Reducing the fall postseason game qualification requirement and Open Divisions for basketball were among the topics the Arizona Interscholastic Association’s executive board addressed during its first meeting of the 2021-22 school year.

Like the previous school year, game cancellations will likely occur during the pandemic as this year’s fall sports season unfolds. With that in mind, the board unanimously approved Monday to lower the postseason qualification requirement to six regular season games in the 2A-6A football Conferences.

Fall soccer teams also have to play at least the same amount. In the 1A, 8-man football conference, the requirement is four games, and for all other fall teams to qualify for the postseason they must play at least 10 games.

Power rankings will continue to determine which teams reach the postseason. 

Executive director report

In his first monthly report to the board at the AIA’s Phoenix office, AIA Executive Director David Hines said that the AIA’s Basketball Advisory Committee asked if Open Division championships for boys and girls can be held.

The committee suggested Open Division brackets for small (1-3A Conference) and big schools (4-6A), with four eight team brackets competing for Open basketball titles. Hines said that the AIA and the board will explore in the coming months the feasibility of organizing those tournaments before the board votes on the request.

Also, each of the AIA’s conferences will have a say on whether they will implement shot clocks during the 2022-23 basketball season. Expect a decision on that topic to be made also during this school year.

The AIA’s executive director also reported that 1,240 coaches attended the fall meeting. All the coaches, except for the new hires, who didn’t complete the modules will be receiving a violation, Hines said. Coaches are required to take the courses.

Another important meeting, this time for athletic directors, will be held on Aug. 27 at State Farm Stadium from about 9 a.m.-noon. Along with the AIA, the meeting will be run by the NFL’s InsideOut initiative, a non-profit funded by the NFL Players Foundation.

“The premise of InsideOut is to communicate to coaches in the community what your purpose is in educational athletics and (AIA school) activities for kids,” Hines said.

There will be a Zoom broadcast of the meeting as well for athletic directors who can’t attend in person. So far, about 100 athletic directors have signed up for the event. Hines sent invites to every principal and superintendent in the state to encourage their athletic directors to attend the meeting.

Hines also gave the board an update on Kris Kurtenbach, an educational consultant the AIA is working with. Kurtenbach has a Master’s degree in education policy and administration from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and has helped create seven national and community based education nonprofits.

Communicating the importance of athletics and activities in education is one of the objectives the AIA wants to achieve with the help of Kurtenbach.

Agenda items approved

The following were some of the agenda items the board approved:

• Thirty-seven AIA lifetime passes for administrators, coaches and or officials who served for 25 or more years.
• The AIA financial reports for May, June and July.
• Four contest and or program cancellation requests.
• The March 4 annual AIA Legislative Council meeting. The deadline for submitting agenda items is Jan. 21. The mail-out deadline is Feb. 4.
• The advisory list the Council of Standards for International Education Travel and exchange program provides. On its list are the J-1 visa requirements the AIA requests from foreign exchange students in order to compete.
• Additional game requests from nine different schools.
• Allow AIA member schools to vote one time in November on Centennial Academy’s AIA membership application. Centennial Academy would like to eventually do a co-op with 1A school El Capitan.
• For indoor volleyball, the home and visiting teams’ benches will be determined prior to the start of a match, and the teams will remain there during a match.
• Twelve weight wrestling classes for girls. “This will give more opportunities to wrestle for girls,” Hines said. The boys will remain at 14.
• A couple of new proposed amendments to the beach volleyball and cross country rules. (Agenda items No. 17 and 18).
• Northwest Christian’s request to allow their players to participate in six quarters because of its 449 student enrollment. The program was granted the same exception during the 2020 season after moving from 3A to 4A.
• E-sports is no longer an emerging AIA sport. It’s officially an AIA sport. This will allow more teams to join the AIA’s fall and spring e-sports seasons.

School violations

Warning for Chaparral swim and dive. The head boy’s swim coach texted a message to a Chapparal swimmer about recruiting a swimmer at another school. According to the self-reported violation, the coach requested assistance in recruiting swimmers from other schools also.

Warning for Horizon football. A volunteer coach posted on Twitter that California athletes can “find a home” at Horizon, a violation of the recruitment rule. The coach is no longer with the school.

Warning to activities program of Deer Valley. A transfer student’s social media post implied that that he had violated the prior contact rule while at spring football.

Advisement for Walden Grove for violating enrollment rule. A JV and varsity baseball player, who were brothers, played at the school while attending an online charter school. The school was informed that the students were being homeschooled, according to the violation report. Walden Grove’s AD did a thorough job while investigating the violation, Hines said.

Warning for Desert Mountain baseball. After a game was over, some of the assistant baseball coaches directed inappropriate language toward the plate umpire.

Warning for San Tan Charter football. A Tweet the coach posted violated the recruitment rule

An advisement is a word of caution.

A warning places a school in jeopardy of being placed on probation if another violation of any rule or regulation is committed. A school will not be eligible for the Overall Excellence Award during the warning period.