Last week, the announcement that many have expected for quite some time, made its way to the media in the form of a letter from Eddie Bonine, the executive director of the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association.
The NIAA is trying to liquidate the 3A, which is by far the smallest class in the state with 11 current members, seven in the North and four in the South. That's too small in a state like Nevada where they have true state championships.
What took you guys so long?
I read the memo as trying to make the 4A bigger; to absorb all the 3A schools. The memo talked about trying to cut down on transportation costs, to have fewer games and having less missed class time.
I'd like to address the missed class time first. I think the leagues/schools are to blame for this one.
Football is the easy sport. You play it once a week, usually on a Friday or Saturday. For sports like basketball, baseball, volleyball and soccer which are usually played twice a week, what's wrong with playing only Friday and Saturdays? You might miss two classes max during the course of the week depending on when you travel. It also wouldn't have kids out late on school nights, and wait, here's a novel idea, it might mean more moms and dads might get to see their kids play.
Honestly, the only sport that would be screwed in this format (Friday and Saturday) would be golf because golf courses aren't going to hand over their courses on Friday or Saturday, especially the latter, unless you throw a lot of money their way to make up for loss of income. Golf pretty much only plays once a week now anyway.
I believe that each school district should determine the travel limits for their member schools. If teams want to go out of state for tournaments, and that's usually where you find the best competition, then those teams need to fundraise the money themselves and not rely on the schools to pay the freight.
Now, on to the biggest part of the NIAA's decision, which is getting rid of the 3A.
There are currently 15 4A schools and seven 3A schools in the North. To me, that means three divisions, but there are a few different ways of doing that.
Here's my first scenario, and keep in mind that this is strictly looking at things from a geographical perspective.
League A " Carson, Douglas, South Tahoe, Galena, Damonte Ranch, Bishop Manogue, and Dayton.
League B " Reno, McQueen, North Valleys, Spanish Springs, Hug, Reed, Wooster and Truckee.
League C " Spring Creek, Fernley, Elko, Lowry, Fallon, Sparks and Yerington.
Here is my second option.
Throw all the 3A schools into a new 4A league together, though that doesn't address the transportation issues as well as my first option, and keep the current 4A leagues as they are.
Here is my third option, and I'm sure Washoe County has been pushing for this forever.
League A " Galena, Damonte Ranch, Reed, Spanish Springs, North Valleys, Hug, Wooster, McQueen and Reno.
League B " Carson, Douglas, Manogue, Dayton, Truckee and South Tahoe.
League C " Fallon, Fernley, Yerington, Lowry, Spring Creek, Sparks and Elko.
Well, that's all I have on realignment.
- Carson High is holding a meeting in a couple of weeks on its new drug testing program which starts next fall.
I'd love to know how parents of athletes feel about it and how athletes themselves feel about it. Please give me a call at 881-1281 after 3 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday or shoot me an e-mail at dmoody@nevadaappeal.com.