At this incredibly difficult and unprecedented time, the focus has to be on your health and keeping your family safe. We continue to follow the guidence to health care officials and Governor Andrew Cuomo when it comes to social distancing, returning to the workplace and what this means to school districts.

When it comes to the future of our spring championships, NYSPHSAA will have more information on or before April 27th.

Until then, please be safe and practice social distancing. Stay home and stop the spread!

A number of NYSPHSAA committee meetings have been rescheduled, please see the updated committee meeting dates:

April 15 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Handbook Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

April 20 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Football Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

April 27 ^th @ 1:00 PM – Budget/ Audit Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

April 29 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Student Athletic Development Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 4 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Wrestling Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 6 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Sportsmanship Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 6 ^th @ 1:00 PM – Wrestling Advisory Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 7 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Championship Advisory Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 7 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Safety Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 7 ^th @ 1:00 PM – Boys Golf Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 8 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Gymnastics Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 15 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Girls Ice Hockey Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 19 ^th @ 10:00 AM – Girls Volleyball Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 21 ^st @ 10:00 AM – Cheerleading Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

                   

May 22 ^nd @ 10:00 AM – Boys Volleyball Committee Meeting (Teleconference)

May 26 ^th @ 10:00 AM – OCF Meeting (NYSPHSAA)

May 26 ^th @ 2:00 PM – Section Executive Directors Meeting (Saratoga Springs Embassy Suites)

May 27 ^th @ 9:00 AM – Executive Committee Meeting (Saratoga Springs Embassy Suites)

Canceled Meetings

Modified Committee

As you know, four NYSPHSAA Winter Championship events were cancelled because of the Coronavirus. Boys and Girls Basketball, Bowling and Ice Hockey were all cancelled before champions could be crowned.

Over the coming weeks NYSPHSAA will be honoring all the teams that had their seasons cut short with a special social media shout-out on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

This is just a small way of honoring the teams, student-athletes and coaches who were impacted during this difficult time.

NYSPHSAA is also developing a plan to formally recognize teams and individuals in those sports for their achievement of reaching the Regionals in Boys and Girls Basketball and the State Tournament in Bowling and Ice Hockey. More to come!

The Winter 2020 Scholar-Athlete submission window has been extended to Friday, May 1.

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

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

The Spring Scholar-Athlete window will open on Monday, May 11.

Now is the time to apply for a position on the NYSPHSAA Student-Athlete Advisory Committee .

Deadline to apply is Monday, May 11

For more information, or to apply click here

The SAAC was developed to give student-athletes a voice within the NYSPHSAA. Over the course of the school year, the committee will discuss topics relevant to high school student-athletes and develop ways to maintain a positive athletic experience.

Each committee member is expected to exemplify leadership while providing feedback of NYSPHSAA special programs including, but not limited to, Scholar-Athlete, Sportsmanship, Life of an Athlete, Student Leadership, and Community Service. Two student-athletes from each of the 11 sections are selected each year and serve a one year term. Juniors have the option to serve a two-year term. 

NYSPHSAA is now accepting bids to host the Gymnastics Championships 2022-2024

Click here to submit a bid to host the event.

Deadline Thursday, May 7

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 Monday, April 13. Use this link to participate.

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

May 4-8, 2020.

Simply download the Mental Health Awareness Week toolkit and participate.

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?

Currently all courses for officials are free!

One way of addressing the declining number of high school officials is by retaining the ones you already have. And one way of retaining them is by thanking them for their hard work and sacrifice.

 

That’s one of the reasons we’re offering FREE officiating courses at the NFHS Learning Center from now until July 1. Will you help spread the word? All you have to do is post this social media message to your association’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. Not only will your officials be better trained and more knowledgeable, they’ll also know how much they are appreciated.

Click here to take a 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.

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.