West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission
Encyclopedia
The West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission (WVSSAC, but colloquially referred to as SSAC) is the main governing body of high school sports, cheerleading, and marching bands in West Virginia
. Schools are divided into three classes by total enrollment in grades 9-11 only: A (0–337 students) , AA (340–618 students), and AAA (619+ students). Football, basketball, baseball, cheerleading, golf, softball, track, and volleyball are broken into these three classes. Cross country, tennis, and wrestling are broke into two classes (AAA and AA/A). Swimming is one class only.
The organization began with boy's basketball championships in 1914. The organization excluded private schools until 1979, when it merged with the state Catholic League. Today it also includes private schools of various religious viewpoints, along with all public schools in the state.
Unlike similar governing bodies in the United States
, the WVSSAC does not dictate individual high school schedules during the regular season; those decisions are made by the coaches involved. Note that the WVSSAC does set forth some basic guidelines (i.e., the number of schools within its own classification or higher that a school must compete against) for a school to be eligible for that sport's playoffs. The WVSSAC determines scheduling during the playoffs. For example, in football, whose playoffs are seeded on a statewide basis, each game is played at the higher-seeded school's campus if its stadium is approved by the SSAC to host playoff matches. Otherwise, it is played at the SSAC-approved venue nearest to the higher-seeded school. The lower-seeded school has the choice of one of three starting times — 7:30 pm Eastern Time on Friday or Saturday, or 1:30 pm Eastern Time on Saturday.
The WVSSAC holds its Super Six Football Championships
in Wheeling, literally a few feet from the state line and far from most of the state's population. WVSSAC board members receive "fact finding" complementary trips to the adjacent Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack
. Most hotel rooms in the Wheeling area are across the Ohio River
in Ohio
. Most teams and many fans thus spend money out of state for this event.
The Class A (small school) championships have, since 1979, been dominated by private, mostly Catholic, schools which are allowed to pull players from anywhere, while public school players must reside in the school's geographic district. In 2011, the state legislature directed the Legislative Auditor to complete a report due in 2012, on possible solutions to the disparity.
There have also been complaints that the disparity of enrollment in Class AAA makes it difficult for the smaller schools in the classification to compete, particularly in football. There is over an 800 student difference between Parkersburg and Bridgeport, Parkersburg being the largest and Bridgeport being the smallest school in the class respectively. On the other hand there is only about a 300 student difference between Bridgeport and the smallest Class AA school, Greenbrier West. There have been a number of unsuccessful attempts to add a fourth class, most recently in 2008. The measure was passed by the WVSSAC, but was ultimately voted down by the State Board of Education. The Board named the state's relatively small number of schools and worries over how a fourth class would effect travel as deciding factors. Given the number of failed attempts most now feel as though a fourth class will never be added.
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
. Schools are divided into three classes by total enrollment in grades 9-11 only: A (0–337 students) , AA (340–618 students), and AAA (619+ students). Football, basketball, baseball, cheerleading, golf, softball, track, and volleyball are broken into these three classes. Cross country, tennis, and wrestling are broke into two classes (AAA and AA/A). Swimming is one class only.
The organization began with boy's basketball championships in 1914. The organization excluded private schools until 1979, when it merged with the state Catholic League. Today it also includes private schools of various religious viewpoints, along with all public schools in the state.
Unlike similar governing bodies in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, the WVSSAC does not dictate individual high school schedules during the regular season; those decisions are made by the coaches involved. Note that the WVSSAC does set forth some basic guidelines (i.e., the number of schools within its own classification or higher that a school must compete against) for a school to be eligible for that sport's playoffs. The WVSSAC determines scheduling during the playoffs. For example, in football, whose playoffs are seeded on a statewide basis, each game is played at the higher-seeded school's campus if its stadium is approved by the SSAC to host playoff matches. Otherwise, it is played at the SSAC-approved venue nearest to the higher-seeded school. The lower-seeded school has the choice of one of three starting times — 7:30 pm Eastern Time on Friday or Saturday, or 1:30 pm Eastern Time on Saturday.
Activities
- Band
- BaseballBaseballBaseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
- Appalachian Power ParkAppalachian Power ParkAppalachian Power Park is the current home field for the West Virginia Power, a minor league baseball team in the South Atlantic League which are a Class A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. It also serves as one of two home fields for the baseball programs of both Marshall University and the...
Charleston - BasketballBasketballBasketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
- Charleston Civic CenterCharleston Civic CenterThe Charleston Civic Center is a municipal complex located in the downtown area of Charleston, West Virginia. Originally completed in 1959 at the cost of $2.5 million, the Charleston Civic Center has undergone numerous renovations and expansions...
Charleston - CheerleadingCheerleadingCheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
- Charleston Civic Center Charleston - Cross countryCross country runningCross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...
Cabell Midland High SchoolCabell Midland High SchoolCabell Midland High School is located in Ona, West Virginia. Cabell Midland is a four year high school which serves grades 9 through 12. The school's name is derived from two sources; "Cabell" for the county in which it is located, and "Midland" for the famous Midland Trail which once extended from...
Ona - FootballHigh school footballHigh school football, in North America, refers to the game of football as it is played in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both of these nations....
(Super SixWVSSAC Super Six Football ChampionshipsThe WVSSAC Super Six Football Championships is a series of high school football games, typically held on the first weekend of December, that determine the high school champions of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The tournaments that lead to the championship games, as well as regular-season...
) - Wheeling Island StadiumWheeling Island StadiumWheeling Island Stadium is a stadium located on Wheeling Island in Wheeling, West Virginia. The stadium seats 12,220 in two stands along either sidelines, the end zones are empty. Wheeling Island Stadium usually hosts High school football and soccer events but can host concerts, hosting REO...
- Wheeling - GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
(site changes from year to year) - Soccer YMCAYMCAThe Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
Beckley - SoftballSoftballSoftball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of 10 to 14 players. It is a direct descendant of baseball although there are some key differences: softballs are larger than baseballs, and the pitches are thrown underhand rather than overhand...
Jackson ParkJackson ParkJackson Park may refer to one of the following locations in the United Statesand Canada*Jackson Park , Illinois*Jackson Park , Washington*Jackson Park , Ontario...
Vienna - SwimmingSwimming (sport)Swimming is a sport governed by the Fédération Internationale de Natation .-History: Competitive swimming in Europe began around 1800 BCE, mostly in the form of the freestyle. In 1873 Steve Bowyer introduced the trudgen to Western swimming competitions, after copying the front crawl used by Native...
West Virginia UniversityWest Virginia UniversityWest Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...
Morgantown - TennisTennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
Watt Powell Tennis Annex and Player's Club Tennis Center Charleston - TrackTrack and fieldTrack and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
Laidley FieldLaidley FieldThe University of Charleston Stadium at Laidley Field, is an 18,500-capacity stadium located in downtown Charleston, West Virginia, near the state Capitol complex. It features a FieldTurf playing field for football and facilities for track and field competitions.The stadium was finished in 1979,...
Charleston - VolleyballVolleyballVolleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
Charleston Civic Center Charleston - WrestlingScholastic wrestlingScholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...
Big Sandy Superstore ArenaBig Sandy Superstore ArenaThe Big Sandy Superstore Arena, originally known as the Huntington Civic Center and later as the Huntington Civic Arena, is a municipal complex located in the downtown area of Huntington, West Virginia one block west of Pullman Square. The Big Sandy Superstore Arena consists of a 9,000-seat...
Huntington
Controversies
West Virginia was one of only three states to hold girls' basketball in the fall, and girls' volleyball in the winter, ostensibly due to facility shortages at various high schools. Eventually the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals ruled that this unfairly disadvantaged girls in competition for college scholarships and the organization was forced to adopt a traditional schedule.The WVSSAC holds its Super Six Football Championships
WVSSAC Super Six Football Championships
The WVSSAC Super Six Football Championships is a series of high school football games, typically held on the first weekend of December, that determine the high school champions of the U.S. state of West Virginia. The tournaments that lead to the championship games, as well as regular-season...
in Wheeling, literally a few feet from the state line and far from most of the state's population. WVSSAC board members receive "fact finding" complementary trips to the adjacent Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack
Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack
Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack is located on Wheeling Island in the middle of the Ohio River, which is a part of the city of Wheeling, West Virginia...
. Most hotel rooms in the Wheeling area are across the Ohio River
Ohio River
The Ohio River is the largest tributary, by volume, of the Mississippi River. At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream...
in Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
. Most teams and many fans thus spend money out of state for this event.
The Class A (small school) championships have, since 1979, been dominated by private, mostly Catholic, schools which are allowed to pull players from anywhere, while public school players must reside in the school's geographic district. In 2011, the state legislature directed the Legislative Auditor to complete a report due in 2012, on possible solutions to the disparity.
There have also been complaints that the disparity of enrollment in Class AAA makes it difficult for the smaller schools in the classification to compete, particularly in football. There is over an 800 student difference between Parkersburg and Bridgeport, Parkersburg being the largest and Bridgeport being the smallest school in the class respectively. On the other hand there is only about a 300 student difference between Bridgeport and the smallest Class AA school, Greenbrier West. There have been a number of unsuccessful attempts to add a fourth class, most recently in 2008. The measure was passed by the WVSSAC, but was ultimately voted down by the State Board of Education. The Board named the state's relatively small number of schools and worries over how a fourth class would effect travel as deciding factors. Given the number of failed attempts most now feel as though a fourth class will never be added.