GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors conducted their first regularly scheduled meeting of the 2021-22 school year Monday in Gainesville.
During the meeting, the Board was presented with, and supported, the Public Liaison Advisory Committee Annual Report, which consists of a summary of all correspondence the committee receives for the year. The Board then reviewed the FHSAA, Inc. and FHSAA Land Corporation, Inc. balance sheets and unanimously approved the 2020-21 Annual Financial Report and the Final Budgets for the 2021-22 Fiscal Year. The Board also approved the recommendation to accept Grace Leadership (Miami Gardens) as first-time members to be admitted into the application period of membership of the FHSAA for the 2021-22 school year.
In governance, the Board of Directors approved the ratification of various Representative Assembly appointments. The Board also voted to co-sponsor the following proposed Bylaw changes that will be presented to the Representative Assembly in October; 1.4.23, 4.7.1.1.1, 9.2.2.4.1, 9.2.2.4, 9.3.1, 9.3.3.2, 9.3.5 and 9.6.2. However, the Board chose not to co-sponsor or endorse the proposed change to FHSAA Bylaw 9.2.2.3.
In operations, the Board of Directors voted unanimously to approve Girls Wrestling for a female IBT Wrestling State Series event for the 2021-22 school year. The FHSAA staff will set up region events to allow girls to qualify for a State IBT tournament and will report the number of female student-athletes competing to the Board at the November meeting. The number of female student-athletes competing will determine the number of potential regions and qualifiers for a State Championship event. Additionally, Board members unanimously voted in favor of increasing the Boys and Girls Lacrosse roster size from 25 to 35. Conversely, the Board did not approve of extending the Lacrosse regular season by one week.
The proposal to adjust the 2021-22 tournament structure for Flag Football, Boys and Girls Lacrosse, Boys Volleyball, and Boys and Girls Water Polo was collectively endorsed. All teams in each district will be permitted to participate in the district tournament while each District Champion and the next four highest ranked teams will advance to the regional tournament. The district and regional tournaments will be seeded based on the rankings of the participating schools, where the highest ranked team will host each match-up. Furthermore, the Board approved of the changes to the Track & Field regular season dates, moving the first allowable day for practice to January 31, 2022 and the last day for a regular season meet to be April 16, 2022.
Lastly, due to the ongoing pandemic, the Board approved (11-2) a waiver of minimum contests for participation in State Series for all 2021-22 FHSAA fall sports. Associate Executive Director, Justin Harrison gave credit to member schools for their efforts in rescheduling and playing make-up contests when necessary.
The FHSAA Board of Directors is slated to convene again for their second regularly scheduled meeting of the 2021-22 school year on November 14-15, 2021 in Gainesville at the FHSAA office.
About the FHSAA
The Florida High School Athletic Association supervises and regulates interscholastic athletic programs for high school students at member public, private and charter schools. The organization also recognizes and honors academic achievement among student-athletes at almost 800 middle, junior and senior high schools statewide. Headquartered in Gainesville, it is the official governing body for interscholastic athletics in Florida.