IHSA Announcement

June 11, 2007

Board Approves New Severe Weather Policy, Acts on Advisory Committee Recommendations

The Illinois High School Association’s Board of Directors voted to adopt a new severe weather policy effective with the start of the 2007-08 school year and acted on a series of advisory committee recommendations at their regularly scheduled meeting today.   

The new severe weather policy will provide schools and state series managers with easier to follow guidelines for making a determination to suspend play when conditions warrant.  The policy, which will be published in IHSA sport specific manuals and be available on line, was developed as a part of talks between IHSA staff and the National Weather Service.  In addition, the IHSA will work with the NWS to highlight Lightning Safety Awareness Week, which is scheduled for June 24-30.  The new policy calls for play in state series competitions to be suspended whenever cloud to ground strikes of lightning are observed or thunder is heard.  Play can then be resumed 30 minutes after the last observation of either thunder or lightning. 

“We are appreciative of the efforts of the National Weather Service in assisting us with the development of this new policy,” said IHSA Executive Director Dr. Marty Hickman.  “The safety of participants and fans is our highest priority, and this adjustment in our approach to handling severe weather will not only make things easier for tournament managers from a management standpoint, but also provide a safer environment for our state series contests.”

Also Monday, Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin football coach Ken Leonard was presented with two awards from the NFHS Coaches Association.  Coach Leonard received both the 2006 Sectional Coach of the Year and 2006 National Coach of the Year in football.  Coach Leonard, whose coaching career includes a stop in Gridley, has a career record of 246-57, and his SH-G teams have captured the last two IHSA Class 5A football titles.

“Ken Leonard is most deserving of these awards from the NFHS Coaches Association,” said Dr. Hickman. “His teams, regardless of their records, have always conducted themselves with class and dignity, representing Sacred Heart-Griffin in a first class manner. Among the most respected coaches in Illinois, Coach Leonard is also a first-class individual, and his efforts have long set the standard for other coaches in our state.”

Board Acts on Terms and Conditions Recommendations

Additionally, the Board acted on a series of advisory committee recommendations, including the highly-publicized recommendation from the Sportsmanship Advisory Committee that dealt with fan decorum at state series contests.  While that recommendation was not approved, the Board did express its support for the committee’s attempt to address the decorum issue.

"Our advisory committees meet on an annual basis, usually soon after the completion of the state series in that sport or activity," noted IHSA Executive Director Dr. Martin L. Hickman. "Each advisory committee assesses the terms and conditions for its state tournament series, and all other facets of the sport or activity which may apply to the site of its state final event, and which may apply during the regular season."

A complete list of all recommendations concerned and the action taken on each can be found by accessing the specific advisory committee’s minutes.

A synopsis of the additional recommendations follows:

Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball
a.  Approved a recommendation to revise the Three-Point Shooting and Slam Dunk Terms and Conditions to adjust for the move to four classes in 2007-08.  In 2007-08, 32 contestants from each class will participate in the preliminary round of the respective Happening events.  The King and Queen of the Hill competitions will involve champions from all four classes.
           
Boys’ and Girls’ Bowling
a.  Approved a recommendation for the boys’ and girls’ state final tournament to have one or two “individual teams” be placed within each of the 5-team blocks for all rounds.
b.  Approved a recommendation that prohibits competitors and coaches from playing music with or without headphones, using cell phones, electronic devices or any other unusual equipment that might assist a bowler in receiving outside coaching or instruction at anytime.
c.  Approved a recommendation to allow bowlers to alter the surface of the ball during warm-ups and between rounds.

Competitive Cheerleading
a.  Approved a recommendation to allow a maximum of up to four competitive cheerleading coaches shall be allowed on the competition floor for the state series. 
b.  Approved a recommendation to prohibit any squad member or fan/parent from talking to the officials directly before, during or after competition. 

Boys’ and Girls’ Gymnastics
a.  Approved a recommendation to hold girls’ gymnastics sectional meets on Monday-Thursday of Week 32 in the IHSA Standardized Calendar.
b.  Approved a recommendation to hold the random draw for sectional rotation in girls’ gymnastics after the regional hosts have been determined.
c.  Approved a recommendation to prohibit schools from bringing their own safety collars and sting mats to the girls’ gymnastics state finals.
d.  Approved a recommendation to require state series hosts to provide only the super-wide uneven bars during state series meets.

Boys’ and Girls’ Soccer
a.  Approved a recommendation to play up to four 10-minute sudden victory overtime periods before going to penalty kicks to determine a winner in tied contests during the IHSA state series.
b.  Approved a recommendation that would extend the yellow card restrictions accumulated by players to also include coaches beginning with the 2007-08 school term.

Boys’ and Girls’ Swimming
a.  Approved a recommendation to establish Sectional Qualifying Standards for the Boys’ and Girls’ State Finals for the 2007-08 school term in the following manner:

2008 BOYS STANDARDS                                 2007 GIRLS STANDARDS
200 MR                    1:40.46                                  200 MR                         1:51.92
200 Free                   1:47.26                                  200 Free                        1:57.14
200 IM                     2:01.57                                  200 IM                          2:12.69
50 Free                     22.26                                    50 Free                          24.84
100 Butterfly             53.93                                    100 Butterfly                  1:00.14
100 Free                   48.73                                    100 Free                        53.99*
500 Free                   4:52.13                                  500 Free                        5:13.93
200 FR                     1:29.84                                  200 FR                          1:40.19*
100 Back                  55.47                                    100 Back                       1:00.82
100 Breast                1:02.46                                  100 Breast                     1:08.59*
400 Free Relay          3:17.83                                 400 Free Relay              3:40.03

                 * Indicates the use of last year’s qualifying standard

b.  Approved a recommendation to clarify the IHSA Uniform Rule in regards to one-piece suits.

Boys’ Wrestling
a.  Approved a recommendation to clarify the scoring method to use in all individual regional tournaments.  Effective with the 2007-08 school term, all brackets will be scored as an eight-person bracket.
b.  Approved two recommendations that clarify the growth allowance and minimum weight classes for wrestlers.

Chess
a.  Approved a recommendation to allow teams from the same conference to be paired anytime after the fourth round.
b.  Approved a recommendation to define exactly how the Communication Card process works.
c.  Approved a recommendation to alter the Team Tournament Requirement, starting with the 2008-09 season, so that qualifying tournaments must include at least six teams and not have a predetermined schedule (such as a round-robin format).

Journalism
a.  Approved a recommendation to switch the Blocks that Editorial Cartooning, Editorial Writing, and Feature Sports Writing are held.

Music
a.  Approved a recommendation in vocal sight reading only that 10 minutes shall be allowed for the group to do the following:  music is distributed to the students, the director offers verbal remarks about the music, everyone is  allowed to sing through the music one time only, a chord is given to re-establish the key/tonality of the music, the choir sings (a cappella) for adjudication, music  is collected.
b.  Approved a recommendation to set future dates for the State Organizational Contest as follows:

Officials
a.  Approved a recommendation to require all first year officials to attend a Level One Clinic in the sports that have two levels and a clinic in all the other sports that offer only one level, within the first year.
b.  Approved a recommendation to add one more component for recent clinic attendance to the power rating of an official. 

Scholastic Bowl
a.  Approved a recommendation to move the Scholastic Bowl State Finals to Friday beginning with the 2007-08 school term.

Speech
a.  Approved a recommendation in debate to allow the winning presiding officer from each chamber to advance to the semifinal session.
b.  Approved a recommendation to establish March 13-15, 2008, as the dates for the Debate State Finals next year.

Other Action

  1. The Board approved the association’s operating budget for the 2007-08 fiscal year.
  2. The Board approved a recommendation from the Executive Director to eliminate a series of illustrations that follow section 3.070 in the IHSA Handbook for the 2007-08 edition.
  3. The Board approved a recommendation from the Executive Director to revise Policy 18 in the IHSA Handbook for the 2007-08 school term.  The revisions to the Classification Policy allow the policy to accurately reflect the association’s move to a multiple class system next year.
  4. The Board approved a recommendation from the Executive Director to revise Policy 19 in the IHSA Handbook for the 2007-08 school term.  The revised language from the Grouping and Seeding Sate Tournament Series Policy will remove activities from the Policy.
  5. The Board approved a recommendation from Assistant Executive Directors Sue Hinrichsen and Kurt Gibson to push back the deadline for schools to submit their on-line List of Participants in boys’ and girls’ golf to Monday of Week 13 in the IHSA Standardized Calendar.  This will make September 24, 2007, the deadline for the 2007-08 instead of September 18, 2007.
  6. The Board approved a recommendation from the Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director Anthony Holman to form a Student Advisory Committee.  The committee will serve as a liaison between students from across the state and IHSA staff and will offer input and suggestions on current issues and initiatives facing the association.  The committee will be comprised of at least one student from each of the association’s 21 legislative districts.
  7. The Board approved a series of recommendations from the Executive Director aimed at reducing the number of publications printed by the association and increasing the number of those publications that are made available on line to member schools, licensed officials, and other entities. 
  8. The Board approved a recommendation requiring state final competitions to be played in class order (1A, 2A, 3A, 4A, etc.) for those state finals conducted in bracketed-team formats, including football.
  9. The Board approved a recommendation from the Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director Anthony Holman to revise the Boys’ Basketball Season Ticket Plan, allowing season ticket holders an opportunity to purchase the same seat for the state finals instead of the current rotation system used for season ticket holders.  Additional information on the plan will be shared with season ticket holders in advance of the 2007-08 season.

Discussion Items


At each meeting of the Board of Directors, there are certain agenda items that the Board discusses, but upon which it takes no action.  Following is a report of those items on this month’s agenda:

  1. The Board heard a report from Assistant Executive Director Kurt Gibson on behalf of the IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee concerning the status of the committee’s work on developing a drug testing proposal.  It is expected the committee will have a formal proposal for the Board’s consideration in September.
  2. The Board heard a report from Assistant Executive Director Dave Gannaway regarding the association’s officials education program and an effort being made by a consortium of state associations to provide additional education for officials beginning with the 2007-08 school term.
  3. The Board had discussion surrounding the use of the Mercy Rule in state series basketball contests.  Concern was expressed over the lopsided scores that occur during early rounds of the tournament.  While no action was taken, the issue will be taken to the IHSA Basketball Advisory Committee for additional review next year.
  4. The Board had discussion regarding racial diversity in officiating crews during IHSA state series contests.  No action was taken.
  5. The Board heard a report from the Executive Director that the Association received an award from the Illinois State Police on June 1, 2007, for its work in helping the State Police promote its safe driving programs over the past year.

Eligibility Rulings

1.  The Board sustained the Executive Director’s ruling on a student at Stanford (Olympia) High School. The student is a senior transfer student from Normal (Community West) High School who transferred to Stanford (Olympia) High School in August of 2006.  He was ruled ineligible in regard to his transfer to his semesters of attendance for failing to be in compliance with IHSA By-law 3.052.