March 17, 2001
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Board of Directors Saturday (March 17) adopted a plan to gather broad input on another sportsmanship initiative which would create a Sportsmanship Power Index (SPI) for each Association member school.
The concept of the Sportsmanship Power Index involves member school’s rating their opponents’ sportsmanship for regular season and state series contests. A school’s SPI will reflect ratings in each sport in which ratings are generated, as well as a combined overall rating. The School Center on the IHSA Web Site will be utilized in gathering game-by-game data. The ratings will be posted on the Web Site.
When Dave Fry became Executive Director of IHSA a decade ago, he established sportsmanship as his No. 1 priority. Since then the Add A. Tude sportsmanship mascot campaign has blossomed. The SPI can be the vehicle to tie all loose ends together.
"The Board finds the concept to be intriguing, but we need to learn from people at our member schools who are involved in the programs on a day to day basis how, or even if, a Sportsmanship Power Index can work," Fry said. "If we can put something together that will be beneficial to personnel at our member schools and in their communities, the SPI just may become as important to IHSA schools as the RPI is to college basketball teams."
Eligibility Decisions
The Board took the following action regarding appeals:
1) Sustained the Executive Director’s ruling that three students are ineligible for three sports seasons from Dec. 1, 2000, for noncompliance with Transfer By-laws 3.041 and 3.043. The students transferred from Yorkville to Aurora (Central Catholic) without a move by the family to another school district.
2) Sustained the Executive Director’s ruling that a student is ineligible at Springfield (H. S.) is ineligible for noncompliance with the transfer by-law regarding guardianship.
Discussion Items
At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items the Board discusses, but upon which it takes no action. Following is a report of those on the March 2001, agenda:
Brentwood Supreme Court Ruling: The Board heard a report from IHSA counsel Wayne Plaza regarding the ramifications of the ruling on state associations.