IHSAA adds girls wrestling, boys volleyball
INDIANAPOLIS — It’s official, girls wrestling and boys volleyball have received full recognition by the Indiana High School Athletic Association beginning in the 2024-25 school year.
During its annual review of the Member School By-Laws on Monday, the Board of Directors of the IHSAA made the decision
With full recognition, an IHSAA state tournament will now be established for both sports with those details being announced in the coming months.
Girls wrestling will be a winter sport while boys volleyball will be played in the spring just as they have in previous years and during the IHSAA’s Emerging Sport Process.
The Indiana Boys Volleyball Coaches Association has been administering its state tournament since 1994 while the Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association has been conducting a girls wrestling state tournament since 2017.
After being added to the Emerging Sport Process in 2022, both have seen significant growth over the last 24 months.
Girls wrestling now touts more than 1,400 individuals representing 177 different schools while boys volleyball teams have now climbed to more than 100.
They become the latest sports to be fully recognized following Unified Flag Football in 2018 and Unified Track & Field in 2013. Both are co-ed sports as part of the IHSAA’s partnership with Special Olympics Indiana.
Prior to those, Boys & Girls Soccer became official IHSAA sports in 1994.
The board also voted down (17-1) a change to the Tournament Success Factor.
With several team sports changing formats to a one-game regional and two-game semi-state, a proposal from Yorktown Principal Stacey Brewer called for the current threshold of three points (i.e. one regional championship and a sectional championship) accumulated to continue playing in a higher class be increased to four points.
The IHSAA Board changed this threshold from two points to three points just a year ago.
