A Message From the Executive Director …

Welcome to the debut of our new weekly update column.  Beginning July 24, a new column will appear each Monday updating everyone on the happenings within interscholastic girls’ athletics in Iowa.  I hope to use this column to provide greater detail as to the thought process behind changes made in our 10 sport programs, or to discuss programs like “Conduct Counts,” “On-A-Roll” or partnerships such as the new Iowa High School Sports Network which will televise each state championship during the next 10 years.  Through the first 15 days of July, our web site has had 1.2 million hits.  That is over 100,000 hits per day.  I look at this column as a chance to really get the message out.

The 2005-06 school year was eventful as much for where we played our state championships as for the championships themselves.  The move to Wells Fargo Arena for basketball and into the refurbished Drake Stadium with the Co-Ed Track meet meant some dramatic changes from what everyone had become used to over the past several decades.  Both venues passed their tests with flying colors.  Today, the IGHSAU has a contract through 2020 for the use of Wells Fargo Arena for the State Basketball Tournament, and contracts through 2015 for the use of Drake Stadium for the Co-Ed Track Meet, Harlan Rogers Park in Fort Dodge for the State Softball Tournament, and the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids for the State Volleyball Tournament.   The State Cross Country site will be at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge through at least 2009, while our newest championship, Bowling, will be held at Plaza Lanes in Des Moines.  The State Soccer Tournament has one year left on the current contract in Muscatine, while the Golf tournament will remain at Jester Park in Granger and Otter Creek in Ankeny.  Add the State Tennis Tournament which moves throughout the state on an annual basis, and we are well covered border-to-border with state championships for years to come.

The 2006-07 school year will be known as the initial year of Bowling as the 10^th sport offered for girls in the state of Iowa.  Of the 3,000 student who bowled at the club level last year, nearly half did not participate in any other activities.  We look forward to welcoming those 1,500 students to the 70,000 who participated in our other nine sport programs during the past year.

The upcoming year will also be known for the debut of new academic eligibility rules for all students who participate in athletics.  Students must now pass all subjects for which they receive graduation credit.  While the rule is going to cause some administrative headaches as our schools get used to the new recording and penalty provisions of the rule,  no one in this state has ever shied away from raising the bar on the field, and I don’t expect we will address this raising of the bar “off the field” any differently.

For the first time in several decades, the Board of Directors is giving comprehensive review to the sport of softball.  To date, that review has caused two changes.  In the current season, we began playing with National Federation rules.  Since 1955, Iowa has played by its own set of rules, but the Board adopted the playing rules used nationally this season.  The second major change is the reduction of allowable games from 50 to 40 beginning in 2008.  Two other areas of softball discussion are currently on the table as the new year begins.

First, should players be allowed to play an unlimited number of games throughout the season, or should there be a cap?  In actuality, this is not just a softball rule discussion, but a discussion for all sports.   Currently, only basketball has a maximum number of games in which a student can participate.  Other sports have daily limits, but no cumulative limits.  For softball, there are two extremes, or a solution in between.  The extremes include limiting students to 40 games, equal to the number allowed the team.  This would mean between freshman, sophomore, junior varsity and varsity levels, any single student could play in no more than 40 games.  The other extreme would allow a student to compete in the full 40 games at every level a school offers.  Perhaps 100+ total games in a year.

Input received thus far indicates neither extreme is acceptable to our membership.  With many 1A and 2A squad sizes around 17-20 players, a limit of 40 games would destroy non-varsity teams, and actually limit participation.  In addition, many schools develop young pitchers at the non-varsity level, while those same young pitchers are often skilled enough to play another position at the varsity level.  A 40 game limit would hinder development.   On the other hand, playing 80, 90 or 100 games is a job.  Over the course of a hot summer, it is not only the physical issues which must be considered, but the fact that students need an opportunity to have a life during the summer outside of the school team.  The consensus of that input thus far is allowing players 60 or so games combined between levels would be one option that may satisfy the needs of player development and allow non-varsity teams to exist at their current levels.

Also on the table is a review of the season.  Iowa is unique in that it has a summer season extending beyond that of any other state.  Those states in northern climates with spring softball are lucky to play 20 or 25 games.  Those in the south enjoy the ability to start in February or play into November.  We also have another unique consideration in Iowa, and that is the preponderance of small schools.  Next year, over half of the high schools in Iowa will have fewer than 50 students per grade.  It would be impossible for a softball program with 12,500 participants to co-exist in the spring with track, soccer, golf and tennis or in the fall with volleyball, cross country and swimming with the limited school populations we experience.  These factors make it quite clear that softball must remain a summer sport.

However, our Board’s focus of the season review has not been about making softball a spring or a fall sport.  It is on the early-August end of the season.  We encourage students to participate in multiple sports.  Basketball starts the day after the state volleyball tournament, and track starts as basketball ends and softball starts the day after state track.  Finally we have less than 10 days from the end of the state softball tournament until the beginning of the fall sport practices.  There is just no break for the well-rounded student our educationally-based program attempts to produce.  We allow no time for family commitments in the summer that, quite frankly, are more important than any softball game.  And, we have seen an overall downturn in softball participation over the last few years.  In fact, of the sports that involve the majority of our membership, participation by seniors is lowest in softball.

If you consider there is little or no room to move the season forward due to the spring sport programs, graduations, and end of school year activities, then attention turns to the tournament series.  Our current tournament series dates were developed when we had a one-class event which allowed district runners-up to advance.   Schools played up to eight games to get to state.  Today, those same dates are used for schools to play anywhere from 2 to 4 or 5 games prior to state.  There is an entire open week between regional finals and the state tournament.  I will ask our Softball Coaches Advisory Committee, our Representative Council and our Board of Directors to study that time frame hard.  We will not play the state tournament during the same week as the state baseball tournament, but a two-week move ahead of the state baseball tournament may be feasible if the Board decides we need a longer break before the fall season.

The bottom line in these discussions is that we must look out for not only softball, but the entire interscholastic athletic program as decisions are made.   At the same time, we must make sure our program best serves the 12,500 softball participants, and the 396 member schools which make up the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union.   No single decision can satisfy each participant, or each school, but yet each decision must consider the welfare of all.

This organization doesn’t factor in issues like non-school team participation or exposure to college programs during the decision making process.  Why?  Quite simply, we serve the school programs, and the overall educational interests of the students in those programs.   Non-school programs have their own objectives which serve their own individual membership.  The objectives of non-school programs don’t necessarily include serving the interests of the membership of the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union.

While we love to see students excel and advance to compete at the highest level athletically just as they do academically, the objective of our programs is to provide an educational opportunity outside the classroom and to help prepare that student for success later in life.  That objective should be quite clear, as Iowa high schools spend educational dollars to fund their school sport programs.    While some individuals may have objectives to participation such as earning a college scholarship (despite the reality that 0.7% of students play beyond high school), the primary focus of the school program remains on education and student development.

Sometimes we believe that what has served us well in the past will automatically serve us well in the future.  While that may often be true, it is far from automatic.  We must constantly be prepared to evaluate every aspect of our program to determine what will serve us best going forward.  The discussion is enlightening, and at the end of the day, our students and our programs will be the beneficiaries.   I’ve had over 170 emails to date concerning the softball issues on the table.  Our Board will have a great deal of information to sift through during the decision making process. 

I look forward to penning this column in future weeks.  A lack of information benefits no one.  Mis-information actually causes harm.  It is my hope that you feel free to contact any of our staff members at any time to gain whatever information you need, or to clear up any mis-information you may have.  The ultimate objective of every staff member in this organization is to serve our membership and the 70,000 participants in the interscholastic program.  We believe the girls’ sports program at the high school level in Iowa are the best in the country and that can be traced back to schools that care about and support girls’ sports in ways most other states will never know.  It can be traced back to coaches and parents whose desire is to provide their students and their children with greater opportunities than they enjoyed.  And, it can be traced back to the students participating in the programs who commit their time and effort in an attempt to learn and improve…the very essentials of education.

Troy Dannen

Executive Director

Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union