Three-tier state football tournament earns HIADA approval




WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — The 57th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference wrapped up Thursday morning at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.

Over the three-day conference at the 62-acre oceanfront resort on the Kohala coast of the Big Island, athletic directors from the state's five leagues addressed a list of 30 concerns/proposals. Of those, 14 measures passed out of committee — another five emerged Thursday as minority reports — and reached the general assembly floor, where they were voted on by the HIADA body.

All but three of the 19 committee recommendations gained the approval of the general assembly — with eight of them passing unanimously.

The most notable measure passed pertains to the continuation of the three-tier state football tournament, which was used for the first time last season. The only change in the upcoming year will be a reduction in the D1 field from eight to six teams. All three tournaments will utilize a six-team format.

ADs from four of the five leagues voted in favor of the proposal, which was submitted by the HHSAA. The lone league to vote in opposition was the Oahu Interscholastic Association — the state's largest league.

The final vote count was 63 in favor to 27 opposed, with no abstentions.

"From the start this was our position," OIA executive director Raymond Fujino said. "The ADs and principals had concerns that weren't answered and I think the way it was implemented, we were just caught by surprise and there was not enough planning. That's most of the reason that we gave."

The formation of the Open Division tournament was made public several weeks after the start of the 2016 football season and bypassed the traditional process of being dissected, debated and scrutinized at HIADA. Instead, the HHSAA's Executive Board made the bombshell announcement only after meeting and voting behind closed doors.

Part of the proposal states that "leagues must declare which division their school will participate in by the HHSAA declaration deadline for all sports."

According to the HHSAA, that date will be Sept. 1. Consequently, league representation in each of the state tournaments will not be determined before that date.

On Tuesday, the measure saw 24 of 35 committee members abstain from a straw poll vote — with the other 11 voting in favor of it. However, that was after an amendment that increased the D2 football tournament to an eight-team field. Ultimately, it was amended back to its original six-team format in all three tournaments and was passed by a count of 19-15-1 by the same group of ADs Wednesday.

One of the measures that was defeated on the general assembly floor Thursday was seeking to alter the pitch-count rules for the sport of baseball. It would have cut down the daily maximum number of pitches from 110 to 105. The number of pitches thrown pertaining to the amount of days' rest required would also have changed. For example, under the current rule, a pitcher throwing 61 to 85 pitches would need to rest two days. Under the proposed measure, a pitcher throwing 61 to 75 pitches would require three days of rest.

Saint Francis athletic director Duane Eldredge said he thought the proposal went too far.

"Most people talked about that 30 (pitches) versus 35 on day one and they talked about the 105 and 110 (maximum), (but) I'm not worried about that. That's not the big deal to me," Eldredge said. "It was the middle days that I didn't like in the new proposal. If a pitcher throws 61 pitches in the state tournament — even if that was one the first day — he wouldn't be able to come back on the last day and his state tournament is done. I thought to myself, ‘that's just a bullpen (session),' you know? We throw a bullpen of 60 pitches two days before a game, so that's why I didn't like it."

Waiakea AD and former baseball coach Tommy Correa was on the other side of the argument.

"Our concern is that it's a safety issue, so you would just like to follow national guidelines, which is from USA Baseball and that's coming with orthopedic backing," Correa said. "What we currently have is nothing, so should something ever happen to a kid and a parent chooses to pursue the legality of what you followed, we have no leg to stand on."

Eldredge argued that a pitcher's offseason regiment can have a deeper effect that any one week during the high school season.

"Of course, you've got to take care of the student-athletes, but I personally believe it's not a one-week situation that is hurting these boys' arms," Eldredge said. "I think it's how we use them all through the summers and through all year round and they're not giving their arms that rest. I believe that has probably more to do with it than actual pitch count."

For Correa, however, it's a matter of being ahead of the issue.

"It's not a matter of whether it worked (last year) or not. It's a matter of what is the best practice and the best practice was recommended to you and you did not follow best practice, so you're just asking to get yourself in trouble should something happen," Correa said. "It has nothing to do with whether it worked or not. It has everything to do with in the event that something happens, are you protected?"

The Big Island Interscholastic Federation-sponsored proposal was defeated in committee (14-21-0) Wednesday, but was brought to the floor Thursday as a minority report. Ultimately, it failed to get enough support and was defeated 34-55-1.

ADs also voted to awards medals to all eight finalists in both swimming and diving and track and field state meets — previously only the top six earned hardware — but denied proposals to award points to all eight finalists in both sports.

All of the 16 recommendations out of HIADA will be forwarded to the HHSAA Executive Board, which is made up of the presidents of the five leagues. The board can approve, deny or amend any recommendation when it meets Friday at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.



Reach Kalani Takase at [email protected].




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