CLAYTON, NY – The New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) held its annual summer meeting of the Central Committee on July 25-26 in Clayton, NY. The primary focus of the meeting is to vote on action items, listen to discussion items that pertain to interscholastic athletics and to afford superintendents, principals, athletic representatives, and section executive directors to meet in small groups.
The Central Committee approved a revision to the graduated scale for combining of teams. The revision increases the percentages for Class AA, A, and B to 100 percent, while Class C will now be 40% with Class D having 30%. The membership of NYSPHSAA had concerns the previous graduate scale was too low and resulted in unintended consequences.
Championship venues for 2018-2020 were approved for the sports of Girls Swimming & Diving (Ithaca College), Girls Gymnastics (Cold Spring Harbor High School), and Boys Volleyball (Albany Capital Center).
The Committee approved a proposal to extend the length of a period in Boys Ice Hockey to 17 minutes, which was previously a 15 minute per period to be in accordance with NFHS rules. The Committee defeated a proposal to have two referees and two linesmen for the state semifinals and finals.
Boys Volleyball’s proposal of making the 5th set scoring mirror the NCAA scoring to 15 points in the 5th and final set was approved. Girls Volleyball’s proposal to adjust the classification numbers to bring each class to as close to 20 percent as possible was approved. The numbers would take effect in the Fall of 2018. 
The Central Committee approved the Modified Committee’s proposal to waive the NFHS rule that soccer goalie’s jerseys be numbered until the 2020-21 school year. It was also approved that soccer teams be exempt from wearing all white uniforms for home games. The use of spikes for modified cross country runners was also approved. Additionally, it was approved that modified football teams be allowed to wear screw-in style cleats. It was also approved that the modified start date mirror the junior varsity and varsity start date with section and league approval starting with the winter 2017 season.
Tommy Tough Football Standards in addition to football classification cut-off numbers were approved for the Fall of 2018.
The Central Committee is scheduled to meet again from July 24-25, 2018 at the High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid.
 
– Submitted