By Stephen Smoot
At least part of the West Virginia State Volleyball Tournament will be played out in the law courts before teams hit the sporting version.
Tuesday, all classes except for single A will commence play in the state championship tournament. Looming lawsuits concerning last week’s decision to replace four teams in the state football playoffs with others that did not originally qualify will also likely force postponement of that sport’s postseason as well.
Until last year, classification was based simply on enrollment. When the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission expanded to four classifications, it introduced a new formula.
And therein lies the rub.
The WVSSAC started using a new formula based on 80 percent enrollment, 10 percent on proximity to a city of 10,000 people, and 10 percent based on the socioeconomic status of either the school or the county.
David Price, executive director, said to WCHS TV in Charleston last December, “When you get down to any change, it’s messy because a lot of people don’t understand because we’ve done just the enrollment factor for so many years. It was determined it was not a good competitive balance, more so for the schools on the large end.”
Unfortunately, by introducing the concept of “equity,” the WVSSAC also brought in an element of subjectivity that provided a basis for subsequent challenges to the process.
Unfortunately, as well, the student-athletes must reap the whirlwind sown by the WVSSAC.
Volleyball started to unravel when on Oct. 30, a judicial order placed Tyler Consolidated in Class A for volleyball and cheer. This order came after the close of sectional play, forcing the WVSSAC to create a special play in game between Tyler Consolidated and St. Mary’s. Tyler Consolidated won the game and eliminated St. Mary’s.
A different judge, however, ruled in Monongalia County that Trinity be allowed to play the original opponent, St. Mary’s. St. Mary’s defeated Trinity, leaving Tyler Consolidated shut out of the regional tournament.
Another hearing took place at Tuesday morning in Hampshire County with East Hardy and Pendleton County, both single A tournament qualifiers, represented.
In football, reclassification has created headaches for football programs all season. Last August, a review board composed of seven members appointed by the West Virginia Superintendent of Schools allowed 11 schools to drop one classification level.
John Marshall, Oak Hill, Preston, St. Albans, and Spring Valley moved from AAAA to AAA.
Frankfort, Sissonville, and Wayne went from AAA to AA and Petersburg, St. Mary’s, and Tyler Consolidated moved from AA to A.
Participation in the West Virginia state football playoffs is determined by a strength of schedule formula based upon the classification of opponents.
Last Saturday, the Wood County Board of Education filed suit for an injunction, which forced the WVSSAC to adjust the ratings. In the original bracket, for example, 16th seeded Westside would play at number one seeded Frankfort in the first round of the Class AA football playoffs.
As of Saturday, Lincoln would now play at Frankfort instead of Westside.
In addition to Westside, Hampshire, Point Pleasant, and Tolsia also found themselves out of the playoffs, replaced by Capital, St. Albans, Lincoln, and St. Mary’s.
Likely, the boards of education for each of the schools bounced from the postseason will go to their circuit court and get their own injunctions.
Price said, “Then we would have competing injunctions. We can’t pick and choose which one we are going to follow.”
The court decisions also affect seedings of teams that would be in the postseason regardless. For example, Pendleton County originally would have hosted Meadow Bridge, but in the revised brackets is scheduled to host Petersburg.
Delays in both sports have major ripple effects in other sports. Winter sports, such as basketball and wrestling, will see many players possibly unable to practice due to continuing participation on fall postseason teams.
And the worst part of all lies in the fact that large numbers of student-athletes will be shut out of a postseason in which they were told they would play, regardless of how the issue shakes out.
Unless a final determination occurs this week in football, it is likely that play will not take place as scheduled.
