Students will play a key role in helping shape the future of the Arizona Interscholastic Association and its member schools.

The association will share some of its goals for its student leaders and member schools during the next summit for the Student Leadership Advisory Committee on April 13. One of those goals is centered on sportsmanship, said David Hines, the AIA’s executive director, during the AIA’s monthly board meeting Tuesday.

Over the last 25 years, the AIA has grown from 177 to 279 schools and 188,000 to 325,000 student athletes.

“We are not the same organization we were 25 years ago,” Hines said. “We will work on what our culture and purpose and mission is with the membership.

“We are going to work on schools developing and enhancing their cultures at their schools.”

About 500 students are expected to attend the SLAC summit.

The AIA’s Sportsmanship and Ethics Committee and SLAC are currently modifying the pregame sportsmanship statement that is read before high school events. In the future, students will read the sportsmanship statement before games instead of public address announcers.

The AIA also contacted sportsmanship and character development advocates to help it further its culture changing mission. Hines announced that the AIA will work with the InSideOut Initiative, a non profit funded by the NFL Players Foundation that wants to transform the win-at-all-costs culture in high school athletics.

The SLAC summit will end with a presentation from motivational speaker Stephen Mackey, whose focus is on student character development.

Donations by the National Federation of State High Schools Association Foundation and the Arizona Basketball Coaches Association will help offset the costs of running the SLAC summit and speaker fees, Hines said. School administrators will pick a female and male student athlete from each school to attend the April 13 summit.

Executive director report

Hines recently attended the annual NFHS Winter Meeting for state high school executive directors.

He gave the AIA’s board an update on the meeting. Among the topics that stood out:

The chair of the NFHS’ Sports Medicine Committee said that football accounted for four percent of the concussions that were reported during the 2018-19 school by the NFHS’ associations. The sports that had the highest percentage of concussions was baseball (14 percent), cheer (about 13 percent) and soccer (about 12 percent). New rules and equipment helped reduce the amount of football concussions, Hines said.

Knees and ankle injuries accounted for the highest percentage of injuries, mostly because of overuse, according to information Hines received from AIA official and tournament coordinator Tyler Cerimeli, who sits on the NFHS’ Rules Committee.

Hines also said that there isn’t much interest from the NFHS’ associations in participating in national championship-type events. There was some discussion to allow track and cross country athletes to participate in them, though.

During Hines’ report, Mark Mignella, the AIA’s lawyer, said that the AIA received a response from Salpointe explaining the school’s admission process. The AIA was concerned that Salpointe might be violating the recruiting rule.

But, after receiving Salpointe’s response, no further action is needed from the AIA and its board, Mignella said. Hines congratulated the numerous coaches in Arizona who garnered NFHS National, Sectional and State 2018-19 Coach of the Year honors, and thanked Seth Polansky, the AIA’s sports information director, for working on the coach of the year nominations.

The winners at the state level were Shaun Aguano (Chandler football), Candice Gonzales (Mesquite girls basketball), Chris Hanson (Highland boys cross country), Jeff Holland (Mesquite baseball). Jessica Peacock (Chandler Unified Sports), Charlie Wilde (Pinnacle boys basketball). At the state sectional level, the winners were Lynn Cote (Marana Mountain View girls golf), Phil Gonzales (Hamilton boys tennis), TJ Hagen (Mesa High boys soccer), Mai Craig (Mingus boys golf), Dave Montgomery (boys track and field), Jeff Penzone (Northwest Christian girls soccer), Jeep Ray (Corona del Sol softball), and Eric Richardson (Chandler girls track and field).

An unprecedented four Arizona coaches earned National NFHS Coach of the Year honors. They are Lois Emshoff (Chandler badminton), Valorie McKenzie (Horizon girls volleyball), Cherry Roberds (Miami tennis), Dave Van Sickle (Xavier girls cross country).

Financial report

Denise Doser, the AIA’s director of finance, reported that there was a 12 percent increase in the fall gate receipts compared to the previous school year.

Football and volleyball saw a 16 and 13 percent, respectively, increase in attendance.

Open Division football 

The executive board unanimously voted to allow the Open Division football championship tournament to continue during the next two-year scheduling block. The AIA’s Football Reclassification Committee was in favor of the move as well, Hines said.

Appeals/division placements

Camp Verde’s track and field and cross country appeal to move from D-III to D-IV was approved for the 2020-21 school year.

Football placement appeals

The board approved the following football placement appeals for the 2020-21 school year:

Coronado (2A to 3A)

Tuba City (2A to 3A)

Kingman Academy (3A to 2A)

Notre Dame (6A to 5A)

The following appeals were denied:

Arete Prep (2A to 1A)

San Carlos (2A to 1A)

Sedona Red Rock (2A to 1A)

Chino Valley (3A to 2A)

Round Valley (3A to 2A)

West Point (5A to 4A)

ALA Ironwood (3A to 2A)

Barry Goldwater (5A to 4A)

Ben Franklin (4A to 3A)

North (6A to 5A)

Northwest Christian (4A to 3A)

Phoenix Christian (3A to 2A)

Trevor Browne (6A to 5A)

NFL Yet (2A to 1A)

Empire's request to move from 5A to 3A was denied but was allowed to drop to 4A. Unlike previous seasons, football programs will not remain in their conferences for at least two years.

The AIA’s Football Reclassification Committee will now evaluate teams after each season to determine in which conference they belong.

New school membership site visit report

After AIA site visits, the board voted to allow AIA member schools to vote on whether to accept Nadaburg High (1A Conference) in Wittman and Sequoia Charter (2A) in Mesa as member schools.

New school membership balloting update

Sequoia Pathway (2A) in Maricopa and Andrada Polytechnic (3A) in Tucson were approved to become AIA member schools during the 2020-21 school year.

Agenda items approved

The following agenda items were approved:

• Four AIA lifetime passes.
• Thirty contests cancellation requests.
• The student eligibility appeal and or request for hardship eligibility (paper review/legal guardian) of San Luis.
• Additional game requests from Kofa, Canyon View and Snowflake.
• Desert Vista’s request to extend its spring baseball tournament by one day.
• Three complimentary pass requests.
• Seventeen AIA bylaw amendments, pending Legislative Council approval. One of those amendments is seeking stiffer penalties for players and coaches who are thrown out of games.

Not approved

Willow Canyon’s request for its softball team to play in a tournament in Honolulu before the Feb. 19 start date of the season was not approved.

School violations

The AIA’s board placed Phoenix Christian’s girls basketball program on probation.

The punishment can be lifted, however, after Phoenix Christian’s girls’ basketball coach completes a corrective action plan set forth by the school.

The basketball coach “made physical conduct” with an opposing student athlete during a game. The coach received a technical foul and was eventually suspended for three games.

The coach has apologized to the opposing school and player. If the corrective action plan is completed by the coach, Phoenix Christian’s punishment will be dropped to a warning and, if it qualifies, allowed to participate in the postseason this season.

Warning for Bourgade Catholic girls basketball. The head coach was screaming at an official and threw a basketball at the direction of the official and players on the court after a varsity game. Bourgade Catholic eventually relieved the coach of his duties.

Advisement for South Mountain girls basketball. A girls basketball player shouted an obscenity at the officiating crew while the crew was in a changing room after a game. The student was eventually suspended because of that incident and something else that happened at school.

Advisement for Estrella Foothills girls soccer. A spectator from Estrella Foothills confronted an official after a game.

Advisement for Tucson boys soccer. The freshman team didn’t show up for a scheduled game at Sunnyside.

Warning for Sierra Linda’s activities program. Two wrestlers competed prior to completing all Tolleson Union High School District and AIA eligibility requirements.

Advisement for Desert Mountain girls basketball. JV and freshman coaches didn’t keep track of how many quarters a player participated during a day.

Warning for ALA Gilbert North and ALA Queen Creek’s boys soccer. The coaches got into an argument during the hand shake line after a game. The players then started jawing at each other. The players and coaches were immediately separated within 30 seconds, according to the schools’ violation reports. During the game, an official stopped the game and requested that the fans on the visiting side bleachers be removed because of their actions and what they were saying to officials and players. According to the violation reports by both schools, an assistant coach who received a red card was suspended for two games. Both head coaches were suspended for one game.

Warning for Liberty boys soccer. The coach argued with an official after he was ejected.

Advisement for River Valley boys soccer. The soccer team forfeited two games in December due to injuries but didn’t notify an opposing team in a timely manner.

Advisement for Mountain Pointe spiritline. Its spiritline didn’t attend a qualifier it registered for because of an injury.