FHSAA tackles middle schoolers in varsity football and concerns over baseball playoffs

Craig Damon, who was elected to serve as the FHSAA's executive director back in April, replacing the outgoing George Tomyn, sat at the helm of his first FHSAA Board of Director's meeting at the Robert W. Hughes Building in Gainesville.

And Monday's regularly scheduled meeting was a nice introduction for Damon considering how mellow it was.

Here's a recap of the board's discussion and actions.

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No-go for middle schoolers on varsity

A proposal submitted by Miami Beach High School asked the FHSAA to consider allowing middle school student-athletes to compete in varsity competition for their feeder high school if their middle school did not offer interscholastic athletics.

The proposal was not endorsed by Damon and was unanimously rejected.

Pitching rules and problems in baseball playoffs

Robbie Lindeman of the FHSAA's baseball advisory committee brought forth the issue of how illegal pitches and the forfeitures that follow negatively affecting the FHSAA playoffs.

As the rule is currently written, if a baseball team uses an illegal pitcher who is breaking the pitch-count rules in the playoffs, the team is forced to forfeit and therefore eliminated from the playoffs.

However, if the opposing team suffered a loss, it doesn't move on in the playoffs either — leaving playoff brackets empty.

Lindeman's proposal asks that the board consider allowing the opposing team to advance in the playoffs, albeit losing to a team that didn't follow the rules.

"The forfeiture and subsequent bye for the next opponent rewards everyone except the team that played by the rules and lost," Lindeman wrote in the proposal.

On Monday, the board unanimously decided to bring the issue back during November's meeting, giving all parties involved more time to find a way to properly address the concerns of Lindeman and the state's baseball coaches.

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Heart health conversation coming in November

With sudden cardiac arrest deaths becoming more prominent in high school sports, the FHSAA's Sports Medicine Advisory Committee asked that the board consider a policy change that would bring awareness to sudden cardiac arrest, which is the leading cause of sport-related death in young athletes.

Per the proposal, member schools would be required to provide educational materials to parents, as well as advise parents of student-athletes that getting a pre-participation electrocardiogram and cardiac screening is strongly recommended.

The policy change will be revisited at November's meeting.

FHSAA by the dollars

Considering Monday's meeting was the first of the 2022-23 academic year, the first order of business was approving last year's financial report and this coming year's budget.

Presented by Brandi Waters, the FHSAA's associate athletic director, the financial report for the 2021-22 year came back favorable — a breath of fresh air considering the challenges that the coronavirus pandemic brought in recent years.

According to Waters' report, the FHSAA finished last year in a surplus of just over $750,000.

Meanwhile, looking ahead to the current academic year, the FHSAA has budgeted to spend just under $6.6 million, while it anticipates hauling in $6.1 million.

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: High school football: FHSAA says no to middle schoolers in varsity games