[ DIVISION II VOLLEYBALL ]
D-II proposals up for vote
on final day of HIADAThe HIADA conference will consider
adding more Division II tournaments today
SOUTH KOHALA, Hawaii » A new proposal to add Division II high school volleyball state tournaments to the 2004-05 calendar will be heard today, the final day of the annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel.
Seabury Hall athletic director Steve Colflesh drew up the plan yesterday afternoon after an impromptu meeting with members of four of Hawaii's five leagues. It needs a majority vote by the HIADA general assembly to pass.
The proposal also calls for the addition of new D-II tournaments each year until most of Hawaii's team sports are classified. After boys and girls volleyball this year, boys basketball and girls soccer would be added in 2005-06, followed by girls cross country and boys soccer in 2006-07, boys cross country and girls swimming in 2007-08, boys swimming and girls track in 2008-09, and boys track in 2009-10.
Baseball was not included in the plan, but it could be added as an amendment today.
Athletic directors Lyle Crozier of Konawaena, Missy Kilbey of St. Andrew's Priory, Curtis Jackson of Kaahumanu Hou and Lewis Fuddy of Kalaheo also had a hand in putting together the proposal. The Kauai Interscholastic Federation was the only league not represented.
"It's the right thing to do," Jackson said.
"We need Division II," Kilbey added.
Fuddy reminded the group that finances -- especially travel costs --are a concern and wondered how all of these new tournaments would be funded.
Kilbey suggested appealing to corporate sponsors -- similar to what's done to help pay for the state football tournament -- to foot the bill.
"And even if we don't find sponsors, I just don't think it will be that hard for a few more teams to travel," Colflesh said. "It's only for one or two nights and most schools would find a way to raise the money if they had to."
The four-team format, which was used in the inaugural D-II softball and girls basketball tournaments earlier this year, would be the same for the new tournaments.
The proposal also calls for HIADA to revisit the D-II implementation process in three years to evaluate its effectiveness and to see if changes need to be made.
Crozier, Colflesh and Kilbey expect most Big Island, Maui and Interscholastic League of Honolulu athletic directors to vote in favor of the proposal if a motion is made on it today. Fuddy wasn't sure how the ADs from the OIA, the largest league in the state, would vote, but he expected at least some opposition because of the costs.
"We like the idea," Fuddy said. "But we want all concerns to be fully addressed."
A similar, but separate proposal that would add boys and girls volleyball and boys basketball D-II tournaments in 2004-05 will also be heard by the general assembly today. It was voted down in committee Thursday, but will be discussed again because of the closeness of the vote.
No change: The five leagues will continue to choose which of its teams are D-I and D-II for the next school year, but there is growing support to have uniform classification guidelines.
A motion to have the decisions based on enrollment was defeated Thursday.
Under that plan, if it had passed, half of the schools with enrollments above the median would have gone to D-I and the other half to D-II, except for smaller schools that successfully petition to move up a division.
Several OIA ADs said they were against basing decisions on enrollment because they believe nearly all of the OIA's schools are above the median.
"I think you need to base it on competitive strength," Kahuku AD Joe Whitford said. "The size of the school doesn't matter."
Whichever way schools are divided, ILH president Tony Ramos thinks creating a level playing field is the goal.
"That whole issue needs to be thought all the way through," he said. "I haven't heard a good plan yet."
Colflesh conceded the enrollment plan which he presented Thursday wasn't as well thought out as it could have been.
"But I think we have to get to the point where there is one uniform way of classifying," he said. "There has to be some criteria."
Conference guest Bob Kanaby, who is the executive director of the National Federation of High School Associations, may be of some help in this area. He's in the process of finding models from other states and regions around the country for presentation to Hawaii's administrators.
Kanaby suggested that a format used by Middlesex County in New Jersey might be a possible fit for Hawaii.
"They measure the strength of schools' programs in each sport -- won-lost records from the past few years, how many state championships or division titles a team has won and other criteria," he said. "They've done this successfully for over 15 years."
Currently, the ILH classifies by enrollment, while the OIA divides by won-lost records from the previous season. The Big Island and Maui go by a combination of enrollment and discussion by league and school officials on where they believe teams belong.