IHSAA officially approves girls wrestling, boys volleyball for full recognition
Apr. 29—The Indiana High School Athletic Association has officially announced two new sports to receive full support for the upcoming 2024-25 calendar year.
Boys volleyball and girls wrestling will both become officially sanctioned sports with the full approval from the IHSAA's Board Directors Monday afternoon at it's annual review of the Member School By-Laws.
The two new sports are set to be the 23rd and 24th sports to fully supported by the IHSAA. Girls wrestling found the most success since earning an "emerging" label in 2022-23. Over 1,400 girls competed this last season. While the "emerging" label meant that the sport had to follow IHSAA rules, its state tournament was performed at Kokomo High School on January 12th and was set up by Indiana High School Girls Wrestling (IHSGW).
Four area athletes participated at this year's girls state finals. The group included Goshen's Maria Rescalvo, NorthWood's Naima Ghaffar and Wawasee's Kenidi Nine and Alex Garcia.
The IHSAA became the 45th state to adopt girls wrestling. The Hoosier State joins the long list of high school athletic associations to have already done the same as the interest in the sport continues to grow nationwide.
Just over 100 schools already field a boys volleyball team. Northridge is the only school to currently field a team in The Goshen News' area.
Girls wrestling took place in the winter this past season and boys volleyball currently plays in the spring. If both stay, girls wrestling would be the seventh sport to play in the winter and boys volleyball would be the eighth different sport to hold contests in the spring.
Other passing measures included an additional moratorium period which will take place in the summer of 2025. Also passed was a proposal that changes the ways student athletes can transfer schools. The new rule requires principals at the exiting and entering school to communicate with each other and "provide written verification that there are no athletic motivations and that a transfer is in the best interest of the student."
A proposal to provide girls lacrosse an "emerging" label was set aside to revisit in the June Executive Committee meeting.
Reach Matt Lucas at 574-533-2151, ext. 240325, or at matt.lucas@goshennews.com.
