General State Tournament Information

GUIDELINES FOR AP TEST CONFLICTS

For the 2009-2010 academic year, when a state play-off cannot be scheduled to avoid AP test dates, schools may offer a late testing option to students impacted by this conflict. The AP Coordinator should refer to the AP Coordinator’s Manual for information about arranging alternate testing. AP Coordinators can also contact AP Services at 877.274.6474 or apexams@info.collegeboard.org for more information.

1. The window for the 2010 Late Testing Schedule occurs from May 19-21. Coordinators are responsible for notifying students when and where to appear for the exams. Early testing is not permitted under any circumstances.

2. Alternate exams for late testing must be ordered online at www.collegeboard.com/school. The 2010 exam ordering deadlines are published in the 2009-10 AP Program Guide.

3. There is an additional fee for late testing due to athletic contests or events. See the AP Coordinator’s Manual for details.

2010 AP EXAM SCHEDULE

WEEK 1	Morning Session 8:00 AM	Afternoon Session 12:00PM
Monday, May 3	Government and Politics: United States	French Language Government and Politics: Comparative
Tuesday, May 4	Computer Science A Computer Science AB Spanish Language	Statistics
Wednesday, May 5	Calculus AB Calculus BC	Chinese Language and Culture
Thursday, May 6	English Literature German Language	French Literature Japanese Language and Culture
Friday, May 7	US History	European History Studio Art

WEEK 2	Morning Session	Afternoon Session
Monday, May 10	Biology Music Theory	Physics B & C- 12:00 pm Mechanics- 12:00 pm Physics C: Elec & Mag 2:00
Tuesday, May 11	Environmental Science Chemistry	Psychology
Wednesday, May 12	Italian Language and Culture English Language 7 Composition	Art History
Thursday, May 13	Macroeconomics World History	Microeconomics
Friday, May 14	Spanish Literature Human Geography	Latin Literature Latin: Vergil

FINANCIAL REPORTS FOR ALL PLAY-OFF EVENTS must be sent to the NCISAA Business Office within 10 school days following the tournament. Please use the form found in the APPENDIX at the back of your Handbook.

A) TEAMS: Before the NCISAA will conduct a state play-off, eight member schools must register intent to play in a state tournament. If, on two consecutive years, fewer than eight teams appear at any NCISAA event, that event will be dropped from the play-off calendar until sufficient interest can be demonstrated to reinstate. Under special circumstances, the Executive Director may make exceptions to this rule.

B) PARTICIPATION: A school may choose not to be involved in any play-off if it so declares by the summer Board of Managers meeting. Any team must play a minimum of four varsity contests on four separate dates of a given sport to be eligible to participate in state play-off competition. Hardship cases, i.e. injury, weather, or travel constraints, may be appealed to the Executive Director. In all sports, except those having open tournaments and those with qualifying times or the USGA index, each NCISAA conference containing four teams in a given sport will receive one automatic bid to the state play-offs. The remaining tournament teams will be selected at large by a seeding committee who will also seed the tournament.

If the number of teams in any state tournament drops drastically, the Executive Director may combine tournaments.

NOTE: First round play-off games scheduled for Saturday may be moved to Friday if the heads of both schools agree to the change.

9) . PRELIMINARY SITES AND APPROVAL.

Tournament sites must meet minimum standards according to National High School Federation rules. If the site at the time of the event does not meet minimum standards, contact the Sport Manager and/or the Executive Director for an immediate decision concerning that game.

Criteria for approved sites include proper field specifications for the sport, cost, support staff availability, locker rooms, and seating capacity, as well as safety conditions of the site. If any of these criteria are in question, the Executive Director must be contacted. PLEASE REMEMBER, site approval should be requested at least two months in advance of the tournament.

ALL STATE TOURNAMENTS should be held at NCISAA member school facilities unless other sites are donated free of charge. Secondary options include 1) a modern public facility, or 2) a modern college facility and must be approved by the Executive Director. Whenever possible, tournament sites should be located within the CENTRAL CORRIDOR between I-95 in the East and I-77 in the West not to exceed thirty minutes travel beyond the Interstates. Seeded 1A tournaments will go west no further west than the I-77 corridor in one out of every five years. For the remaining four years, 1A tournaments will remain within the I-95 corridor no more than 30 minutes east or west of I-95. Geographic rotations are in place for some tournaments. Only in extreme circumstances should a site with a facility fee be considered; this requires approval of the Executive Director.

10. CANCELLATION: The decision to CANCEL an NCISAA event must be made by the Executive Director.

11. INCLEMENT WEATHER POLICY. Teams are asked to anticipate weather which may delay arrival at the tournament site. Traveling on the previous day should be considered as an option when bad weather is likely. The following scenarios may be the result of inclement weather and should be ranked in order of possible action by the tournament directors.

1. Game start delay.

2. Game played at an alternate site.

3. Two games played on the same day.

4. Team and Open Tournament postponed to include Sunday: All Head of Schools must agree in order to reschedule on Sunday. Once the final four teams are named to the team tournaments or participating school representatives are selected for open tournaments, tournament directors should poll the heads of school as to their willingness to play on Sunday. If all are in agreement for Sunday play, church services should be arranged and games should be scheduled after 1:00PM. The tournament may need to be extended to Monday if Sunday is not an option.

12. COACHING CONTINUANCE THROUGHOUT AN ATHLETIC EVENT

The NCISAA mandates that all teams participating in NCISAA sanctioned athletic events be under the direct supervision and guidance of an adult coach at all times during the event. In the event that a head coach is ejected or becomes incapacitated, and there is not an assistant coach to continue the reasonable and customary coaching duties, the game shall continue only if there is a school employee or an adult designate to assume the role of the coach. If a replacement coach is not available, the game shall immediately end by forfeit. Any replacement coach is expected to coach within the spirit of the NCISAA ideal of “Sportsmanship, Integrity, and Fair Play.”

As the FIRST order of business in every seeding/selection committee meeting, the following statement from the Executive Director shall be read by the Sport Chair.

Allow me to offer thanks to each of you on behalf of the entire NCISAA membership, the Board of Managers and our Board of Directors. The task you are about to undertake is one of the most important ones the NCISAA has. You are charged with setting up those students and teams who will experience the thrill and disappointment of participating in the NCISAA state tournament. DO NOT TAKE THIS CHARGE LIGHTLY. Please understand that while each of you should be bringing appropriate information from your assigned constituents, your overarching task is to select the best teams in our association for the tournament and to rank them appropriately. You must not fall into the mode of simply becoming an advocate for your constituent group against all other groups. Rather, think of yourselves as Supreme Court judges who hear all the facts and then make the most valid determinations. You also have my personal thanks for agreeing to engage in what may seem at its conclusion a thankless task. Please know it is not that.

For 2009-2010 Greensboro Day School has been designated the central site for seeding meetings in all classifications unless otherwise noted. (Note site exception for 8 Man Football.)

Please carefully read the following prior to attending seeding/selection committee meetings.

A. All conference games/matches must be completed prior to the seeding committee meetings if they are to be considered in the proceedings.

B. Seeding Committee members should, ideally, consist of coaches for that particular sport.

C. If the designated Seeding Committee member cannot be present for the meeting, another coach in that sport from the conference involved must replace the designee.

D. If a coach in that sport from the involved conference cannot attend, a Director of Athletics from that conference must serve on the Seeding Committee.

G. Each NCISAA conference with three or more schools participating in any given sport will have a seeding committee representative. Each seeding committee member should gain as much information as possible about the conference team they represent. Printed schedules, with scores, will be provided for each team by each conference representative. The seeding committee chair should obtain and provide information for the at-large teams.

H. All criteria must be used in the following order of priority to seed the best teams for NCISAA championships. The NCISAA Board of Managers strongly suggests that NCISAA schools play as many regular season out of conference games as possible with other teams in the same classification.

3. Strength of schedule (For non-NCISAA schools to be included, evidence in writing as to strength of the opponent must be provided by the school.),

4. Final conference standings and/or conference tournament results, if applicable

I. Tie-Breaker Procedure: If additional criteria are needed to break a tie, the following will be used.

3. The Executive Director, the Director of Communication or a designate of the Executive Director will break any remaining ties.

J. Unless a school has been exempted from participation by the Board of Managers at the summer meeting, they will be considered for state play-off participation.

K. Each conference is responsible for travel and any additional expense incurred by its seeding representative for attendance at the seeding meeting.

L. The seeding selections will be determined by a vote of all seeding committee members present. Under certain circumstances - such as bad weather - the Executive Director may grant permission to vote by telephone.

The numbers of All-State recipients will be selected as indicated in the table below.

The sports listed above will select all-state teams in each classification using the following process.

1. It is the responsibility of the all-state selection committee to select the best players in that sport for that season. The NCISAA Office will release the all-state teams to the media on championship day.

2. The seeding committee for each sport in each classification will also serve as the all-state selection committee for that sport. Each conference MUST be represented. The all-state selections will take place prior to the seeding and selection meetings.

3. Conference representatives must use their all-conference team voting as the order in which athletes from that conference will be considered. At large representatives will be represented by the Sport Chair. Nominations must be endorsed by the conference as a whole.

4. Conference representatives must have statistical information for each player considered from that conference. Presentations should be limited to three minutes per player.

5. Conference representatives may vote for athletes from their conference and their school. All-state selectees must remain in good standing with their school team through the duration of their season. Removal from the school’s team for disciplinary reasons prior to the end of that season will result in the removal from the NCISAA All-State team.

6. The size of all-state teams is determined by the number of starters on a team plus one half of the team in that sport. For example: Baseball would be 9 plus 4.5 rounded up to 5 for a total of 14.

8. To ensure that the all-state team is selected in the proper order using appropriate supporting statistics, the NCISAA Sport Manager must communicate with committee members prior to these meetings in order to address questions or problems.

9. The NCISAA will subsidize all-state certificates which will be provided by Al Cheek of EXCALIBUR AWARDS in Clemmons, NC. Phone 336-778-2121 OR TOLL FREE AT 1-877-978-2121. Certificates will be sent to the site of the state tournament finals and will be distributed by the Sport Chair/Site Director.

In Swimming, Track, Wrestling and 1A/2A Tennis the event/flight winners will be recognized as state champions.

In Cross Country the top eleven finishers in the state meet will earn all-state honors.

In Golf, the top nine finishers in the state tournament will earn all-state honors.

Each NCISAA Sport Manager is a member of the Board of Managers and is charged with overseeing the administration of his/her assigned sport. The Sport Manager is expected to:

1. Review the preliminary tournament expense budget with Sports Chair and/or Site Directors to ensure that the expenses are those approved by the NCISAA. BE SURE the TOURNAMENT EXPENSE AND INCOME report is sent to the NCISAA Business Manager within 10 school days following the tournament.

2. Be sure that all necessary information is properly COMMUNICATED to the Sport Chair/Site Director. (Be sure each one has a copy of these guidelines.)

3. Recommend to the Board of Managers - prior to the summer meeting - a Sport Chair for each classification in which the sport is being played prior to the summer meeting.

4. Serve as liaison between the Sport Chairs, the Executive Director and the Board of Managers.

5. Have knowledge of the rules of the sport and read the directives in the sport-specific section of the Handbook.

6. Assist the Sport Chair with selection of the tournament site and the organization of the tournament. Keep lines of communication open with the Sport Chair during the process of planning the tournament.

7. Work in conjunction with the Sport Chair/Site Director to submit all financial information and tournament results - including first round games - to the NCISAA office in accordance with the Handbook deadline. Please ensure that this is done.

8. Review proposed tournament expenses.

9. Attend the seeding/selection meetings in your sport. Make sure, prior to the seeding committee meeting, that there will be, at least, three seeding committee members. If there are only two representatives in that sport, the Sport Manager will select an at-large representative to serve on that seeding committee.

10. Serve as a resource person for issues or concerns which might arise during the regular season and attend coaches meetings if possible.

11. Be sure to keep the NCISAA Executive Director informed of any potential problems that might arise during the tournaments.

12. Be responsible for obtaining and submitting all pertinent information as well as additions and corrections relative to each sport to Kathy Bailey before the summer meeting.

XVIII. . NCISAA SPORT CHAIR RESPONSIBILITIES

Some sports require a separate Sport Chair and Site Director, but in some cases a single individual serves both positions. These guidelines are intended to clarify and facilitate their shared responsibilities.

The Sport Chair is expected to:

A. Chair the seeding/selection committee. (See sport-specific sections in the Handbook.) Ensure that all seeding committee members are informed well in advance of the meeting, are aware of their responsibilities, and are prepared to have all necessary information at the time of the meeting.

B. Read and follow the appropriate Handbook sections including the sportsmanship code, general rules and regulations, tournament procedures, site standards, and individual sport regulations. Contact the AD’s of all host schools and review Handbook procedures with them.

C. Determine and organize the play-off site(s). Consult with the Sport Manager to determine game times other than those listed in the Handbook. Games played at the home of the higher seed should have mutually agreed upon starting times.

The Board of Directors has mandated use of NCISAA facilities for all tournaments unless other sites are donated free of charge. (See Site Standards below.)

Whenever possible, tournament sites should be located within the CENTRAL CORRIDOR between I-95 in the East and I-77 in the West not to exceed thirty minutes travel beyond the Interstates. Geographic rotations are in place for some tournaments.

D. Send a preliminary budget of tournament expenses to the Sport Manager for review. (See VALID EXPENSES under TOURNAMENT GUIDELINES.)

E. Ensure that all play-off information including entry deadlines is sent to the Director of Communication for distribution to participating schools and to the media via the web site well in advance of the scheduled event. Please include directions and lodging information well in advance of the tournament date

F. Assist with the production of a tournament program when appropriate. (The NCISAA DOES NOT subsidize the cost of printed programs. Please review Valid Expenses in Section XII. TOURNAMENT GUIDELINES.) Proceeds from the sale of the programs should cover the cost of producing them.

G. Provide the necessary support staff including a licensed athletic trainer or medical professional. Contact Michelle Piette, Athletic Trainer at Ravenscroft School (929-847-0900) if you need assistance in providing trained personnel.

H. Ensure that arrangements have been made for collecting admission at the gate throughout each tournament event including first round games.

I. Cooperate with the host school in handling disputes, problems, inquiries, and administration of penalties during the tournaments. It is the responsibility of each host school to establish a protest committee prior to any tournament game.

J. Tournament game results should be relayed to the Director of Communication at 828-231-4254 (cell) or emailed to chapcarter@bellsouth.net immediately following the tournament.

K. Send a copy of the TOURNAMENT EXPENSE AND INCOME report to the Sport Manager and to the NCISAA Business Office within 10 school days following the tournament. (Please use the Tournament Expenses and Income form in the APPENDIX section of this Handbook.)

L. Arrange for the presentation of awards at the conclusion of the tournament

M. Sport Chairs and Site Directors should be present at all tournament events for their given sport. Announce entire NCISAA All-State Team first and then proceed with runner-up trophy and medallions followed by the championship trophy and medallions.

All sites for tournament play-offs sponsored by the NCISAA must meet the standards and specifications listed in the National High School Federation rule book. The Sport Chair/Site Director will approve the facility prior to the game date. In approving the site, the Sport Chair/Site Director should consider proper specifications for the sport, cost, support staff availability, locker rooms, and seating capacity, as well as safety conditions of the site. If any of these criteria are in question, the Executive Director must be contacted. PLEASE REMEMBER - Site approval should be requested and received at least two months in advance of the state tournament.

ALL State Tournaments should be held at NCISAA member school facilities unless other sites are donated free of charge. Secondary options include 1) a modern public facility, or 2) a modern college facility and must be approved by the Executive Director if there is a fee for facility use. Whenever possible, tournament sites should be located within the CENTRAL CORRIDOR between I-95 in the East and I-77 in the West not to exceed thirty minutes travel beyond the Interstates. Seeded 1A tournaments will go west no further west than the I-77 corridor in one out of every five years. For the remaining four years, 1A tournaments will remain within the I-95 corridor no more than 30 minutes east or west of I-95. Geographic rotations are in place for some tournaments. Only in extreme circumstances should a site with a facility fee be considered. This will require approval of the Executive Director.