IHS’s sports program has been lacking in participants this fall, to the point where whole teams have become missing. This wasn’t caused by a failure of student athletes to participate, however, but actually their incapability to pass the state’s physical tests.
Before the start of this year’s fall sports season, New York State passed testing regulations for middle-school students that changed necessary qualifications for them to participate in varsity sports. These tests, known as the Athletic Placement Process (APP), determine whether middle-school students are mentally, physically, and emotionally mature enough to participate in higher-level sports, a marked difference from determining qualification based on age and grade alone as has been done in the past. Most commonly used for contact sports where injuries are more common, the APP standards have been a little too severe in non-contact sports. Although the test is supposed to ensure athletes’ safety by raising the standards needed to pass it, its rigid standards make too many eligible students unable to play.
The APP is affecting seventh and eighth graders under the age of 15 who are new to sports, but not eighth graders who are returning to their sports after last year’s season. Each athlete has to take the APP once and can participate in sports at their grade level if they pass, but has to take it again at higher standards to move up to the higher levels.
There are nine requirements for the APP that school districts have to follow. First is parental consent and administrative approval, as children are put at higher risk of injury participating in sports with older students. Students have to be suitable for consideration and guaranteed to participate in at least 50 percent of games in a season, in addition to maintaining an appropriate academic level. Students must also be medically cleared and at the appropriate height, weight, and physical and mental level of maturity. If a student does not pass one step in being medically cleared, then the process stops.
Next, there is a sport-skill evaluation which can be determined in a physical-education class. The athlete must have a physical-fitness test administered by a physical-education teacher who is not their coach. They must reach the 85th percentile in four of the five requirements. The Director of Athletics ultimately decides if a student qualifies after passing these steps. All this still doesn’t guarantee them a spot, though: it just allows them to try out for a team.
Medical clearance is the hardest step for middle-school students in ICSD. Acceptance is based on the Tanner Scale, which is used to determine physical maturity. The Tanner score needed to participate is different from sport to sport, but some of the more popular sports are scored very high and are difficult for athletes to pass. Soccer, swimming, cross country, football, volleyball, and cheerleading, all fall sports in Ithaca, have the highest required scores. For males, a score of 3 is required for eligibility in freshmen sports, 4 for JV and 5 for Varsity. Female sports have higher standards, with 4 for freshmen, 5 for JV, and 5 for Varsity. Female athletes also must be taller than 5’2”, weigh more than 110 pounds, and have started having their period.
These requirements, especially for middle-school girls, are ridiculously high and have resulted in IHS’s lack of a JV girls’ soccer team. The district has a choice to relinquish the new APP policies for the spring sports season. If ICSD chooses to keep using the same standards, it is more than likely that the teams will continue to have low numbers of athletes.