Jan. 21, 2008 Meeting Summary

The inaugural meeting of the MSHSAA Student Activity Council took place on January 21 in Columbia with (10) members present.
The purpose of the Council is to promote and expand sportsmanship, leadership and character education efforts to all students in Missouri. The Council will also serve as the collective ears and voices of all student activity participants in communicating concerns to the Association and from the Association to students across the state.

Meeting Highlights

• Sara S. (Southeast) was appointed chairperson, and Daunte M. (At-Large 1) was appointed vice chair.

• The six students who attended the 2007 NFHS National Student Leadership Conference discussed what they have implemented at their schools this year to advance sportsmanship efforts, positive school spirit and team leadership. Three of the students also noted that their administrators have utilized them for conference and regional meetings. Britton W. indicated that his school has asked him to attend all school board meetings to serve as an ex-officio student liaison.

• All 10 students judged the district winners for the 2007-08 MSHSAA Junior High Sportsmanship Essay Contest.

• The Council discussed the 2008 NFHS National Student Leadership Conference in Indianapolis (July 17-20). Of the four new committee representatives, only one indicated she could not attend. Once a Southwest representative is appointed, we will be able to determine how many of our six allotted spots and which gender we need to round out the Missouri delegation.

• The Council discussed goals and plans to assist at the 2008 MSHSAA Sportsmanship Summit in Springfield (August 6-7). Everyone indicated they would be able to attend this event.

• The “MSHSAA Student News & Views” newsletter was discussed. The students would like to see an area of the MSHSAA web site developed for Students that would include the Newsletter as well other student-specific information and ways for students to communicate ideas to the council or submit letters for the Newsletter itself. It was also determined that in 2008-09, the Newsletter would be published three times per year at the start of each sport season, if possible, with a focus on current issue and upcoming changes (NFHS rules, policies, by-laws, playoff formats, etc.). There was also discussion about increasing awareness for the Newsletter, including an email subscription functionality on the Student area of the website, if developed.

• The Council broke into small groups and reviewed spring and fall advisory committee recommendations. They were asked to identify recommendations that they “strongly support” or “strongly oppose.” See addendum for a summary of the issues the Council went on record for or against.

• As a large group, the Council reviewed the 15 Area Meeting topics. See addendum for a summary of the Council’s feedback on each issue. See adjacent page for summary.

• The Council will meet again on Wednesday, August 6 at the Sportsmanship Summit to review duties for that event as well as plan for the 2008-09 school year.

ADVISORY COMMITTEES (Stronly Support or Strongly Oppose Only)

Athletic Directors Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 1 (retaining 60-hour requirement for assistant coaches)

* In favor of Item 3 (pursuing school input regarding a summer dead period).

Baseball Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 1 (implementing 2-out-of-3 series for district finals)

Cheerleading Advisory Committee

(No strong sentiments)

Constitution Study Committee

(No strong sentiments)

Cross Country Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 1 (adding 1 regular season meet)

Football Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 4 (8-man finals at Dome)

Golf Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 5 (increasing Amateur & Awards Standard maximum retail value of merchandise only to $100)

Media Advisory Committtee

(No strong sentiments)

Public/Nonpublic Advisory Committee

*Opposed to Item 1 (restrictions for students moving from public to nonpublic and vice versa for their freshman year).

Soccer Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 2 (One-game coaching suspension for schools with five off-the-ball yellow cards in district play).

Softball Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 2 (emphasis on safety education regarding metal spikes).

Sportsmanship/Citizenship Committee

*In favor of Item 2 (increasing bonus points for attending Sportsmanship Summit)

* In favor of Item 3 (adding activities representative to committee)

Tennis Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 1 (stacking and lineup policy revisions)

Track & Field Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 1 (keeping 3200m run in its current time slot unless weather dictates its movement to another time of day).

*Opposed to Item 3 (weighing in pole vaulters for each event).

* In favor of Item 4 (pole vault education requirement).

Volleyball Advisory Committee

*In favor of Item 1 (permitting bobby pins)

* In favor of Item 4 (Implementing 5-6-6 warm-up format)

* In favor of Item 5 (New warm-up procedure)

*****

2008 AREA MEETING TOPICS

1. State Basketball Schedule Revision

The Council was in favor of the change since it eliminates early-morning and late-night games.

2. Amateur & Awards Standard

Some students indicated they participate in golf tournaments and events where shoes, merchandise, golf balls, basketballs, etc. are often given as prizes, and they cannot accept these based on the current limit. They suggested a $100 limit to permit shoes or pro shop vouchers.

3. Enrollment Verification Procedures

The Council did not have strong sentiments regarding this topic, but indicated that verifiable counts are preferred to the card system.

4. Baseball District Format & Equal Breaks

The group was in favor of the 2-out-of-3 district championship series and preferred equal breaks to reduce the enrollment discrepancy in Class 3 baseball. It was determined that schools with enrollments around 900 are more similar to Class 4 schools than Class 3 (which starts at 400 students).

5. Citizenship: Privacy vs. Eligibility

The Council had extended discussion on this topic. In general, they were in favor of keeping the policy as it is because changing the period of ineligibility to a point that the school becomes aware of the incident could lead to gamesmanship. Emphasis on communicating this policy at preseason parent meetings was suggested so that students and their parents have the opportunity to disclose anything that might affect the team before games are even played. The students were opposed to this policy including minor traffic violations.

6. Dual Participation

The group noted that as long as the school program remained the priority, small changes to this policy would be welcome. Various Council members noted that if the coach, the school and the student’s family were willing to work through situations at the local level, the by-laws should permit this to take place as long as the school program was not compromised.

7. Establishing a Minimum GPA

The Council was strongly in favor of implementing some sort of minimum grade point average requirement. They emphasized that athletes are students first, and if they are having academic difficulties, they should be spending additional time resolving that rather than participating in sports anyway. It was also stated that if sports is the only factor keeping a student in school, that is the wrong motivation for success.

8. Open Facilities

The group did not see any reason to change the current policy. None of them was aware of abuses to the current policy taking place at their schools during “open gym” sessions.

9. Summer Rules / Dead Period

The Council was in favor of exploring a possible summer quiet period as long as each school could determine its own schedule due to camp commitments, etc.

10. Public/Nonpublic: Students Going From Public to Private Schools, and Vice Versa as Ninth Graders

The group was opposed to implementing any restrictions on enrollment for freshman regarding movement to private and public schools. Discussion noted that there are numerous circumstances on both sides that would make it impossible to regulate.

11. Public/Nonpublic: Hiring Investigators

The Council was agreeable with this proposal.

12. Coaching Requirements

Discussion centered around having qualified educators in charge of their programs and retaining the current safeguards in place to ensure this.

13. Board of Directors AD Position

The Council had no strong sentiments on this issue.

14. Promotion Standard / Undue Influence and Athletic Reasons

The Council noted that undue influence is a concern, but happens more often after the eighth-grade year. The students indicated that athletic reasons is much more prevalent, but they were not concerned with families making that decision as long as it takes place before they enter high school.

15. Softball Petition

There was mixed reaction to this. Some thought it was a good opportunity for some schools, while others stated that the school should switch seasons or treat spring softball the same as fall baseball.