Kentucky High School Athletic Association

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The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) has been the governing body of Kentucky high school athletics since 1917. Located in Lexington, the organization sanctions competition in the following sports:

• Boys and girls
  • Basketball
  • Cross-country
  • Golf
  • Soccer
  • Swimming
  • Tennis
  • Track and field
• Boys only
  • Baseball
  • Football
  • Wrestling
• Girls only
  • Fast pitch softball
  • Slow pitch softball
  • Volleyball

The KHSAA governs competitions for both public and private schools throughout the state, plus two federally administered schools—Fort Campbell and Fort Knox High Schools, located on the U.S. Army bases of the same names. Fort Campbell High is actually located on the Tennessee side of the base, which straddles the state border, but the United States Department of Defense organizes the schools it runs on the two bases under a single district.

Whether public, private, or federally administered, all member schools compete for state championships on an equal basis. Unlike some other states' school athletic governing bodies, the KHSAA governs only athletics; it does not govern band, academic competitions, or other extracurricular activities, all of which are governed by separate bodies. Also, unlike bodies in a growing number of states, the KHSAA does not govern cheerleading competition, which is organized by the Kentucky Association of Pep Organization Sponsors.

Contents 1 Classification 2 Eligibility considerations 3 Notes and references 4 External links

[edit] Classification

Unlike the situation in most states, the default in Kentucky is to conduct a single state championship for all schools, with no classification of schools by enrollment.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]} Most notably, Kentucky does not divide schools into classes in basketball,^[10] with Delaware being the only other remaining state with a single state basketball championship for each sex. Of the 13 sports in which the KHSAA sanctions state championships, only three are organized in multiple classes—cross-country, football, and track. As of the 2006-07 school year, the classification rules for the three sports which are divided are:

• Cross-country^[11] and track^[12]
  • Class A — 570 or fewer students
  • Class AA — 571-950 students
  • Class AAA — More than 950 students
• Football^[13]
  • Class A — All schools ranked 163 and below in average enrollment (see below) among schools that sponsor the sport (total of 217 as of 2006-07)
  • Class AA — Schools ranked from 109 to 162 in average enrollment
  • Class AAA — Schools ranked from 55 to 108 in average enrollment
  • Class AAAA — The 54 largest schools in average enrollment

In all three sports, classification is based on a four-year average enrollment in grades 9 through 12. Single-sex schools are deemed to have double their actual average enrollment.^[11][12][13] For football, KHSAA regulations state that all four classes are to have the same number of schools, if possible. If the number of schools is not equally divisible by 4, extra teams are to be placed in the lowest classes first (i.e., Class A, followed by AA and AAA).^[13] For 2006-07, with 217 KHSAA member schools that sponsor football, the extra team was therefore placed in Class A, giving it 55 members as opposed to 54 in the other classes. In cross-country and track, the KHSAA rule is to divide the classes so that 40% of all schools that sponsor the sport are in Class A and 30% are in both Class AA and AAA.^[11][12]

Football will be expanded from four classes to six, designated in order of increasing enrollment from 1A to 6A, starting in 2007-08.^[14]

[edit] Eligibility considerations

As is standard for high school sports in the U.S., students are limited to four consecutive years of eligibility (grades 9-12), whether or not they participate in any sports during one or more of those years. In football and soccer, students are not allowed to play on the varsity until they are actually enrolled in the ninth grade, and wrestlers cannot compete until they have entered the seventh grade.^[15] In other sports, there is no grade restriction; for example, highly-touted basketball prospect O. J. Mayo first played on a high school varsity team as a seventh-grader at Rose Hill Christian School in Ashland, and current PGA Tour golfer JB Holmes first played on the golf team of Taylor County High School in Campbellsville while in the third grade.^[16] The eligibility "clock" for such students does not start until they enter ninth grade.^[15]

Like all U.S. jurisdictions, Kentucky has an upper age limit for high school athletic participation. The KHSAA rule is that students must be under age 19 as of the July 31 preceding the current academic year. This particular rule is actually codified in Kentucky Revised Statutes § 156.270(2)(e).^[17]

A student who is repeating a grade during high school for any reason is not allowed to compete during his or her second year at that grade level.^[15]

Homeschoolers are prohibited from participating in any KHSAA-sanctioned activities.^[15]

[edit] Notes and references

[edit] External links

• KHSAA Homepage