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The winter meeting of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors concluded Thursday. Over the course of the two-day meeting, the board met and took action on a handful of items. 

On Wednesday, the Board of Directors discussed a proposal to create separate classifications for charter and non-boarding parochial schools. The board decided to table that discussion and move forward with the current plan to transition from four to eight classes beginning with the 2025-2026 school year. That process is already underway, and conference realignment drafts will be presented to the Realignment Committee in the coming days. Schools are expected to receive the first draft of conferences before the Christmas break.

The board also tabled a discussion to sanction women’s flag football. The sport’s growing popularity in North Carolina has prompted sanctioning discussions, but current participation data, as reported by the schools, does not match data reported from other sources. Final data must satisfy the NCHSAA requirements to culminate in a state championship. Commissioner Que Tucker noted that the NCHSAA is not opposed to flag football and has no doubt that it will eventually become a sanctioned championship sport.

On Thursday, Kyle Stinson, senior at Seaforth High School and member of both the NCHSAA Student-Athlete Advisory Council and the National Federation of High School Association’s National Student Advisory Council, made a presentation on the growth of the SAAC program in North Carolina and the accomplishments of the members of that council. Polk County senior Kylie Lewis is a member of the NCHSAA SAAC.

The board also heard reports from the North Carolina Coaches Association, the North Carolina Athletic Directors Association, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the Regional Supervisors Advisory Committee.

 

On Thursday, the Board of Directors took the following action: 

Finance and Personnel

• Approved the 2023-24 audit as presented by Blackman & Sloop, CPAs
• Approved the 2024-25 annual operating budget

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

Review and Officiating

• Instated full game fee payment to officials when they arrive for a contest and it is delayed one hour past 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 January 1
• Moved official assignment duties to the NCHSAA Director of Officiating Services for all playoff rounds after round two for softball, baseball, lacrosse and volleyball, effective January 1

Sports

• In men’s golf, four team members can now score as a team in regionals if they qualified to regionals as individuals
• Will begin to track yellow and red cards in soccer through DragonFly, effective spring 2025 season
• Capped the number of women’s wresting regular season matches at 55, effective immediately 
• In wrestling, removed the five stoppages before disqualification during blood time, effective January 1