West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission
From Wikipedia, the free 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, United States. For sports other than basketball schools are divided into three classes by total enrollment in grades 9-12: A (less than 450 students), AA (451-800 students), and AAA (more than 800 students), with schools re-classed every four years. Football, baseball, cheerleading, golf, softball, track, and volleyball are broken into these three classes. Soccer, Cross country, tennis, and wrestling are broken into two classes (AAA and AA/A combined). Swimming is one class only. For basketball, schools are divided into four classes. Schools have the option of playing "up" one class in a particular sport.
Abbreviation | WVSSAC |
---|---|
Type | Volunteer; NPO |
Legal status | Association |
Purpose | Athletic/Educational |
Headquarters | 2875 Staunton Turnpike Parkersburg, WV 26104 |
Region served | West Virginia |
Official language | English |
Executive Director | David Price |
Affiliations | National Federation of State High School Associations |
Staff | 4 |
Website | wvssac.org |
Remarks | (304) 485-5494 |
The organization began with boys' basketball championships in 1914. During the decades of segregated schools in West Virginia, it excluded schools for African American students. They competed in the West Virginia Athletic Union. 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 on Friday or Saturday, or 1:30 pm on Saturday.[1]