The MIAA Field Hockey Committee met virtually on Monday to finalize its statewide tournament alignment proposal.
The committee voted 13-0 in favor of a four-division alignment for the 2021-2023 cycle. The proposal will be sent to the Tournament Management Committee for final approval. The TMC’s next meeting is Thursday.
The four-division plan puts 51 teams in Divisions 1, 2 and 4, and 52 teams in Division 3. Teams can opt to move up or appeal to move down. Schools that opt to move up would automatically be approved, while schools that want to move down need to appeal to the TMC. Appeals will not be heard based on a program’s success rate. Appeals will be heard based on the following factors: school type (private, urban, co-op, vocational), participation numbers and large enrollment changes.
Local teams were placed in the following divisions:
Division 1: Holyoke
Division 2: Amherst, Northampton
Division 3: Belchertown
Division 4: Frontier Regional, Smith Academy, South Hadley
Teams were sorted by enrollment then adjusted based on factors as determined by the Tournament Management Committee. Vocational schools were moved down two divisions, while private schools and cooperate schools were moved up one division. Single-gender schools were aligned by doubling their enrollments.
The committee also finalized a rule change proposal that will be vetted through the rules process over the next year. It calls for the addition of boys field hockey as a fall sport for 2021. There would be a maximum of 18 games during the season in a 7-on-7 format.
The committee said in a statement: “We understand the timing for this rule change is less than ideal given the challenges related to the pandemic that have come to exist for member schools. We respectfully request support for the sanctioning of boys’ field hockey in order to allow the structure of this pathway for boys to be created and available for individual schools and co-op programs as they look to move forward. We recognize that in the absence of viable gender specific programs that all high school players may participate in the current High School Field Hockey programs, providing equity for all, while gender specific programs are grown.”