In it’s February 2010 newsletter, the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association announced the classifications for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 school years have been set.
As expected, all sports will be classified by divisions, which will now allow schools to petition up or down for individual sports. What that means is that for sports that in the past had been divided by class – basketball, baseball, softball, tennis, soccer and field hockey – will now be in divisions, much like football, volleyball, hockey and lacrosse to name a few.
The big difference, other than the name, is that this allows a school to compete at a different level in different sports if it feels it can compete at that level. A currently example would be how Souhegan, which is a Class I sized school, competes up in Division I, with schools like Nashua South and North, in boys and girls lacrosse.
The unexpected part of this announcement is the number of divisions. According to the newsletter, there will be four divisions for each sport, unless the numbers and competition require there to be more or less. Sports like wrestling, swimming and lacrosse will remain with less than four, while football will remain at six.