Staff report

COLUMBUS — Doug Ute, Ohio High School Athletic Association Executive Director, has announced that he will make a proposal to the OHSAA Board of Directors today at the board’s regularly-scheduled February meeting to amend General Sports Regulation 17, which determines how many tournament divisions should be used for each sanctioned sport.

The proposal follows months of discussion with the board and six recent regional meetings with member schools in each of the OHSAA’s athletic districts. The board could approve all of the proposal, none of the proposal, certain parts of the proposal, or delay all or parts of the proposal to a future meeting. For any parts of the proposal that are approved, the board will also determine the year of implementation.

The proposal affects the sports of soccer, girls volleyball, basketball, softball and baseball. The board will continue to discuss additional sports, noting several recent meetings regarding track and field.

The proposal does not include any expansion to the football postseason, which is already at seven divisions. In addition, any changes to the current deployment of the Competitive Balance process would need to be voted upon by OHSAA member schools during the annual referendum voting process.

Each year, the Board of Directors would still have final authority in determining how many divisions to be used that school year, but the proposal calls for the following scale to be used to guide the board’s decision on the number of divisions for girls volleyball, football, soccer, basketball, softball and baseball, however note that the sports of lacrosse, field hockey, ice hockey and boys volleyball would not change from their current division numbers:

• 199 or fewer teams: 1 Division

• 200 to 299 teams: 2 Divisions

• 300 to 399 teams: 3 Divisions

• 400 to 499 teams: 4 Divisions

• 500 to 599 teams: 5 Divisions

• 600 to 699 teams: 6 Divisions

• 700 and more teams: 7 Divisions

For girls volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball and baseball, the largest 64 schools would be placed into Division I. The next largest 64 schools would be placed into Division II. The remaining schools would be divided as evenly as possible into the remaining divisions. The OHSAA already does something similar to this in football, in which the largest 10 percent of schools are placed into Division I and the remaining schools are divided evenly in Divisions II through VII.

The proposal does not call for a change to the formula that the OHSAA uses for individual sports to determine the number of student-athletes required for team designation, which includes five in bowling, five in cross country (who score for their team at the district tournament), four in golf, three in girls gymnastics, seven in swimming and diving, four in tennis, nine in track and field and seven in wrestling.

The proposal calls for the following number of divisions to be used for individual sports:

• 200 or fewer teams: 1 Division

• 201 to 450 teams: 2 Divisions

• 451 to 700 teams: 3 Divisions

• 701 and more teams: 4 Divisions

OHSAA member schools vote to determine any changes to the bylaws or constitution via the referendum process each spring. Member schools also vote for representatives for their District Athletic Boards, who are then selected to serve on the State Board of Directors on a three-year term. The Board of Directors are then charged with reviewing and approving the General Sports Regulations on behalf of the OHSAA membership. The OHSAA General Sports Regulations do not go to the member schools for voting and are posted at: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/Sports/GeneralSportsRegulations.pdf

If the increased number of divisions is approved by the board, the OHSAA will announce structural and date changes for future state tournaments at a later date.

sports@vindy.com