The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association’s executive committee met Wednesday in Robbinsville for its first in-person meeting of 2022.
These are the biggest takeaways from the meeting, which only lasted 41 minutes:
Girls’ Wrestling Officially Goes to Annual Meeting Ballot: The association moved closer to recognizing women’s wrestling as its own standalone sport as the executive committee passed the final proposal as an administrative decision that will put it on the ballot at the annual meeting next month.
The initial proposal was first adopted at the January executive committee, which created a path for the sport to be independent, with its own rules, instead of being tied to men’s wrestling, as it has been since 2018. .
The NJSIAA annual meeting is scheduled for May 2.
Football co-ops denied: The NJSIAA Cooperative Sports Committee has rejected Park Ridge/Emerson Boro and South Amboy/Sayreville football cooperation proposals, Chief Compliance Officer Paul Popadiuk said.
South Amboy is looking to reapply with another partner, Popadiuk said. Emerson/Park Ridge appealed the decision on March 10, but the co-op appeal committee rejected it, he said.
“The committee felt that both schools showed no need (for the co-op),” Popadiuk told NJ Advance Media when asked about the refusals.
The committee approved three other proposals: Mother Seton/Timothy Christian in women’s football; Brick Memorial/Brick Township in gymnastics; Ranney/Mater Dei in field hockey.
Six Day Training Rule Clarified: The NJSIAA has clarified its position on its six-day practice rule, which states that athletes must practice six times with their teams before they are eligible to compete in scrimmages or games. This rule has been relaxed – of sorts – in the last two years affected by COVID-19, allowing children forced into quarantine to be eligible immediately.
The NJSIAA offered a clarification to this rule on Wednesday, adding:
- Athletes who miss four or more consecutive days will be required to restart this six-day training schedule, unless the fourth day is missed for a reason beyond the athlete’s control, such as a snow day or a Sunday where training will not take place.
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Brian Deakyne can be reached at bdeakyne@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianDeakyne.
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