As you know, the COVID-19 crisis caused NYSPHSAA to cancel the spring 2020 championships and the 11 member sections across the state were forced to cancel the regular season and sectional championships as well.

In this unprecedented time we encourage you to honor your seniors and teams that had their seasons cut short in whatever way you are able.

Many of you have questions about the future of interscholastic athletics as we move forward with the reopening of New York State. We have posted a Frequently Asked Questions document on NYSPHSAA.org that we hope provides some guidance.

FAQ Document

A number of NYSPHSAA committee meetings have been rescheduled. Please see the updated committee meeting dates:

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

The 2020 NYSPHSAA Mental Health Awareness Week is currently going on. We ask you promote it in your community especially in this time of crisis.

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.

Please click here to watch the Mental Health Awareness webinar.

The Spring 2020 Scholar-Athlete recognition program has been cancelled.

Due to the lack of a spring sports season,Scholar-Athlete teams or individuals will not be honored for this period.

The program will return in the Fall of 2020.

Scholar-Athlete information can always be found here.

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

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. 

Congratulations to the Cambridge girls basketball (Section 2) program on winning the Winter 2020 Community Service Challenge Championship.

The Cambridge girls varsity basketball team organized and executed a fundraiser in their community called "Hoopin' for Nola" in support of Nola Marotta, a youth basketball player who was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.

To read all about the "Hoopin' for Nola" fundraiser, please click here.

For the winter 2019-20 school year, 205 projects were submitted with a total of 7,857 student-athletes participating in some type of community service project. In total, 34,461 hours were volunteered and $182,304 was raised for charitable causes around the state.

The submission period for spring projects is now open, please click here to submit for the Spring 2020 Community Service Challenge.

Don't forget that NYSPHSAA Coaches Appreciation Day is Wednesday, May 20th.

Coaches Appreciation Day was established to recognize all coaches at every level, including Modified, who have coached Fall, Winter or Spring sports within a NYSPHSAA member school.

Some of the ways you can thank a coach include:

Applications for the School of Excellence and School of Distinction awards are now open.

Due to the spring sports season being cancelled, the School of Excellence and School of Distinction awards will be based on the fall 2019 season and the winter 2019-20 season.

To apply use the links below:

School of Excellence

School of Distinction

Here are some tips from the American Dairy Association North East to help keep yourself mentally and physically fit with the help of dairy while social distancing. Remember, we are all in this together!

6 Ways to Boost Mental Fitness While Social Distancing

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.