NCHSAA to allow JV football players flexibility, takes steps to aid schools financially
Next season, 3A and 4A high school football coaches throughout North Carolina can choose up to 10 athletes to play both junior and varsity football games in the same week.
Schools are also going to get some financial relief beginning this fall, including saving on insurance premiums.
At its annual spring meeting, the NCHSAA Board of Directors made several changes, including creating a new policy in response to declining numbers of junior varsity football teams. It doubles the current number of players that can take advantage of the “eight-quarter rule.”
Currently, 1A and 2A coaches can choose up to 10 players to use that rule -- which allows each junior varsity player to play an additional 10 quarters of varsity football during the course of the season. For 3A and 4A schools, only five players can use the eight-quarter rule currently.
Generally, junior varsity games are played on Thursdays with varsity on Fridays.
“That means a great deal for schools,” West Charlotte coach Sam Greiner said, “because we have a lot of kids who need to get reps on JV, and we might not have a lot of depth on varsity. When you normally have five it’s very limited and you have to be cautious. This allows younger guys to get more experience, by bringing them up and seeing the game speed of varsity games and it and might make them better years down the road.”
A new endowment review committee
The Board also established an Endowment Review Committee to work with its Finance & Personnel Committee in the best use of the Association’s endowed funds. State lawmakers have challenged the NCHSAA in recent weeks over its large endowment, calling the NCHSAA the wealthiest state association in the nation, and questioning whether it’s doing enough to help member schools during the pandemic.
NCHSAA commissioner Que Tucker said no decision has been made about how many members will be on the committee. However, she hoped to have statewide representation from principals, superintendents, coaches and athletic directors to help guide the organization on the best uses of interest monies generated by its endowment.
NCHSAA president Jerry Simmons said changes started before the association met with lawmakers earlier this month. Simmons said the meeting did have an impact, however.
“I won’t tell you that it had no influence on us,” Simmons said, “because that just wouldn’t be true. But, but so we’re clear, when we had when we had the hearing with the General Assembly, one of the very first statements that they made was that we’ve done absolutely nothing wrong with how we handle finances, but we realized that there were more things we could do in the way of doing things right.”
Financial changes
The NCHSAA will no longer require schools to pay for catastrophic insurance premiums for sports where it offers sanctioned championships as well as each member school’s cheerleading program. This will begin in the 2021-22 school year.
Those sanctioned sports include basketball, cross-country, football, golf, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball and wrestling.
Total saving to membership will be more than $500,000, Tucker said.
“In reviewing goals set by previous Boards along with the association’s financial position and understanding our member schools’ strained resources due to the pandemic,” commissioner Que Tucker said, “the Board of Directors made the decision to assume the cost of catastrophic insurance premiums as a benefit of membership in the NCHSAA.”
The Board also approved of the association’s suspension of the endowment games and it revised the NCHSAA’s share of playoff gate receipts in lacrosse, dual team wrestling and dual team tennis. Stopping endowment games means schools will get to keep more gate money.
Simmons said the endowment games will not be played next season, but the board has not made a decision about future endowment games after that. He said the board will reevaluate that decision annually.
Coronavirus exposure, protective equipment
The Board also adopted a Sports Medicine Advisory Committee recommendation to not require fully vaccinated athletes, coaches or staff members who have had direct COVID-19 exposure to quarantine or test unless that person exhibits symptoms.
▪ The Board also decided to not allow teams to wear protective equipment for skill development and workouts during the week of June 28. Tucker said this was to allow licensed athletic trainers and first responders, who are on site when players participate with equipment, to have an additional week off after a compressed sports season.
Will COVID vaccine proof be required?
In a press conference Thursday, Tucker, responding to a question, said there are no current plans to require proof of vaccination in order to participate in athletics or attend games.
“Now that’s today,” Tucker said. “I don’t know what will unfold as we move forward, but Dr (Elizabeth Cuervo) Tilson (chief medical officer for the Department of Health and Human Services) also agreed that there are no plans for that at this time, and I can’t imagine that would be something we would require, especially making a decision like that today. So we’ll see how it all unfolds, and we’ll be guided by the Department of Health and Human Services, as we move forward and get closer to the start of sports next year.”
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 11:05 AM.
