Doug Joy, the OATCCC president just emailed all OATCCC members concerning a survey about having 4 divisions. Here the info (the table in the email didn't convert correctly to this thread so I took it out):
I wanted to inform our membership that a survey will be coming out this week in regards to track having four divisions (from the OHSAA).....it is extremely important that you talk to your athletic directors, and superintendents about voting positively to this survey. This survey will help determine whether we get the four divisions. I have provided some stats that support our case for the four division proposal:
This data shows:
1. Girls T & F participation is the highest in the OHSAA, and boys T & F is second to football.
2. Both boys and girls T & F participation have increased over the past 4 years.
3. Both boys and girls T & F have more participants than the five sports that currently have 4 divisions (boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball).
B. NATIONAL COMPARISON STATS (source: NFHS)
1. Ohio is the 7th most populous state and has the 2nd highest number of participants in track and field nationally, but 31 states have more athletes participating in their respective state meets than does Ohio.
2. Ohio has a 4.27 % participation rate in terms of the number of participants in the state meet itself compared to the total number of participants in the sport. This ranks Ohio as the 47th lowest state nationally.
C. “UNIQUENESS” OF TRACK AND FIELD: TEAM DEFINITION
1. The OHSAA defines a track team as a school which has 9 members participating in the district track meet. In 2017, there were 685 schools that entered 9 or more athletes at the district meet, yet there were 784 schools in the state that entered athletes at the district level. Schools with less than 9 district participants can still enter many of the meet’s events and score at the district meet.
2. In 2018, there were approximately 779 boys schools and 771 girls schools that were assigned to a district meet by their district board. (source: OHSAA District Board Websites) The total number of schools that sponsor track and field, and enter the district tournament is very similar to the number of schools that participate in tournaments which currently have 4 divisions: volleyball (786), girls and boys basketball (789 and 790), softball (749), baseball (763) .
I wanted to inform our membership that a survey will be coming out this week in regards to track having four divisions (from the OHSAA).....it is extremely important that you talk to your athletic directors, and superintendents about voting positively to this survey. This survey will help determine whether we get the four divisions. I have provided some stats that support our case for the four division proposal:
This data shows:
1. Girls T & F participation is the highest in the OHSAA, and boys T & F is second to football.
2. Both boys and girls T & F participation have increased over the past 4 years.
3. Both boys and girls T & F have more participants than the five sports that currently have 4 divisions (boys and girls basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball).
B. NATIONAL COMPARISON STATS (source: NFHS)
1. Ohio is the 7th most populous state and has the 2nd highest number of participants in track and field nationally, but 31 states have more athletes participating in their respective state meets than does Ohio.
2. Ohio has a 4.27 % participation rate in terms of the number of participants in the state meet itself compared to the total number of participants in the sport. This ranks Ohio as the 47th lowest state nationally.
C. “UNIQUENESS” OF TRACK AND FIELD: TEAM DEFINITION
1. The OHSAA defines a track team as a school which has 9 members participating in the district track meet. In 2017, there were 685 schools that entered 9 or more athletes at the district meet, yet there were 784 schools in the state that entered athletes at the district level. Schools with less than 9 district participants can still enter many of the meet’s events and score at the district meet.
2. In 2018, there were approximately 779 boys schools and 771 girls schools that were assigned to a district meet by their district board. (source: OHSAA District Board Websites) The total number of schools that sponsor track and field, and enter the district tournament is very similar to the number of schools that participate in tournaments which currently have 4 divisions: volleyball (786), girls and boys basketball (789 and 790), softball (749), baseball (763) .
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