By Riley Sakurada Posted March 6, 2018
The NIAA has proposed a 5A league and wanted to implement the plan by the start of the 2018-19 school year. It would have given give the smaller cities and towns a chance in the state championships. Most schools in Vegas outnumber many of the other schools making it unfair to all the smaller schools in Nevada.
The plan got shot down quickly when they voted on the proposed plan on January 18, 2018. So smaller schools will still play huge powerhouse schools from the south. Smaller schools just don’t have the players turn out to play against powerhouse schools such as Bishop Gorman. If you believe everyone should have a chance to make the playoffs and play against teams of the same size and skill, then you didn’t get what you wanted.
Many schools agree with the 5A league because it is not fair that schools with 600 students play schools with 2000 students.
If the NIAA were to make a 5A division, kids in smaller schools would have the confidence and a real chance to win a state title for their school. Most schools just can’t compete with Bishop Gorman or Faith Lutheran; not because they don’t have the skill, they just don’t have enough confidence or player turnout.
Some teams that moved down to 3A because they just couldn’t play with the largest schools came down and dominated the 3A. For example Desert Pines, a school with around 2,200 students compared to Dayton High School, with around 450 students. The plan would have sorted out the miss-matches among the divisions forcing the powerhouse schools in the 3A division to move up to 4A, and Southern 4A schools to move to 5A.
The 5A plan would have been a good start toward equity. The NIAA should actually compose and follow through with a plan to help the North instead of letting the Southern schools, which outnumber the rest of the schools by hundreds of students, continue to dominate the league in all sports.
