The South Dakota High School Activities Association is another step closer to approving both E-Sports and Girls softball as sanctioned high school sports in the state. At its meeting yesterday, the board approved the formation of steering committees to study both. The committees would develop an outline of proposed seasons and present them to the board in November for a vote. Schools could then commit to E-Sports or softball early next year, with the first seasons in the fall of 2022.
South Dakota is currently the only state in the country without softball as a sanctioned sport.
The activities association also accepted the resignation of Dr. John Krogstrand who has served as Assistant Executive Director for the past nine years, and has played a large part in many of the recent policy changes of the board. Krogstrand said he is leaving to take another opportunity elsewhere which was not disclosed.
A number of other minor changes were approved for other sports yesterday. The board officially approved a two-day state track meet for May 29-30 in the Black Hills. Each class will compete at its own site for both days. Sturgis for Class AA, Spearfish for Class A, and Rapid City for Class B. Minor changes were also made to some preliminary qualifying events.
A change for nine-man football playoffs calls for seeding of the top 16-teams as opposed to the former taking of the top three teams from each Region and the four next best teams. That format is similar to the one now used for Class 11-B football. It will be used for all nine-man classes.
In volleyball, Class AA teams will now be allowed to play Class A or Class B teams up to three games per season without a deduction in seeding points.
And in golf, region qualifiers for the Class A tournament will be cut from 60-percent to 50-percent which will mean about a dozen fewer players in the state tournament.