NEW JERSEY STATE INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION 1161 Route 130, P O Box 487 Robbinsville, NJ 08691 League/Conference Officers Meeting Summary May 9, 2013 Attendees Denis Nelson (Big North) Mike Gatley and Dave Albertson (CAL) Lou Raba (Colonial) Jeff DiCocco (GMC) John DiColo and Rob Haraka (NJAC) Stan Fryczynski (NJIC) Tim Walsh (Olympic) Chris Dziczek (Olympic/TCC) Joe Piro, Lorenzo Sozio and Steven Jenkins (SEC) Keith Lister (Shore) Al Stumpf (Skyland) Mike Sandor (UCC) A fond farewell was given to Chris Dziczek, who is retiring in June. Steve Timko commended her for always being the ultimate professional and wished her well. STEVEN J. TIMKO REPORT Hamilton / Nottingham Ice Hockey Co-op Appeal for Ice Hockey Waiver Hamilton West and Nottingham HS, both Group III schools, requested a waiver to co-op in ice hockey. This was approved. A proposal was distributed to the Exec Committee to allow any group size school to co-op together in the sport of ice hockey since it is an expensive sport and statewide schools are having problems fielding a complete team. Local conferences can still deny a request if it is felt that two schools are joining to become a powerhouse. If this rule passes, it will go in to effect for next season. Department of Education New Choice School Transfer Policy The Department of Education has agreed to start applying the 30-day transfer penalty to students transferring to and from choice schools, effective September 1 st. There are two points still being negotiated. 1-If a student has already been accepted in to a choice school, there is no sitting period. If that student transfers back to their residential school, the D of E wants that student to be exempt from the 30- day sitting period. NJSIAA feels the opposite and that the transfer rule should apply. 2 An eighth grader who chooses to attend a choice school is not penalized since that is their initial enrollment. If that student then wants to return to their home school, the D of E feels they should not be subject to the 30-day penalty. NJSIAA disagrees. These points are still being ironed out.
Advisory Committee 4/3 Meeting The Executive Committee approved three proposals approved by the Advisory Committee. The following will be discussed at the sectional meetings in the fall, and placed on the ballot at the annual meeting. a. Football Group Championship Proposal Big North This Constitutional change would allow a group state championship in football. The Advisory Committee approved 8-2 and Exec Committee approved with one dissension. b. Swim Exhibition Proposal Henry Hudson This proposal allows swimmers who do not have a swim team program to swim in dual meets if mutually agreed upon by both competing teams at a facility that has more than six (6) lanes. Advisory Committee approved 10-0 and Executive Committee approved. c. Swim Championship Eligibility Proposal - Moorestown Once schools declare their swim teams as either separate boys, separate girls, or a combined/co-ed team, they will remain as such during the state tournament classification process. Advisory Committee approved 8-2 and Executive Committee approved. Spring Ticket Prices The Department of Education approved the Spring 2013 ticket prices, which are the same as Spring 2012. Sportsmanship Rule Amendment Clarification NJSIAA continues to negotiate with the Department of Civil Rights regarding how the NJSIAA Sportsmanship Rule should be updated. Strategic Planning Committee A committee has been formed, with Bruce Peragallo, Principal of Metuchen HS, as the Chairman. Heads of the subcommittees met this past week. The full committee will begin developing NJSIAA s next three-year strategic plan, beginning on Tuesday, May 14 th. The goal is to complete the plan by 8/1/13. Copies will be distributed at the sectional meetings. 2013/2014 List of Banned Substances/Concussions Return-to-Play Form (Medical Advisory) The Medical Advisory Committee meets on May 15 th. Since they review/approve the List of Banned Substances, the Wrestling Skin Lesion Form, and Concussions Return-to-Play Form each year, and the NJSIAA wants to get this info out to schools in a timely fashion, Steve asked the Exec Committee for pre-approval. The committee agreed that if the Medical Advisory Committee has no changes from last year, the forms can be available on May 15 th and schools don t have to wait until after the June Executive Committee meeting. NFHS Legal Meeting Steven Goodell, NJSIAA counsel, and Steve Timko attended this meeting in Indianapolis. The meeting focused on the Disabilities Act and the memo distributed from the US Dept of Education. It was stressed that states do not have to change programs, just adapt when needed. NJ is not out of compliance and continues to gather information from the Special Olympics and Adapted Sports programs. The US Dept. of Education has not reached out to the State Department of Educations yet. Another topic discussed was the NFHS Sports Channel, which is being developed with PlayOn Sports. The NFHS needs 30 states to commit to this channel, which will broadcast championship events live. NJ is unable to commit at this time
because of its exclusivity contract with FIOS and the Star-Ledger but will monitor this development. NFHS Medical Advisory Committee Topics discussed at the NFHS Medical Advisory Committee were as follows: 1. The pole vault pad will most likely be mandatory next year. Cost about $1,000. NCAA has mandated it already. The only reason it probably has not been mandated yet at the high school level is the manufacturers have not made enough pads to fill the demand. It s a bigger collar that slopes into the box. NJSIAA does not have the specs but that could probably be found on the NFHS or NCAA websites. 2. Discussion continues about women s lacrosse headgear. 3. The need for evacuation plans at sites in case of emergency was discussed. Steve has a sample plan that he can pass along if anyone interested. 4. Discussion took place over reducing the amount of contact during the regular season in football by having teams participate in only one contact practice per week if there is a game scheduled in that week. The NJSIAA Medical Advisory Committee meets on 5/15. Nomination of Officers The following people passed the First Reading of approved officers for the 2013-2014 Executive Committee: President - Thomas Holt, Vice President at Bank of America/NJSIAA corporate representative and Chair of the Finance Committee 1 st VP Tom Coleman, Superintendent of Woodstown School District 2 nd VP Greg Bailey, Football/Basketball Assignor and School Boards Association representative Two new officers were needed since Dr. Gene Polles, the current 2 nd VP, will be retiring in June. 2013-2014 L&C Officers Meeting Dates These were distributed. First meeting is August 15, 2013. DON DANSER REPORT Outdoor Track Don is hoping the nine sites will work. North Non Publics are unhappy about travel to Toms River. Don asked if anyone knew of a non-public site farther north that would be willing to host this meet. Public school meets are long enough without adding a section of Non- Publics to them. The site needed would have to be a non-public school, available to host Friday and Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. An eight-lane track would be ideal, but not mandatory, but the ability to hold all seven field events at the same time is mandatory. Cooperative Programs Several co-op programs were approved at the Exec Committee meeting and distributed.
LARRY WHITE REPORT Baseball All sites/dates are set for the sectional finals. Boys Volleyball All sites/dates are set for the sectional finals. Waiver of Winter Starting Date (Ice Hockey, Bowling, Swimming) The Executive Committee granted a waiver to begin the ice hockey, bowling and swimming regular season on Friday, 11/29 instead of 12/1 in 2013 since 12/1 falls on a Sunday and lanes, rinks and pools are hard to secure on the weekends. NFHS Basketball Rules were released. One major change is that coaches are permitted to leave the bench to help intervene in a fight situation w/out being beckoned. Assistant coaches are responsible for keeping kids on the bench. Electronic devices are also allowed for statistician purposes. Basketball Committee Meeting It was approved in 2015 to look for four college sites for the four sectional final games (North I, North II, Central and South), which currently the higher seed hosts. It would eliminate the smaller venues not being able to host but the games may have to be scheduled a day or two earlier. It was also agreed to continue using neutral crews at every level/every site if possible. It s not always guaranteed but assignors do their best. Next year, Rounds 1-3 are the responsibility of the schools. After the cost of three officials, which is $70 per official, schools can pay all others their usual fees. JACK DUBOIS REPORT Clinics 90 people attended the Legal One Modules 1-4 Workshop, on April 16 & 17. 85 coaches attended the soccer clinic at Rutgers on 4/26 and over 90 coaches attended the wrestling clinic, held at the College of NJ. A trainer workshop will be held by Atlantic Health, a NJSIAA corporate sponsor, at Newton Hospital. Registration forms were distributed. The first of the three Coaches of Fundamentals Courses that NJSIAA offers is scheduled for August 7 th. There will now be a CPR/ AED workshop offered at 1pm, following the Fundamentals Course. Corporate NJSIAA is in talks with The United Tennis Association, to become the official sponsor of boys and girls tennis. NJSCA Hall of Fame 35 coaches were inducted in to the NJSCA Hall of Fame. Coaches and officials who were recognized by the NFHS were also honored, including six NFHS regional winners and two national Coaches of the Year (Deanna Knobloch for girls lacrosse and Al Partelow for Boys Volleyball.) Scholar Athlete Program - This takes place 5/19 at the Pines Manor in Edison. Over 1405 people are registered to attend. Over 350 scholars will be honored (up from 330 last year), and $132,000 in scholarships is being awarded.
Boys Lacrosse Group Finals will be hosted by Ridge HS (Group II and III), Livingston HS (Non-Public A and I), and Somerville HS (Group IV and Non-Public B.) KIM DEGRAW-COLE REPORT Boys Tennis Seeding took place on 5/6. 244 teams are participating. The first round was supposed to be completed by 5/9 but this may be extended due to bad weather. For the singles/doubles tournament, which begins on 6/1, there will be 61 doubles and 115 single matches. Brackets for the singles and doubles tournaments are posted on the NJSIAA website. Kim asked all coaches/athletic Directors to review spellings of names carefully since names are printed on the Team IP shirts. Kim also commended the seeding committee, who volunteers many hours, without any type compensation. Girls Lacrosse Cutoff date is 5/10 and seeding takes place 5/13 using LAX Power. Softball Cutoff extended to 5/11 and seeding takes place 5/16. Website The new website is going to be phenomenal. Kim just needs the time to make it great. Currently Don and Kim are working on the school manager section of the new site. Larry stressed the importance of schools updating contact information in the database because he was embarrassed when he had legal information sent to the wrong contact since the school never updated their contact information. Schools are responsible for these updates. Kim also asked all conferences to email her their conference website addresses so she can link them from our new site. GARY ZARRILLI REPORT 2013-2014 Budget - Status The budget is a work in progress and will be voted on in the 6/5 Executive Committee meeting. Annual Dues/Resolution/Affidavit Mailing The mailing for the 2013-2014 school year was mailed. Gary would appreciate any feedback on the new Affidavit form, which is different from years past. Fall, Winter, Spring Participation Numbers A listing of schools who have not turned in their participation numbers was distributed. The NJSIAA is responsible for providing these numbers to the NFHS by June 7 th.
PROGRAM REVIEW Winter Track Proposal Award 7 th and 8 th Place Medals in T of C 2 nd Reading This was approved so now winter track will award the same amount of medals as spring track in the Tournament of Champions. Winter Track Proposal Continue Dividing Relays into Non-Public A & B 2 nd Reading Another year was approved to this pilot program. There was not good attendance this past winter so this is the last shot. If the Non-Public B schools do not have better attendance next year, A&B will combined in to one meet again. Ice Hockey Start of Practice Season One Year Pilot Waiver Request 1 st Reading The Program Review and Executive Committees both approved starting practice on Nov. 10 th in 2013 for the following reasons: (second reading takes place 6/5) 1- Present start date only allows for a maximum of 13 pre-season dates; other winter sports get at least 18 practice dates. 2- Ice hockey is as physically demanding as football with football having 20 to 25 preseason practice dates. 3- Short number of practice dates presents difficulty in attaining heat acclimatization resulting in a safety issue. 4- Limited availability of practice facilities (no Thanksgiving) 5- Limited practice time on ice to properly evaluate try-outs. Ice Hockey Out of State Play - Rule 11: Section 1, Article 3: CL2 It was proposed that during the regular season teams playing out of state will be permitted to comply with the host state s rules. This was not approved by the Program Review Committee. B/G Team Swimming Tournament - Placement of Top 4 by Power Points 1 st Reading The Executive Committee approved the first reading of the swim committee s recommendation to make the following pilot program part of the swimming regulations. The "Placement of Top 4 by Power Points" Method for the NJSIAA Public Team Swim Tournaments: 1. All teams entering the team tournament will initially be ranked by an average of the power points from 2 meets in each of their geographic swimming classification sections as in the past. 2. The 4 teams in each public classification ( A & B ) with the highest PPs will be identified. 3. If 2 or more of the top 4 teams by PPs are from the same geographic section, northing number location of each school will be used to distribute such teams into the nearest possible separate sections so that the top 4 teams by PPs are each in different sections. 4. When teams are moved by this method into sections other than their native geographic sections, teams originally ranked #8 in their geographic section by PPs are "Moved" to #9 and will have the option of a Swim In with the new #8. This eliminates any team from not making the tournament.
This program has been in effect for the past two years, with a modification last year to include a swim-off between the #8 and #9 seeds. The Executive Committee wants to hear from Athletic Directors and coaches. Kim also asked Athletic Directors to confer w/ their coaches because it appears the two positions have two very different viewpoints regarding this proposal. The swimming power points are so precise and accurate, more so than in any other sport. Kim understands both sides of the proposal but wanted to pass along how strongly the swim committee felt about it. L&C OFFICERS CONCERNS/ DISCUSSIONS / ISSUES 1. BNC (Denis Nelson) Football Group Championship Proposal The football championship proposal to be placed on the ballot at the 2013 Annual Meeting requires 2/3 vote. Denis passed around a sample structure, which he asked all in attendance to forward on to their conferences. He asked for input/suggestions since it s a work in progress and can keep changing until the football committee meeting takes place in January 2014. Last time this was on the ballot, it was voted down because people were unsure what a schedule would like that if approved. They feared the unknown. Debate ensued over whether more or less information was best. It was also questioned if the constitutional change can be voted on (allowing group championships in football) with the caveat that the structure would be subject to full membership approval. This was previously discussed with NJSIAA counsel, who advised that the actual structure would be voted on by the football committee, then the Executive Committee. A concern was expressed for the majority of schools who don t make the later rounds because there will be no motivation to play another game after being knocked out. Discussion also ensued how to schedule for 2014 since the proposal would go in to effect in 2014 if passed. Jack said Athletic Directors should be developing a Schedule A with 8 games and a Schedule B with 10 games. Most Athletic Directors are under the impression that a ten-game schedule is already the plan for 2014 so this A/B schedule idea should be communicated. 2. NJAC ( Rob Haraka) Officials Fees Every conference has signed on, with the exception of the Shore Conference who will adopt it contingent up on everyone else adopting it, and the League of Leagues (LOL), which is made up of five conferences. The LOL will most likely join but still have contractual questions. There has been no feedback from officials, but assignors love it. Officials in lacrosse and volleyball will take a paycut, while girls lacrosse officials will receive less than boys lacrosse. Schools with lacrosse and volleyball could see savings of $400-$500, while the opposite holds true if schools don t have lacrosse or volleyball (may be down $400-$500.) If this goes in to effect, it helps avoid constant negotiations with officials. Conferences can still pay mileage and negotiate other things with chapters, as well as decide if a three-man or two-man team is utilized (and adjust fees accordingly.) This will not go in to effect until 2014. May 1 st Eligibility NJAC agreed with the proposed rewording of this rule to 22.5 credits.
Why do Some Entries Still Have to be Returned via USPS Mail? Some Tournament Directors don t have email or access to a fax in their house but this will be different next year. 3. GMC (Jeff DiCocco) 2013-14 Winter Season Official Start Dates - Since the proposal last month was denied by the Executive Committee, the GMC wrote a new version which proposes 22 days of practice beginning Nov 21, still eliminates practices Thanksgiving Day weekend, gives ample time for coaches to evaluate athletes for cuts and gives more training. Before he pushes it forward, Jeff wanted to survey other conferences to see if he d have support. Was the GMC the only conference who had concerns about the shorter practice window in the winter season, compared to fall and spring? Some conferences supported it but Steve Timko didn t foresee the proposal passing since it was voted down in last month s Executive Committee meeting and there were concerns about practices over Thanksgiving break 4. NJIC (Stan Fryczynski) Workshop for New ADs This will be postponed until the August meeting. Softball Face Masks A letter from Chris Brown of Park Ridge HS, was distributed to be passed on to all conferences. The letter proposed that face makes for infielders in softball be mandated. Right now it is permitted, but not required. It was questioned if conferences can mandate a rule. Some questioned who would supply the equipment parents or the Board of Education. NJSIAA staff explained that if the NFHS thought this was a problem, they would have mandated it already since they gather data and information from all the states regarding injuries and safety measures. Every lawsuit in every state affects them so they are always examining issues in each sport. Kim had previously sent around a link from the NFHS, asking coaches for their input. These are the type questionnaires that if coaches fill out, help the NFHS gather data/information so please pass along to your coaches. Absentee Ballots at the Annual Meeting It was questioned if absentee ballots can be utilized at the annual meeting. According to the Constitution, this is not allowed. Voters must be present. If the membership wants this procedure changed, it must be voted on at the annual meeting. The annual meeting will now precede the Hall of Fame program so this should help attendance. 5. Colonial (Lou Raba) Invoices for Tournament Entries Lou requested that there be one invoice for all sports, per season. This was a welcomed idea by NJSIAA and will be looked in to. Next Meeting August 15, 2013