Realignment News from the NCHSAA Winter Meeting
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The NCHSAA Board of Directors held its 2024 winter meeting in Chapel Hill on December 4th and 5th, with the issues surrounding the 2025-26 realignment taking center stage.
The primary headline is: nothing new was decided about realignment or playoff structures, but intense discussions about these issues are ongoing.
No commentsWinter Tennis Camps at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
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- Written by: Donald Clark
UNCW SEAHAWKS WINTER TENNIS CAMPS
Dear Coach,
UNC-Wilmington Seahawks’ Tennis Coaching Staff would like to invite your players and students to come train with Seahawk Tennis this winter. We are hosting two sessions of Winter Tennis Camp for High School players
(Boys and Girls). These camps are directed by UNCW Head Tennis Coach Hans Olsen and his players from the UNCW team.
Read more: Winter Tennis Camps at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Revised Dual Team Lineup Sheet
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- Written by: Vic Ramsey
For the past several years, the NCHSAA has required the use of a "dual-team lineup sheet", which coaches exchange prior to the beginning of the match.
Over the summer, NCHSTCA leadership, working with Caitlin McMannen at NCHSAA, revised the lineup sheet to address several shortcomings of the previous version, and to reduce confusion about what coaches can and cannot do with their dual-team lineups.
In addtion, we've written a "user's guide" to the revised lineup sheet, to explain what's changed and how the lineup sheet is to be used.
Click here for a .pdf copy of the lineup sheet, and for a copy of the user's guide.
An interactive Excel version of the lineup sheet, which you can download and complete on your own computer, is being emailed to all coaches for whom we have an accurate email address. If you have not received your copy, please send an email to our
NCHSTCA Board Recommends Realignment Principles
- Details
- Written by: Vic Ramsey
The hot topic among coaches, athletic directors, and others interested in North Carolina high sports is "what will the 2025-26 realignment look like with eight classifications?".
The NCHSTCA Board of Directors held a lengthy discussion on this question at its June Board meeting, and adopted a "Statement of Principles" that we would urge the NCHSAA to consider as it addresses the 2025 realignment.
Those principles are:
- Broad Participation in State Tournaments - We would like to see playoff brackets that are as large as feasible.
- Equitable Access to the State Tournaments - We believe that every school should have roughly the same chance of making the playoffs as any other school, regardless of classification.
- Better Early-Round Experiences for All Schools - We believe the playoff brackets should be "staggered", such that elite teams receive early-round byes, while average teams play one another in better, more competitive contests.
- Conferences Based on Geography and Local Rivalry - We believe it's more important to group schools in conferences with nearby teams, with a lower priority being given to grouping schools in the same classification across a larger geographic area.
- Ending Preferential Seeding Based on Conference Standing - Because more schools will find themselves in split conferences, we believe that brackets should be constructed based on RPI ratings alone.
While we acknowledge that we have no authority over the realignment process, we do have direct experience in high school tennis, and have shared these principles with the various NCHSAA committees and task forces that are dealing with the realignment process.
Click here for the complete Statement of Principles as adopted by the NCHSTCA Board of Directors.
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