High School Athletic Associations

What Associations Do

High school athletic associations are governed by boards of directors and executive committees that include building principals, district superintendents, athletic directors, and officials. High school athletic associations often provide regulatory oversight for and sanction interschool sporting events among member schools and sustain communications to encourage good relationships among members. At the same time, they may set qualifications and eligibility standards for young athletes, their coaches, and officials and protect participants from exploitation. They also may cooperate with other agencies involved in ensuring the health and educational well-being of high school students. Their overall goal is to improve the quality of school sports programs and their administration.

Membership in these associations is made up of accredited public and private schools. Nationally, most high school athletic associations offer school level membership; in some cases and similar to the NCAA, state athletic organizations offer different categories of membership. For example, Michigan's Interscholastic Athletic Association offers four types of membership: active membership, associate membership, honorary membership, and life membership.

In some states, a more broadly focused state-level organization acts as a point of contact and regulatory body for the multiple athletic and academic associations in the state, while also sponsoring individual policy and rules committees focused on each of the sanctioned sports and academic competitions. Two examples of this are found in Missouri and Maine. In Missouri, the Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) offers information and links for the various state-level coaches and directors associations, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), and other state and related associations, as well as hosting standing advisory committees for the various sanctioned sports, academic competitions, and state-level initiatives. In Maine, the Maine Principals Association (MPA) offers general information about school athletic activities through one of two distinct divisions. The inter-scholastic division focuses on sports, music, science, and speech and debate competitions, while the professional division focuses on educational leadership for school principals, curriculum directors, supervision and evaluation, and the professional development of school leaders.

National High School Associations

In many cases, state high school athletic organizations are able to join national organizations focused broadly on high school activities. One example is the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). Membership in the NFHS includes the 50 state high school athletic/activity associations, plus the District of Columbia. The NFHS also provides affiliate athletic/ activity memberships for individuals-for example, coaches associations or speech and debate associations. The NFHS provides leadership for the administration of education-based interscholastic activities. According to its Web site and printed materials, the NFHS is recognized as a national authority in the areas of interscholastic activity programs and on the development and interpretation of competition rules for interscholastic activity programs. The NFHS also publishes rules for boys' and girls' competition in 16 sports and administers fine arts programs in speech, theater, debate, and music.

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