Tiered football system continues to be hot item at AD meetings

WAIKOLOA, Hawaii >> Quiet days at the Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association convention may indeed be just that.

But there were some underground, off-the-record, unsubstantiated rumblings Wednesday at the 57th HIADA meetings at the Hilton Waikoloa Village on the Kohala Coast of the Big Island. Otherwise, above-board committee voting on 30 legislative proposals for the state’s high school sports was smooth over the past two days.

By far, the hottest topic this week is an item that would continue the three-tiered football state tournament that began as a pilot program last year — with the addition of two relatively minor tweaks.

But that’s where it gets tricky. The football measure passed through committee Wednesday by a 19-15-1 count. It moves on to the full HIADA voting body (91 of Hawaii’s athletic directors have direct or proxy votes) today. It is possible that amendments to the proposal will be added, or that continuing the three tiers (instead of two) could get voted down. Such an eventuality would be drastic because it would go against the grain of the Hawaii High School Athletic Association (the overseer of all state tournaments) football committee, which was tasked throughout the year to determine the pilot program’s pros and cons and, with members of all five Hawaii leagues represented, is ostensibly at the forefront of the subject and leading everyone to a consensus.

Today’s voting either will be a ripple or something akin to The Eddie being called “on” — or somewhere in between. Most athletic directors and other officials in high positions have been tight-lipped on where they think things are going, and some are warning that it could get contentious. In all cases (and with all proposals), whatever is passed by HIADA today also will have to face the scrutiny of the HHSAA executive board, which meets and votes Friday, before final approval.

Leagues declaring its teams for one of the three football state-tournament divisions — Open, Division I and D-II — before the season starts is one of the two football tournament-related changes in the proposal. Last year, in the inaugural three-tiered tournament, one of the leagues — the Oahu Interscholastic Association — declared its teams well after the season started and that is something that, at least in the eyes of the HHSAA football committee, needs to change.

The other proposed change to the football state tournament is reducing the number of teams qualifying in D-I from eight to six to align with the six-team Open and D-II tournaments. An amendment to that item — a switch to six teams in Open, six teams in D-I and eight teams in D-II — was defeated in committee Wednesday.

In other HIADA committee voting Wednesday:

>> Requiring leagues in all sports to declare for D-I or D-II one week before a season starts was voted down 26-8-1. Declarations for all sports (football was exempted last year and is prompting discussions this year) will continue to be done in June.

>> The creation of individual Division II winners in cross country was voted down 18-13, with one abstention.

>> Adding Maui as a site to the Division II girls soccer tournament rotation was voted down by a wide margin.

>> A baseball pitch count rule change to the Pitch Smart guidelines, which are recommended by USA Baseball and Major League Baseball, was narrowly defeated.

>> A proposal to use ultrasound to test wrestlers for body fat was withdrawn. The HHSAA wrestling committee will approach the University of Hawaii for more data on its effectiveness. An added benefit of using ultrasound, according to some, would be that it could determine if a wrestler is over- or under-hydrated. The caliper method currently in use will continue to be used.

>> A measure to change the bowling state tournament format passed through committee 19-13-0. The proposal, however, was amended. Instead of changing it from a two-day, boys and girls combined event, the initial item suggested one full day for girls and one full day for boys. The amendment, which will be voted on today by the full HIADA body, calls for a four-day tournament, two days for girls and two for boys.

>> A proposal adding a fee for admission to the state bowling tournament was withdrawn.

>> An item increasing the amount of athletes who score and win medals in swimming and diving was narrowly defeated.

>> A measure increasing the amount of athletes who score and win medals in track and field was narrowly defeated.

>> A change to allowing two judo coaches (instead of one) in the corner of the mat for judo matches passed easily.

>> An item to keep judo scoring the same in Hawaii despite changes to International Judo Federation rules passed easily.

>> Removing the cap at 27 points in a set during the boys and girls state volleyball tournament passed easily.

Proposals defeated in committee may be brought back to the main HIADA body today via what is called a minority report.