Logan Martin and other boys basketball players will have a shorter shot clock to work with next season. (Photo by JohnsPhotos.net)
Change is coming.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association announced Monday its Representative Assembly passed 18 amendments, covering a broad range of sports.
The first change which jumps out is the decision to allow 6th graders to participate in all WIAA sports with the exception of football.
That amendment passed by the absolute skin of its teeth, getting the minimum “yes” votes needed in a 32-21 thriller.
Track and cross country were used as test sports for the idea, with Coupeville Middle School among those who participated.
With WIAA approval, if just barely, now the decision lands in the hands of local administrators.
For 6th graders to compete, there has to be school (principal, superintendent, school board), league, and district approval.
It’s unknown at this time if CMS, which fields volleyball, boys soccer, cross country, girls and boys basketball, and track teams, will go all in on the new status quo.
Another amendment lowers the shot clock for high school boys basketball from 35 to 30 seconds, making it uniform with the girls game.
That decision didn’t seem to induce any panic in Coupeville High School coach Brad Sherman.
“I’m confident our guys can get a good look in 30 seconds,” he said with a big smile.
The shot clock vote passed at 50-3, while an amendment to allow contact at only one practice during two-a-day football workouts went through with a 27-7-1 tally.
That change won’t alter how CHS football approaches practice.
“Our normal two-a-day consists of offense in the morning and defense in the afternoon,” said Wolf head coach Marcus Carr. “We never tackle during offensive periods, that is install.
“During defensive practice we install the defense and we have a tackling progression circuit we conduct. So this will not impact us that much.”
In fact, the amendment just puts into words how many high school gridiron teams already operate.
“It’s about keeping the players as safe as possible by limiting contact and my staff and I are fully onboard with that,” Carr said. “We have the equipment necessary to teach safe proper techniques/tackling without beating ourselves up.”
While 18 amendments passed, five failed, and none crashed harder than a plea to allow high school basketball teams to schedule 24 regular-season games instead of 20.
That idea was snuffed out by a 31-4 vote.
The WIAA Representative Assembly is made up of 53 school administrators pulled from all nine of the state’s districts, with 35 from high schools and 18 from middle schools.
An amendment needed a 60% approval rate to pass, and most go into effect beginning with the 2020-2021 school year.
To see everything passed, and read more about each amendment, pop over to:
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