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Really, what is it with NFHS (National Federation of State High School associations)? On Friday, NFHS finally got around to releasing its approved rules changes for the 2010-2011 season. Which is to say it essentially released nothing, not when its lead rule change is making sure wrestlers’ breasts and buttocks are covered at weigh-ins.
(Not kidding. This is verbatim from the NFHS’ mysterious release: “Regarding weigh-ins, previously both male and female contestants had to weigh in wearing “no more than a suitable undergarment.” Beginning next year, specific language has been added regarding what constitutes a “suitable undergarment.” Male and female contestants will be required to wear a suitable undergarment that completely covers the buttocks and the groin area. In addition, for female contestants the suitable undergarment must also cover the breasts.” It was the first rule addressed by NFHS in its release).
The big news, of course, is that NFHS decided not adjust the 14 weight classes. There were three weight class proposals, detailed here, on the table at the NFHS’ wrestling rules committee meeting April 5-7 in Indianapolis.
There has been enormous interest in the Pennsylvania wrestling community regarding any possible changes for obvious reasons. Yet, NFHS remained silent on any changes until this past Friday.
My question: why? What is the purpose of keeping proposed rules changes (or the lack of change, which happened to be extremely important in this case) from the public? If I’m not mistaken, it is the wrestlers, and not NFHS brass, who are most affected by any decision NFHS makes at its Indianapolis headquarters.
NFHS doesn’t see it that way, apparently. Since April 7, rodfrisco.com has made several requests for information regarding the rules changes, some direct inquiries into what was proposed and advanced, others benign requests for a release date on the decisions.
In every case, NFHS failed to reply to e-mail inquiries or telephone calls. Now, NFHS is not required by any law to tell me or any other media outlet anything. And that’s fine. But how about some adherence to simple decorum? Even a terse corporate reply is better than no reply at all.
I do not know anyone among the NFHS brass. I’m quite certain they’re fine people, great parents, solid citizens, blah, blah, blah. But failing to acknowledge legitimate requests is just plain bush league. If a pipsqueak website like rodfrisco.com can reply to comments and questions, I’m pretty sure NFHS can do the same.
I’m not an expert on NFHS’ structure and its relationship with its member associations, but it doesn’t appear NFHS is terribly accountable to anyone. For one thing, the state associations aren’t going to squawk about something like this; it’s just not in their interest … directly.
In fact, NFHS doesn’t mind using an iron hand when it feels the need. A few years back, PIAA wanted to modify a wrestling rule (can’t remember exactly which one now) and NFHS went all Politburo on the PIAA. It threatened to eliminate Pennsylvania’s representation on the wrestling rules committee unless PIAA followed the NFHS rule book explicitly. PIAA complied then and has since.
On the other hand, what if all 51 state associations (including the District of Columbia) decided to flip that current imbalance of power and tell NFHS to shape up or they’ll get quit sending dues money to Indianapolis? That is extremely unlikely, especially since many state associations would prefer working behind their own veils of secrecy. But maybe a little nudge wouldn’t hurt.
Another thing is: who received the release once released? The first I saw the release was Saturday morning on the Allentown Morning Call Varsity Blog on a post by Mark Wogenrich, who posted the information from the National Wrestling Coaches Association site. (Props to Mark for good work). So the Morning Call didn’t receive it directly, but NWCA apparently did.
I started hitting the search engines to see what other sites had received the release. The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) had a post Friday night; iHigh’s Indiana site had a Friday post. I couldn’t find any others. A random search of state association sites likely to post the information, including PIAA, had nothing. So how does NFHS decide who gets the release? Guess I;ll have to dial up NFHS on Monday for another call to its automated voice-mail system.
What makes all of this so laughable now is that NFHS has been sitting on … nothing. They didn’t adjust the weight classes. At all.
So where’s the harm in Pennsylvania’s rep on the rules committee, Dr. John Hosage, being able to tell the PIAA wrestling steering committee that the weights weren’t going to change instead of fleeing the conference room so he wouldn’t have to face the big, bad media mob of one? In a way, I felt sorry for Doc Hosage; he was only following orders. But the orders are asinine.
Simply put, NFHS’ way of doing business is horrible. Its control-freak approach to releasing information is worthy of the worst government bureaucracies. All it did by delaying the release of the information was cover its own buttocks.
And not very well.
