The New Jersey Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) Executive Committee held its final in-person meeting of the year on Wednesday. There, the state's governing body addressed several important sport-specific issues, including those related to wrestling realignment, NCAA football and basketball, and volleyball adoption.
Here we look at the main sport-specific issues that were addressed.
A best-of-five match could be played in volleyball.
The NJSIAA has passed a proposal that moves the association closer to adopting a best-of-five match format for boys and girls volleyball at state tournaments.
NJSIAA Executive Director Colleen Maguire said it's time for New Jersey, one of only three states still using the three-game system, to catch up with the rest of the nation.
“It's time to treat this sport like any other state,” McGuire said. “However, we fully understand that there are a number of logistical concerns with moving up to a best-of-five format. So we have notified everyone for two full seasons that we will be moving to a best-of-five at the state tournament.” To do.”
From the 2025-2026 school year, the state tournament will shift to a five-set format for all rounds.
“It's time. This sport is too big, too popular and too important for our student-athletes and I think we're doing them a disservice right now,” McGuire said.
Increased participation in men's volleyball (up 37 percent in number of teams and 52 percent in number of participants) and women's volleyball (up 11 percent in number of teams and 15 percent in number of participants) since the start of the 2018-19 season. If the NJSIAA were to change to a five-game format, which the NJSIAA is impressed with, opportunities to play may increase as the association grows.
Under the unanimously passed proposal, NJSIAA schools would be able to mutually agree in advance to play a best-of-five format during the regular season starting in 2024-25, but would not be required to do so. do not have. There is no limit to the number of 5-set matches a team can play.
Another factor cited by the NJSIAA in wanting to move to five sets was length of play. According to the association, 75% of all games over the past two seasons have had a final score of 2 wins and 0 losses, and games have lasted only 30 to 40 minutes, much shorter than the length of basketball, baseball and softball games.
“If you look at the data, most games are over in under 40 minutes, which is half a basketball game,” McGuire said. “And when it's the second or third most populous sport on the girls' side and growing like crazy on the boys' side, the least we can do is play a five-set state tournament. It is about providing.”
Any changes that would involve potentially expanding regular-season play to five sets likely won't happen for at least the next two years as the state collects data.
“We're going to wait until we decide if we're going to make the regular season a best-of-five game, but we need to at least try it out and get some feedback,” McGuire said. “My gut feeling is that in 12 to 18 months people will come back and say it was no big deal.”
The changing formula for pro wrestling restructuring
The criteria used to determine wrestling district and regional realignments have changed slightly.
The realignment will be based on a number of factors to determine the state's top 32 teams, including a ranking formula that weighs 60 percent of teams' power points and 40 percent of teams returning from state qualifiers.
Realignment will continue to occur annually, but PowerPoint and returning state qualifiers will be equally weighted at 50%.
The realignment of men's wrestling was overhauled in May 2023 to evenly distribute the state's top teams across districts and regions.
Last season, the state's top 32 teams were divided into districts based on competitive balance, number north and ranking format.
The actual new restructuring will continue to occur annually and will be based on this new formula and will be announced no later than June 1, 2024.
McGuire also said the region's No. 4 player will continue to attend Atlantic City for at least next season.
Winter track to receive additional wildcards
The NJSIAA is increasing the number of wild-card entries for the winter track and field events from three to five events, arguing it allows for more participants without significantly impacting event times.
In June 2023, the Executive Committee approved a proposal to reduce the number of entries for public school winter track and field divisional competitions from three to two per event. This is due to the desire to normalize and shorten the length of competitions across divisions. The proposal also included the ability to wildcard entries into up to three events. That number will be 5.
Clarification of home and away uniforms
Citing confusion among coaches, athletic directors, and officials and calls for uniformity across sports, the NJSIAA has announced that starting in the 2024-25 school year, home teams will wear black uniforms and away teams will wear white uniforms. A proposal was passed recommending that they be worn.
Currently, the NJSIAA has home and away uniform policies for football, field hockey, soccer, basketball, ice hockey, and lacrosse, with uniforms being either white or dark colored, per National High School Athletic Federation policy. It is mandatory to do so. NFHS).
The classification of women's bowling will be completely revised.
Due to year-to-year differences in participation and sponsorship of all-girls bowling teams, the Executive Committee will change the classification of girls bowling in the NJSIAA to ensure a more balanced and competitive state tournament. We have approved a proposal to give you more flexibility.
After conducting the state team tournament on the boys side for the first time last season, the same classification model (North 1, North 2, Central, South, Groups 1-4) was used for the girls.
“For the women's category, we relied on participation from previous years and were doing our best to see who had an all-women's team before the season,” she said. . “We realized that there weren't as many all-girls teams as we thought. Many schools ended up not having enough girls and ended up fielding co-ed teams and playing in boys' tournaments.”
As a result, the bracket became unbalanced, forcing the NJSIAA to combine several groups and sections to provide a completed bracket.
“Once the season starts we'll find out exactly how many teams there are and then we'll announce the classification,” Maguire said. “They may look like the boys, but that's what they've been like this past year. You can divide them by group north and south, or you can divide them by division, like women's golf. I We're just going to wait and see how many teams there are.”
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Jake Aferiat can be contacted at: jaferiat@njadvancemedia.com.please follow him @Jake_Aferiat.
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