A Message From the Executive Director …

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During the summer months, the Athletic Union Board of Directors will be reviewing rules related to sanctioning of regular season tournament competition.  Currently, any member school wishing to play in a multiple team event in any sport outside of Iowa must apply for approval of the event prior to participation.  This approval, called Sanction, is common among all 50 states and helps ensure each state’s competition, participation and award rules are adhered to, and that only school-sponsored teams are involved so as not to risk the eligibility of any students.

Today, in order to be eligible for sanction, travel to one of these events cannot exceed 125 miles on a school day, or 300 miles on a non-school day.  In addition, no school time may be lost to participate in an out of state tournament.  There is a proposal on the table for consideration that would allow each individual district to determine if it would permit loss of school time to participate in these events.  The example that prompted this proposal was a track meet held in Sioux Falls, South Dakota earlier this spring.  A school in far northwest Iowa was prevented from traveling 60 miles to participate in this meet because school time would be lost with a 1 PM start on a school day.  That same school, however, legally traveled 240 miles during a school day to participate in the Drake Relays.  The proposal believes that schools should be able to decide when loss of school time is appropriate, regardless of whether the competition is held in Iowa, or out-of-state.    And, by their very nature, sports such as golf and tennis are normally played during the school day since those facilities are rarely school controlled.

The other aspect of this proposal would change the 125/300 mile interpretation.  Currently, the mileage is factored from the Iowa high school nearest to the site of the event.  For example, if Dubuque is the closest school to a tournament in Chicago, and is 120 miles away, then the tournament could be sanctioned for all Iowa schools.   The proposal calls sanction to be possible for events located no more than 300 miles from a central point in Iowa.  This would reach to the Twin Cities, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City.  As no tournament was sanctioned last year beyond this mileage, the rationale is providing a consistent interpretation for all schools of how far they may travel out of state.  The 300 mile limit would apply both during school and non-school days.

There are no sanction limitations for a school wishing to play a single regular season contest against one other school.  There is no proposal to change this.  Essentially, the proposal currently on the table would make multiple team competitions consistent with single opponent competitions outside the state, with the exception of the mileage requirement.

A second, related sanctioning proposal would have a greater impact on a larger number of schools.

The proposal addresses the increasing number of tournaments being sponsored by non-school organizations.  Some like the Drake Relays or Dickinson Relays at UNI, CYO events or the various Kiwanis basketball jamborees have been around for years.  Others are popping up with increasing frequency.  Last year, one of these tournaments was prepared to give awards to student participants that would have resulted in every student losing their high school eligibility due to a violation of the Iowa Administrative Code…the awards were in excess of what the Code allows.  The Administrative Rules are a product of the Department of Education, and enforced by the IGHSAU and IHSAA.  The governing bodies would have been forced to apply the penalties shown by the Administrative Code.

The intent of sanctioning out of state events, as stated above, is to help ensure our state’s participation, competition and award rules are followed so students do not risk their eligibility.   While the majority of competitions between schools are run by a member school with an assumption of understanding of these rules, when non-school organizations run events for our schools, they are most often unaware of the various regulations associated with interscholastic competition.  We must ensure the eligibility of students is not inadvertently compromised when they participate in any event.

The proposal calls for a formal sanctioning process for any event run or sponsored by any organization other than a member school.  Either a participating school or the event organizer will need to file for approval from the state office prior to any school being eligible to participate.  A list of approved events will be shown on the web site and updated as new events are sanctioned.  The intent is not to stop or restrict any existing event, or prohibit future events, but rather to ensure organizers are aware of and follow all regulations associated with interscholastic competition.

Each of these proposals has been submitted not only to the IGHSAU Board, but also the IHSAA Board, so they may be considered for all interscholastic contests.