FHSAA Board Of Directors Approves Class 9A For Baseball, Other Sports

 The past few months has seen the Florida High School Athletic Association make several major announcements regarding the alignment of teams in district classifications for almost every sport FHSAA sanctions. Additionally, the time between when district assignments are reassessed was increased from two years to four years. However, thanks to a vote from the FHSAA Board of Directors this week, all those proposed changes for high school baseball, softball, basketball, and girls volleyball teams are about to change.

  FHSAA has voted to include a ninth classification for the sports of softball and baseball beginning in the 2015-2016 school year, and for both girls and boys basketball and girls volleyball in 2016-2017. These changes bring into immediate question the realignments that have already been proposed for softball and baseball.

  The reason for these changes is a problem several local coaches have expressed as an issue in past years; vast “enrollment gaps that existed primarily in the lower classifications that were thought to affect competitive balance.”

  The addition of what will now be Class 9A aims to alleviate this competitive inbalance. Classes 5A through 9A will include the highest two-thirds of schools by student population, divided accordingly into those classifications. The remaining classes, 1A through 4A, will include the remaining one-third of schools, with the lowest classification (1A) designated for “rural” schools.

Reactions to the late announcement were mixed among local athletic directors and coaches.

  ColonialChristianSchool AD Chris Haskins believes the proposed changes will have little effect on his program.

  “The size of schools that 9A will accommodate is so big that this sort of news is off our radar,” said Haskins.

  Everglades Prep’s AD Ryan Nani, however, feels the change will present an opportunity for more equal play in high school sports.

  “I think the move would be great for parity,” said Nani. “It may also help with teams that have to travel often and far to compete.”

  Keys Gate girls basketball coach Ben Drummer echoed the sentiments of many on social media.

  “I don’t see the need for it,” said Drummer. “To me, eight is enough, but I guess things will always change.”

  Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of this change is the possibility of football adopting a ninth classification as well. Sources within FHSAA say the Board of Directors are planning to send out a survey to current football programs that are Independent to see if the inclusion of a ninth classification would entice them to return to district play.

  Currently, a majority of Independent teams play in non-district conferences. Locally, the Southeastern Football Conference (SFC) and Florida Independent Football Conference (FIFC) operate with success as an option for teams who want to compete for a championship but are not able to yet enter district play. Miami Community Charter (FIFC), Palmer Trinity (FIFC), and Coral Shores (SFC) are among the local schools who participate in an Independent football conference.

  Should the change for football be approved, the ninth classification would go into effect for the 2016-2017 school year at the earliest.

  Yet another aspect to district alignment that was changed is the addition of an option to create sub-districts for certain sports. Much like College Football conferences have split divisions within the conference (such as the SEC East and SEC West), high school sports teams would have the option of creating sub-districts for their sports, allowing them to play only the teams in their subdistrict as long as both sub-districts are represented in the district tournament. This option will become available for spring sports in the 2015-2016 school year, with football potentially joining in starting in 2016-2017. Should football teams adopt this as well, it creates the option for a true football district championship game.

Reclassifications Proposed For Three Sports

  The latest sports to have newly proposed district assignments announced by FHSAA were girls flag football, tennis, and lacrosse.

  For flag football, local teams for Keys Gate and Somerset Silver Palms will join District 16 alongside Miami Jackson, Booker T. Washington, International Studies, and SLAMAcademy. Girls flag football is contested in a single classification setup over sixteen districts.

  Tennis programs were also realigned, starting with District 16-1A.

  Palmer Trinity and Westminster Christian are set to join that district alongside Carrollton (girls only), Archimedean (girls only), Marathon, International Studies (boys only), Riviera Prep, SLAM Academ, and Ransom Everglades.

  CoralShores will join District 16-2A with Gulliver Prep, LaSalle, MAST, Key West, St. Brendan, and Pace.

  Southridge has been placed into District 16-3A with Belen (boys only), Doral, Jackson, Northwestern, Miami Springs, Sunset, TERRA, and Reagan, but are expected to appeal upwards.

  Local powerhouses South Dade and Coral Reef will join Braddock, Lourdes (girls only), Varela, Southwest, Palmetto, Ferguson, Columbus (boys only), Killian, and South Miami in District 16-4A.

Boys and girls lacrosse teams were also notified of proposed district changes to their single classification assignments.

  On the boys side, CoralShores, Palmer Trinity, and Westminster Christian will join Key West in District 32, while Coral Reef is moved into District 31 with Gulliver, Killian, Palmetto, and Riviera Prep.

  For girls, CoralShores and Palmer Trinity join Key West in District 32 while Coral Reef once again is moved to District 31 with Ransom, Palmetto, and Killian.

Homestead To Add Two New Sports

  Late this week, news broke of two new additional athletic programs at HomesteadHigh School.

  Sources within Homestead’s administration have revealed that Homestead High will offer both Boys Volleyball and Girls Flag Football for the first time, starting in the spring of the 2015-2016 school year. The news comes as rumor of the school’s athletic program’s demise and a possible future removal of the football and girls basketball programs have become increasingly louder over the past few weeks.