Soccer Advisory Committee

Transcription

1 Soccer Advisory Committee Agenda Florida High School Athletic Association 1801 NW 80 th Blvd., Gainesville, FL Monday, February 24, :00 a.m. I. Introduction and Purpose II. III. IV. Mr. Ozuna called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. He welcomed committee members and attendees, and then notified members that the purpose of the meeting was to review the rules and regulations of FHSAA Soccer and make recommendations to the Board of Directors as deemed necessary. Meeting attendees were as follows: Rob Simons, Navarre High School; Ron Messick, Eastside High School (Gainesville); Brian Emrick, Seminole High School (Sanford); Scott Waisanen, Oviedo High School; Dustin Dahlquist, Palmetto High School; Denis Vukorep, Wharton High School (Tampa); David Villano, Ransom Everglades High School (Miami); Bob Bauman, Jesuit High School (Tampa), FACA Rep.; Don Dodge, High School Soccer Officials of Central Florida, Ex- Officio. FHSAA staff members present were Alex Ozuna, Craig Damon, Justin Harrison, Mike Colby and Shauni Lynch. Review Procedures, Agenda and Expense Vouchers Mr. Ozuna reviewed the procedures of the meeting, explained the process that a recommendation goes through prior to being implemented and gave the members time to complete their expense vouchers. Selection of Chairperson Committee members selected Scott Waisanen as the Chairperson. [Motion: Simons, Second: Emrick Vote Unanimous (7-0) to Approve] Review 2013 Minutes The 2013 Soccer Advisory Committee Meeting minutes were reviewed by the committee. [Motion: Emrick; Second: Bauman Vote Unanimous 7-0 to Approve the Minutes] V. Agenda for Adoption VI. [Motion: Simon; Second Messick. Vote Unanimous 7-0 to adopt the 2014 committee meeting agenda.] Review 2014 Soccer State Finals This year state final were held at Eastern Central Florida State College because of the re-introduction of the Final Four for each class. It was previously held in Melbourne but was moved because the school is not allowed to have games during school time. Eastern Central Florida State College had a great field and attendance was up for both boys and girls. Eastern Florida State College and the Space Coast Sports Promotions did an excellent job in hosting the State Championship Tournament. The facility was great and the staff and volunteers who worked the event did an excellent job. The only problem was with hotels in the area and reformulating the parking plans due to other events held on the college campus.

2 VII. Old Business a. Inter-Regional Play Recommendation: District finalist will not meet prior to reaching the regional final competition. Rationale: The consensus of the soccer advisory committee was that district opponents should not meet prior to reaching the regional final round of the regional tournament. The committee discussed the formation of a playoff bracket which places the champion of a district against the runner-up their neighboring district, but rearranges each match within each region in a way that will prevent the district opponents from meeting prior to the regional final. Discussion: The committee discussed this agenda item in depth and concluded that the best teams should advance to the regional final regardless of their district placement. The committee felt that it is unfair for teams which play each other multiple times during the regular season to play during the district finals and have to turn around and possibly see that team again less than one week later during the regional semifinal. The committee also indicated they will like to change add verbiage to the recommendations rationale to include that the regional final should show case the best eight teams in the class regardless of district placement and that the best teams in a class should be advance the regional final. The committee amended recommended to state the following: District finalist would not meet prior to the region final with exception for football. Have the most competitive or highest caliber teams reach the regional final, regardless if they are from the same district. [Motion: Simon; Second: Bauman Vote Unanimous 8-0 to amend the recommendation] [Motion: Bauman; Second: Simons Vote Unanimous 8-0 to approve the amended the recommendation] b. Official Game Clock Recommendation: The stadium clock will be unofficial, stopping the stadium clock at 2 minutes prior to the end of the each period. The official game time will be kept on the filed by the contest officials. Rationale: The stadium clock (as the official game timer) encourages timewasting tactics and creates unnecessary labor and cost burden for the host school. In addition, there will be minimal adjustment period for the officials, as most official kept time on the field in other leagues. Discussion: The consensus of the committee was that the official game clock should be kept by a contest official and not by the host school timer. The stadium clock (if available) should be unofficial and the official game clock will be kept by one of the contest officials. The committee amended recommended to state the following: The official time will be kept by a contest official on the field, and if the stadium clock is available, it is unofficial. [Motion: Bauman; Second: Messick Vote Unanimous 8-0 to amend the recommendation]

3 VIII. [Motion: Bauman; Second: Messick Vote Unanimous 8-0 to approve the amended recommendation] c. Three Whistle System Recommendation: To revert back to the Diagonal-Officiating system, instead of using the Double-Dual system (tree whistle system) as currently used. Rationale: The Soccer Advisory Committee felt that all other leagues, associations, and federations use the Diagonal-Officiating system, it works for them and because officials already use it in the other leagues, it will be an easy transition for the officials. In addition, the committee also felt that the overall decline in ejections since the inception of the Double-Dual was due, in part, to the coaches education of the players and not just the officiating system. Discussion: The committee discussed the agenda item at length and concluded that the Diagonal-Officiating system works better than the Double-Dual Officiating system because officials already use it in other leagues and are used to the Diagonal-Officiating system mechanics. In addition, the committee felt the causation of the reduction in ejections is not due to the implantation of the Double-Dual Officiating system, but is due in part to the coaches education of their players in regards to conduct on the field. [Motion: Vukorep; Second: Bauman Vote Unanimous 8-0 to approve recommendation] New Business a. Field Size Recommendation: A minimum standard for High School soccer field size be set at 110 yards long by 60 yards wide. Schools will have 5 years to make the necessary adjustments to be in compliance with dimensions and safety in order to host regular season contests. Fields must be in compliance for season to host a post season contest. Rationale: To establish minimum standards of play for boys and girls High School soccer to ensure competitive balance based on field requirements (there is no mandatory minimum field requirements, only a recommendation by the NFHS). Schools that routinely play on normal to large size fields (60 yards wide and bigger) are put at severe disadvantage when having to play on a field yards wide. It changes the entire way the game is played on that surface and creates an unjust advantage for the home team. Discussion: After a lengthy discussion, the consensus of the committee was that this recommendation would be difficult to implement due to the fact many schools would have to incur great deal of cost to be in compliance with the field regulations as recommended. Item was discussed but no further action was taken by the committee. b. Minimum Contest Requirement Recommendation: Expand the minimum contest requirement in boys soccer to ten games. (Exceptions to be made for verified injury absences). Rationale: Students who are members of a U.S. Soccer Development Academy club teams are not permitted to participate in high school soccer. However, under

4 IX. U.S. Soccer policy, an exception is made for students at private schools who receive financial aid. Such students may join high school soccer programs upon the conclusion of the USSDA club season in December. These policies encourage schools to improperly award financial aid on the basis of athletic ability as a means of seeking this exception; provide an extra benefit to financialaid recipients at private schools that non-financial-aid students and public school students do not enjoy; and encourage late-seasons roster turnover by allowing top players to join teams shortly before post-season play. Discussion: The committee discussed this item at length, and concluded that there needs to be a way to tell the kids they can play, but have to make the commitment to play for the school team not just when they can. The committee was concerned that some schools only play a game schedule, where some committed players may miss some games and will be impacted by this rule when they shouldn t be. The committee amended recommended to state the following: Expand the minimum contest participation requirement to be eligible for the state series to 50% of the sport season. (Exceptions to be made for verified injury absences) [Motion: Villano; Second: Bauman Vote 5-3 to amend the recommendation] [Motion: Villano; Second: Bauman Vote 6-2 to approve the amended recommendation] FACA Recommendations Mr. Bauman spoke about items which were discussed during the FACA meeting. Items which include, homes teams wearing dark uniforms while the visiting teams wear white, assessment of officials, no regular season ties and use penalty kicks as a deciding factor, and the Double Dual Officiating system. X. Sportsmanship Update XI. XII. Mr. Harrison spoke to the committee about the status of sportsmanship in the sport of soccer for the season and noted it did seem that the number of coach s and student ejections have decreased for boys and girls soccer. Mr. Harrison s main point of emphasis was the continuous use of abusive language towards officials by coaches and student-athletes. It was noted that coaches around the state need to educate their athletes to prevent ejections of this nature in the future. In addition, Mr. Harrison noted the FHSAA office is constantly looking at the calendar overlap issues between the 32 sports within the FHSAA. This issue is extremely difficult to combat due to a lot of counties and schools prohibition of activities during specific dates (i.e. FCAT and holidays). Compliance and Eligibility Update Mr. Colby gave the committee an update on current compliance and eligibility issues, including the past Representative Assembly meeting which met in January 2014, the compliance and eligibility webinars which are posted on the FHSAA website, and discussed current state legislations in the works that may affect high school athletics. Round Table Discussion a. Classifications The committee discussed the possibility of expanding the sport of soccer to six (6) classifications. Mr. Ozuna explained to the committee, that every two (2)

5 XIII. years each sports classifications are review and expanded accordingly if the sport meets all requirements needed. Mr. Ozuna explained that once the current two (2) year classification cycle has concluded, the FHSAA office will review the number of classifications for the sport of soccer. b. Field Size at the State Finals The committee discussed the possibility of capping the field size at the state finals to a maximum of 75 yards in width. The committee stated that a field 80 yards in width is a game changer, and affects how teams play the game. The committee felt by capping the field size, it will situate a field closer to what most teams use during the season. c. Overtime Period During State Series Adjournment The committee discussed the current overtime procedures and stated that they will like to keep the overtime procedures as currently constructed with two (2) ten (10) minute sudden-victory overtime periods followed by penalty kicks. Meeting adjourned at 1:35.