Representative Assembly to consider bylaw amendments for Adapted Athletics, Boys Volleyball

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BROOKLYN CENTER, Minn. --- Two proposed bylaw amendments will be considered when the Minnesota State High School League’s Representative Assembly convenes for its annual meeting on Tuesday, May 9, 2023, at 9 a.m., at the Minneapolis Marriott Northwest in Brooklyn Park. The 48-member Representative Assembly is the legislative body of the League that is responsible for creating and amending bylaws.

Proposed bylaw amendments for review are in Adapted Athletics and Boys Volleyball.

Authors of the proposed bylaw amendment in Adapted Athletics seek to create a separate set of bylaws for adapted athletic programs rather than including them with the sport-specific bylaws. The proposed bylaw amendment would include updated definitions on length of season, number of contests and other language that is specific to the adapted athletics programs and differs from the non-adapted sports.

The proposed bylaw amendment is unanimously supported by the Minnesota Adapted Athletics Association, the League’s 16 Region Committees and the League’s Board of Directors.

In 2022, a proposed bylaw amendment to sanction Boys Volleyball as an interscholastic sport fell one vote short of approval during the Representative Assembly process. In reviewing the decision in June, the League’s Board of Directors approved the creation of an Adoption of Programs Task Force, a group tasked to review and outline processes and pathways for emerging activities and sports.

In late November of 2022, the task force developed a recommendation for the adoption of new programs, including a transitional period of “emerging status.” At its meeting in December, the Board of Directors approved the process for adding programs through the newly-defined model. In another decision, the Board of Directors approved Boys Volleyball for emerging status in the 2023-2024 school year. In a third decision, with unanimous support, the Board of Directors then advanced directly to the Representative Assembly the proposed bylaw amendment to sanction Boys Volleyball as an interscholastic sport in the 2024-2025 school year.

If the Representative Assembly approves the proposed bylaw amendment to add Boys Volleyball as a fully-sanctioned sport, the League, in consultation with member schools and professional stakeholders, will determine this summer when the season of competition will take place.

Boys Volleyball, currently organized by the Minnesota Boys High School Volleyball Association since 2018, is played during the spring. In the debut year, Boys Volleyball had 400 participants representing 38 teams and 22 schools. This spring season, nearly 2,000 participants representing 183 teams and 72 schools are playing.

If Boys Volleyball is approved, Minnesota will become the 25^th state association to sanction the sport, and rank 10^th nationally with number of schools and participants.

During its meeting, the Representative Assembly will also hear updates from the Board of Directors and League Staff.