The NYSPHSAA Executive Committee will meet on Friday, February 7 in Saratoga Springs beginning at 9am.

This is the first meeting of the Committee of 2020, and as always, a number of key topics will be discussed and voted upon. Some of the voting items on the agenda include:

-Approving the endorsement of NCAA June scholastic events in the sport of boys basketball

-Approving championship site bids in the sports of girls tennis, field hockey, wrestling dual meet championships and outdoor track and field

-Consider allowing individual sections to determine the starting date of week #36 or week #37 in the sport of boys lacrosse

To see the complete Executive Committee meeting agenda, click here

The first championship of the Winter 2020 season was the Wrestling Dual Meet Championships at the SRC Arena in Syracuse on Saturday, February 1.

Championships were won by Falconer (above) of Section VI in Division II, and Minisink Valley (below) of Section IX in Division I.

24 of the top teams in the state competed in the one day tournament. There were some amazing matches and fantastic finishes at the 2020 tournament. Congratulations to our champs!

Wrestling Duals were the first Championship of the season, but there is much more yet to come. Here's a look at the rest of the Winter 2020 schedule:

-February 7-8 Girls Ice Hockey (regional), Lake Placid

-February 24-25 Skiing Championships, Bristol Mountain

-February 28-29 Wrestling Championships, Albany

-February 29 Gymnastics Championships, Cold Spring Harbor HS

-March 6-7 Boys Swimming and Diving Championships, Nassau Aquatics Center

-March 7 Rifle (regional), West Point

-March 7 Cheerleading Championships presented by CheerSounds, Rochester Institute of Technology

-March 7 Indoor Track and Field Championships, Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex

-March 13-15 Bowling Championships, AMF Strike N Spare Syracuse

-March 13-15 Boys Ice Hockey, HarborCenter Buffalo

-March 20-22 Girls Basketball Championships presented by the American Dairy Association North East, Hudson Valley Community College

-March 20-22 Boys Basketball Championships presented by the American Dairy Association North East, Cool Insuring Arena

The Winter 2020 Scholar-Athlete submission window is now open.

To submit your Winter 2020 Scholar-Athlete teams and individuals please click here

The deadline to submit is Monday, March 16.

If you have questions about the Scholar-Athlete program, please click here

In the latest edition of the NYSPHSAA Captains Club, presented by the New York State Correctional Officers and Police Benevolent Association, we introduce you to Nolan LaValley.

Nolan is playing the sport he loves at Northeastern Clinton Central School in Section VII while breaking barriers at the same time.

This is one of the most inspiring stories we've had a chance to tell. We encourage everyone to take 10 minutes and watch this story about a remarkable young man.

As always if you have suggestions for future Captains Club stories, please e-mail Chris Watson

Sports nutritionist @lesliebonci, whose clients have included the Pittsburgh Steelers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toronto Blue Jays and the Washington Nationals reviews the best 2020 eating plans for athletes.

The NYS Governor's Traffic Safety Committee (GTSC) has partnered with NYSPHSAA to promote safe teen driving messages to student-athletes across New York State.

GTSC has a grant-funded Speaker Bureau program featuring several Survivor Advocates. These individuals are available to speak at your school for free, and there is ZERO cost to the district.

If you are interested in bringing one of these outstanding speakers to your school, please contact Chris Joyce at the NYSPHSAA office at [email protected] or 518-690-0771.

Saving money sounds easy, but if you don't establish good financial habits, you might not save anything at all. There are a ton of opportunities out there that can help you save. Here are some savings tips from Allie M., a recent college graduate who banks at CAP COM.

Click here for some helpful tips on saving.

The winter Community Service Challenge is now open. This is an opportunity to reward and honor the great work your student-athletes are doing in their communities.

Deadline to apply for the winter Community Service Challenge is Monday, March 9.

Click here to apply

NYSPHSAA is proud to continue our partnership with the IHG Hotels of Upstate New York.

With their lineup of over 20 hotels, including Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Staybridge Suites, they can offer attentive service, gracious hospitality, and outstanding quality all along with their affordable rates.

Visit their website at www.hotelsupstateny.com to find a list of hotels that can service your teams and fans on the road this school year.

The Sportsmanship Promotion Survey is designed to assess how schools are promoting positive sportsmanship within their athletic departments. This survey is a tool that can be used by athletic administrators to examine policies and procedures and can be used to promote positive sportsmanship.

All schools that complete the survey will receive a sportsmanship certificate. The sportsmanship committee will then choose schools from each section to receive a sportsmanship plaque. Those applications will then be evaluated to determine a sportsmanship promotion banner winner. Deserving schools will be recognized by the NYSPHSAA and honored at the NYSPHSAA Central Committee Meeting in July.

The sportsmanship promotion survey window will open on Tuesday, February 18. Use this link to participate.

Just a reminder that the 2020 NYSPHSAA Mental Health Awareness Week will be

May 4-8, 2020

Mental Health Awareness Week was created by the NYSPHSAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee after discussing numerous issues surrounding the topic they face with peers.

The goal of the initiative is to not only raise awareness, but also to encourage as many coaches, athletic directors, and student-athletes as possible to take the NFHS Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention course.

Check out the officials page on nysphsaa.org. It has important information for current officials and information on signing up if you are interested in becoming an official.

Click here to visit the officials page

Did you know the NFHS offers free on-line educational courses on a variety of topics?

The latest course is focused on understanding vaping and e-cigarettes. Click here to take the course.

Don't forget to tell us #MyReasonWhy on social media. Tell us why you participate in sports, after school activities, coaching, officiating or other ways athletics has made a difference in your life.

The Brain Injury Association of New York State (BIANYS) was recently awarded a grant by the New York State Health Foundation to provide educators throughout New York State with Return to Learn training for when they are working with concussed students. BIANYS is a statewide, non-profit membership organization that advocates on behalf of people with brain injuries and their families. BIANYS provides education, advocacy and community support services that lead to improved outcomes for individuals and families impacted by brain injury.

These presentations are completely free for all participants and can be done at any teacher training day, staff meeting, etc., during the 2019-2020 school year. The presentation has been created by Dr. Brian Rieger and Dr. Andrew Hess, BIANYS Concussion Initiative Co-chairs, and by Michelle Kellen, M.Ed., a former Teacher, Coach, Associate Principal and Athletic Director, who also gives the presentation.

For a training that requires an overnight stay, the presenter will be available to do a free presentation for parents and students about Concussions and Concussion Management during an evening program. 

Each training is 75-90 minutes long. BIANYS is a New York State approved CTLE provider. Please contact Michelle Kellen at 518-459-7911 or [email protected] to schedule a training. The schedule will fill up fast, so please reach out today!

Access to financial aid is a key factor in whether low-income students – including many of New York’s student athletes – have the opportunity to attend college.

Yet across New York, low-income high school students are more likely than their wealthier peers to attend schools with low rates by completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

The New York FAFSA Completion Project aims to raise awareness of the importance of completing the FAFSA and provide easily accessible resources to schools so they can help more students through the process, drawing on national research and best practices already being used in New York schools.

Those resources include an interactive data tool that allows users to track the progress of New York high schools, with new FAFSA completion estimates updated weekly and comparisons to similar schools and top performers

.

The “3 Steps Every High School Can Take” resource at NYFAFSAChallenge.org encourages schools to:

1. Help their seniors make a plan to complete the FAFSA;

2. Hold a FAFSA completion event; and

3. Set targets and track the data.

At the end of the school year, Ed Trust–NY’s FAFSA Completion Challenge will recognize schools with high completion rates and that show improvement. Twelve awards will be granted to schools across the state. Each award will consist of $750 granted to the winning high schools for the purpose of providing a scholarship to one of its students.

Explore the data, read more about FAFSA completion strategies being used at New York schools, and find additional resources at NYFAFSAChallenge.org.