Toyama concerned
with Title IX, costsAlternate classification proposed
Dwight Toyama thinks state tournament classification should be done for two girls sports before it is attempted for football.
"If there's a push for classification, then we should address Title IX first," said Toyama, the Oahu Interscholastic Association executive secretary. "Ninety percent of the schools have teams in girls volleyball and girls basketball and not even 50 percent of the schools have football teams."
Toyama met with the OIA athletic directors yesterday on the subject.
He isn't against classification in football, but added that it might not be wise to attempt to classify any of the three sports now.
A proposal by the Interscholastic League of Honolulu's Don Botelho and the Hawaii High School Athletic Association's Keith Amemiya calls for a two-tiered state football tournament that would create a four- or five-team Division II championship.
"Things are tough fiscally and at this time my preference is to remain status quo," Toyama said. "I'm concerned about the cost of four more teams traveling for football. We're up to about $150 per round trip and it's a tremendous cost. And football means we've got teams traveling over the ocean three weekends in a row."
He also said he was worried about the continuing loss of revenue for football, which is used to defray future transportation costs. He said the OIA received a share of $81,000 for the first state tournament in 1999, but only $50,000 last year.
Toyama said it was "generous" for Amemiya to guarantee to cover any Division II football tournament losses for a one-year trial period and to personally donate $20,000 to help with travel costs for the 2004 girls basketball and softball tournaments.
"But it's a one-shot deal," Toyama added.
Which is also Amemiya's point.
"It's only for one year. So let's try it," said Amemiya, who doesn't understand Toyama's reason for leaning toward the status quo.
"The OIA has had successful classification in football for over 10 years and no one has raised the Title IX issue because they're not classifying any female sports. Currently, we classify our competitive cheerleading state tournament into two divisions. And I'm proposing to fully fund the travel costs for our girls basketball and softball teams. Therefore, I don't think we need to classify another female state tournament right away, especially when football classification is on a one-year trial basis."
Oahu Interscholastic Association