The North Carolina High School Athletic Association held its winter 2024 Board of Directors meeting from Dec. 4 to Dec. 5, and although there weren’t many major changes approved, there were important discussions held on the landscape of high school athletics.
One of the biggest discussions regarded the potential sanctioning of girls’ flag football, which the Board decided to table during the meeting. Durham, Johnston and Wake counties brought forth the proposal to sanction the sport under the reasoning that the participation numbers warranted approval. However, the proposal didn’t make it to a vote because the reported number of participating schools in North Carolina isn’t consistent across different sources. The Carolina Panthers, a key driver of support for the sport, reported 119 participating schools, and the proposal itself reported 116. A survey sent in recent weeks by the NCHSAA to its member schools asked about emerging sports (including flag football) and indicated only 52 schools participated in the sport from the 246 responses.
The NCHSAA bylaws require at least 25% of the member schools or at least half of the schools in a classification participate in a sanctioned sport in order to have a state championship. The number of schools offering teams in a sport must also meet the constitutional requirements for two years before a state championship is implemented. Per the NCHSAA’s survey, only 11.76% of the total membership and much less than 50% of each classification participates in girls’ flag football (1.65% in 1A, 3.77% in 2A, 9.91% in 3A, 33.65% in 4A).
Despite the discrepancies in the reported participating schools, Tucker said the NCHSAA has “no doubt” girls’ flag football will eventually have a sanctioned state championship. In fact, girls’ flag football teams in Durham, Johnston, New Hanover, Union and Wake counties held the first ever unofficial state playoff this season with the state championships concluding Saturday.
“We just want to make sure as we move forward that the data is the data and that it is correct data,” NCHSAA Commissioner Que Tucker said. “I had a conversation and will continue to have some dialogue with the Panthers organization just so that they understand we’re not opposed. We must follow our bylaws, and we need our school people to also give us the necessary data to be able to move forward.”
While in the process of transitioning its membership from four classes to eight classes beginning with the 2025-26 school year, the Board also discussed a proposal to create separate classifications for charter and non-boarding parochial schools. Nash Central High School brought forth the proposal, citing concerns about schools without defined attendance zones having a talent advantage over schools with attendance zones. The discussion didn’t result in any action though, as the Board tabled the idea.
“We’ve been made aware of some things and some concerns, and we are going to explore it,” NCHSAA President Stephen Gainey said in a press conference following the meeting. “But, we owe it to the membership of this organization to focus on the first priority which is reclassification.”
Said Tucker, “We have yet to be able to pin anything on any of those schools that suggests that they have an advantage because they’re not following our rules.”
While those two major topics were put on hold, here’s a quick look at what the NCHSAA Board did act on in its most recent meeting session:
Sports
- In boys’ golf, four team members can now score as a team in regionals if they qualified to regionals as individuals
- The NCHSAA will begin to track yellow and red cards in soccer through DragonFly, effective Spring 2025 season
- Capped the number of women’s wrestling regular season matches at 55, effective immediately
- In wrestling, the NCHSAA remove the five stoppages before disqualification during blood time, effective Jan 1
Policy
- Approved requiring a minimum of three calendar days between football contests
- Amended the ejection policy so that student-athletes may remain in the team area for supervision after a disqualification or ejection, effective immediately
- Modified the master eligibility sheet to only list names of certified coaches, effective 2025-26 school year
Review and Officiating
- Instated full game fee payment to officials when they arrive for a contest and it is delayed one hour past the original start time and the game is not played, effective for the Spring 2025 season
- Clarified language that any person under 18 or still in high school cannot be assigned to officiate NCHSAA contests, effective Jan. 1
- Moved official assignment duties to the NCHSAA Director of Officiating Services for all playoff rounds after round tow for softball, baseball, lacrosse and volleyball, effective Jan. 1
Finance and Personnel
- Approved the 2024-25 operating budget
- Approved the 2023-24 audit
