, especially in basketball. If a perceived advantage an urban or suburban school has it the ability for those players to go to many gyms, facilities, and club teams during the summer while rural schools lack the same opportunities, giving high school coaches the ability to assemble and provide constructive instruction to their players would help even the playing field. Deb Hauser stated this idea was first proposed by Suring's Gary Regal in an earlier meeting.



One issue that received overwhelming support was to remove bans on players participating and assembling during the school year but out of the sport season. For instance, many basketball players want to get together as a team shortly before the start of their season and play in tournament and scrimmages to prepare for the upcoming campaign. The WIAA currently has a rule on the books that disallows this, stating that teams "cannot in any way resemble school teams" during out-of-season competition. The WIAA admitted it was a very vague definition that they had concerns about holding up in court. An overwhelming number of delegates at today's meeting supported dropping this rule and allowing players to voluntarily assemble and play together as long as no high school coach is involved.



Recent Sportsmanship initiatives, H1N1 flu virus updates, and the addition of wheelchair-bound competition at the state track and field meet were also discussed. The WIAA staff indicated there would be further discussions on the summer baseball season, including the potential to combine it with spring, another proposal to limit the teams involved, as well as moving the summer state tournament site.



The WIAA also updated schools on two pilot programs currently in development. One involves live-streaming games via the WIAA.tv website through a turn-key partnership with When We Were Young Productions. The other was a School Licensing Group Pilot program that would encourage and give schools the ability to license their logos, name, and mascots. Any companies wishing to use those images would then have to secure licensing rights and pay a licensing fee. It would be a potential source of revenue for schools while helping them protect their names and images from being used by anyone who wanted to, including out of state companies soliciting advertising from local businesses.



At the end of the session, a drawing was held to award a $2,000 scholarship on behalf of Farmer's Insurance to one boys athletic program and one girls athletic program. Oregon High School was drawn to receive the girls scholarship while Belmont was drawn to receive the boys.