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Beginning next school term, 2006-07, IESA will conduct baseball in a
three-class structure, with a four-class structure in basketball and
volleyball. No classification changes are being made at this time to
softball, cross-country, wrestling, or track and field. "This
action by our board is a defining moment in the history of IESA,"
said Steve Endsley, executive director. "The members of the action
teams took their roles very seriously. They did their research,
developed many concepts and finally reached conclusion on the
unanimous recommendations they presented to our board."
Strategic planning for the IESA was launched the weekend of Jan.
21-22, 2005, when more than 30 volunteers from across the state met
as the planning team and created 10 belief statements, 12 strategies
and a revised mission statement. One of the strategies was that IESA
will "review state series structure and state series
administration." Another of the strategies was that IESA will
"provide the appropriate financial resources to meet the mission of
IESA."A third was that IESA will "review the IESA constitution."
The State Series Structure Action Team met three times before
sending its recommendations to the board. The Financial Resources
Action Team met twice before sending its recommendations to the
board. The Constitution Action Team has met three times, and the
board heard a report Jan. 20 on progress being made by that action
team. Minutes of all the action team meetings are published in the
"Strategic Planning" section at
www.iesa.org.
The change to a four-class structure in basketball and volleyball
allows IESA to reorganize the state final playing schedules in the
seventh- and eighth-grade state series from two 16-team tournaments
that take four days to complete for basketball, and three days for
volleyball, to four state finals that will be played over only two
days at four sites. In basketball, there will be four state finals
-- Class 1A, Class 2A, Class 3A and Class 4A -- on the seventh-grade
weekend and four more on the eighth-grade weekend. The eight teams
in each state final will compete in quarterfinal round games
beginning Saturday morning, and the four survivors will battle in
semifinal games Saturday evening. The third-place and championship
games will be played the following Thursday evening. In volleyball,
the structure is the same, but the state final playing days will be
Saturday and the following Tuesday.
Teams will be assigned to their class based on the number of
schools entering teams in the respective seventh- and eighth-grade
series. The total number of schools entered by the entry deadline
date will be divided by four, with 25 percent of the entered schools
assigned to one of the four classes according to enrollment.
In baseball, a three-class system will be implemented. Schools
will be divided according to their enrollments, with one-third of
the entering schools assigned to each class: 1A, 2A and 3A. The
three state finals will be played on Friday and Saturday of each
weekend at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria.
Because there are nearly 100 more schools that enter the state
series in baseball than in softball, the action team, after looking
at the entry numbers, declined to recommend expansion to three
classes in softball. However, the action team's recommendation to
change the playing days in the softball regionals was approved.
Beginning next fall, all regional quarterfinal games will be played
on Wednesday of the 10th week in the standardized calendar, and the
semifinals and championship game will be played on Saturday. If a
regional has only four teams, all its games will be played on the
10th Saturday. This will save the school from traveling an extra day
to play the championship game -- a change that was also supported by
the softball advisory committee.
In all of the affected sports, there will be 16 regionals and
eight sectionals in each class, with eight teams advancing to the
state final tournament. The action team will review the remaining
sports, and any recommendations they might develop will also be put
before the board. Again, no changes to softball, cross country,
wrestling, or track and field are being planned for 2006-07.
"What a difference playing our state finals in two days compared
to four days is going to make to our member schools and their fans,"
Endsley said. "Our State Series Action Team had as their main
priority to reduce the number of nights a team had to travel that
continues to win at our state finals. It never was about giving out
more trophies or giving more kids a chance to win, nor was it in
response to the recent action taken by the Illinois High School
Association. It was always about reducing the travel and the
monetary expense to our member schools. In a few isolated instances,
teams may travel a bit more for regional play, but I hope our
membership looks at the overall benefits for the majority of the
membership.
"The third baseball class does bring eight additional teams to
the finals, and the action team looked specifically at the
enrollments of the classes in baseball. A school with a 7-8
enrollment of 135 was playing a school with an enrollment of 1,100.
With the third class, that same school will now play in Class 2A,
where the approximate enrollment of the class will be 96-181.
"The total number of teams that have advanced to the state finals
in basketball and volleyball remains the same as in previous years.
But the schools and their fans will only travel two days instead of
four if they play for a trophy. Everyone will have ample time to
make plans for their team's appearance in the tournament.
"And the new format for the state series may help us recruit new
membership and participation in the state series. School
administrations now know that if their school participates and
achieves the success of playing in the state tournament, they will
only have the expenses of two days compared to four.
"When you take a close look at what is going to happen, you'll
also see that a No. 1 seed will only play one less game in the state
series than in the past. To be state champion, a No. 1 seed in the
regional is going to have to win six games instead of seven.
"We know and understand that at the state finals, it's going to
be an adjustment to play two games on the first day. But, for the
four teams that advance to the semifinals, they know they will be
coming back to play for a trophy."
If the new class system had been in place for the 2005-06 school
year, the breakdown would have been as follows:
|
Class |
Schools |
Enrollments |
|
Baseball |
|
|
| 1A |
82 |
18-95 |
| 2A |
81 |
96-181 |
| 3A |
81 |
182-1,079 |
|
Basketball, boys |
|
|
| 1A |
96 |
15-80 |
| 2A |
96 |
80-136 |
| 3A |
96 |
137-270 |
| 4A |
96 |
271-1,079 |
|
Basketball, girls |
|
|
| 1A |
86 |
12-85 |
| 2A |
85 |
86-153 |
| 3A |
85 |
154-308 |
| 4A |
85 |
309-1,079 |
|
Volleyball |
|
|
| 1A |
89 |
12-77 |
| 2A |
88 |
78-138 |
| 3A |
88 |
139-278 |
| 4A |
88 |
279-1,079 |
Changes in the annual membership dues and entry fees for the
athletic state series also were approved by the IESA board.
Beginning next school term, the dues paid by each member school will
increase from $50 to $75 per year, and the entry fee for each
athletic state series will increase to $45. The board also approved
that there be an annual review of membership dues and entry fees.
"Our association must use membership dues and entry fees to
operate," Endsley observed. "Our dues were last increased in 1989.
In 1995, we last raised the athletic entry fees from $25 to $30.
Much of the increase in fees will be used to offset our anticipated
costs in administering the expansion of the state series and to help
offset what we anticipate will be a decline in state final
tournament revenue because of the reduction in the days of the
playing schedule. Also, it will help us meet the demands of our
expanding computer technology."
[to top of second column] |
 The IESA board also approved the Financial Resources Action Team
recommendation that the contract with Wilson Sporting Goods be
renegotiated, addressing the issue of costs associated with the
shipping of the official balls used in the state series to the host
schools, the insufficient supply of official balls provided to the
host schools and the effects of expansion in the state series.
The board took the following action regarding these advisory
committee recommendations:
Baseball
- Approved a provision in the terms and conditions to cover
state series games stopped by weather, darkness or mechanical
failure. Such suspended games will be replayed from the point
when the game was stopped. Lineups and batting order will remain
as they were when the game was stopped. Pitching limitations
still apply when the game is resumed. The coach of the team
trailing at the time of the suspension may forfeit the contest,
at which time the game will be considered a complete game.
- Approved clarification of the existing safety-base rule.
- Approved a change in the pitching rule to allow a pitcher to
throw in the second game of a doubleheader as long as the
pitcher does not exceed seven innings in one day. Pitchers can
throw seven innings in a day in any combination of innings per
game.
- Approved a change in the pitching substitution rule to allow
a starting pitcher who has been removed from pitching to another
position to return once to the game in the pitching position.
Relief pitchers do not have this opportunity.
- Approved assigning three umpires-in-chief to the Class 1A,
Class 2A and Class 3A state finals tournaments.
- Approved a change in the starting time of the sectional from
1 p.m. to 10 a.m.
Cross country
- Approved a requirement that hosts of sectionals must have a
course that is 3,200 meters in length, can accommodate 75-90
runners in a single race and have a starting area large enough
for 12-14 teams.
Speech
- Approved requiring that a host rotation system be in place
in each of the geographic speech areas, beginning with the next
school term.
- Added solo acting as an event in individual events. Solo
acting is a dramatic presentation by an individual student and
may be a monologue, a selection in which two or more characters
are portrayed, or storytelling.
Sportsmanship
- Authorized the IESA staff to launch a character campaign,
which will incorporate a number of print and Internet pieces to
define the core character values embodied in good sports and
good citizens. A different core value will be highlighted each
month during the next school term.
- Approved an IESA sportsmanship logo contest, with the
winning design being used in conjunction with the character
campaign.
- Tabled a recommendation to create a Sportsmanship Award to
recognize outstanding behavior by a school in each of the 14
IESA board of directors divisions.
- Approved a plan to distribute sportsmanship rating forms at
all levels in all athletic state series beginning next school
term.
- Tabled a recommendation to develop and distribute
sportsmanship banners to member schools.
Softball
- Approved a provision in the terms and conditions to cover
state series games stopped by weather, darkness or mechanical
failure. Such suspended games will be replayed from the point
when the game was stopped. Lineups and batting order will remain
as they were when the game was stopped. The coach of the team
trailing at the time of the suspension may forfeit the contest,
at which time the game will be considered a complete game.
All sports
- Approved a requirement that schools hosting the regional in
each team sport send the playing bracket to the IHSA office for
publication on the Web in advance of the start of the respective
state series.
The board took the following action regarding other business of
the association:
- Authorized the IESA staff to pursue a sponsorship agreement
with Medtronic. The company sells defibrillators and accessory
equipment and trains school staff in use of the equipment in
compliance with state legislation requiring member schools to
have an automated external defibrillator in each physical
fitness facility and to have a trained AED user at the facility
during times of activity.
- Authorized the IESA staff to enter into an extended
agreement with the current IESA merchandise vendor, The Cubby
Hole, of Carlinville.
- Heard reports from the sportsmanship review panel regarding
multiple ejections from separate games involving East St. Louis
Jackson and Nokomis.
- Heard reports of situations that have been brought to the
attention of the IESA staff regarding out-of-season play and
coaching contact by personnel from member schools, of nonschool
participation by students from member schools during the sport
season, and breach-of-contract guidelines. The administrative
staff was directed to bring a revised interpretation of Bylaw
3.043 to the next meeting for discussion.
- Heard a report from the executive director regarding the
board of directors seats up for election this year. Nominating
ballots will be mailed to member schools in the divisions where
elections are scheduled to be conducted. Those board divisions
are B, F, G, H and I.
- Received copies of the "Make the Right Choice" DVD from the
National Federation of State High School Associations for
review. The DVD addresses issues and education regarding
steroids.
- Voted to require that the principal and athletic director of
Ford Heights Cottage Grove appear at the next board of directors
meeting to explain the school's noncompliance with IESA bylaws
regarding student physical examinations and allowing nonstudents
to represent the school in interscholastic athletics.
- Discussed attendance by members of the board at the upcoming
annual summer meeting of the National Federation of State High
School Associations.
- Denied a request to allow Bloomington Cornerstone Christian
Academy to use eighth-graders on the school's high school junior
varsity team. IESA Bylaw 3.045 prohibits grade school students
from participating on teams with high school students.
Division reports
At each meeting of the board of directors, time is devoted for
each board member to report on communication with and requests from
the member schools in the member's division. In addition, board
members also may make observations regarding the operation of the
association. Following is a report of those from the Jan. 20
meeting:
- Division C -- Mr. Spiezio informed the board of an issue
involving a student from Braidwood Reed-Custer wanting to
wrestle for the school team after he previously wrestled for a
club team (Bylaw 3.043). The student has not been allowed to
join the school team.
- Division N -- Mr. Graham mentioned that a school inquired
about a multiplier and class expansion. These topics were
discussed by the State Series Action Team.
[IESA
news release] |
