MSHSL to vote Tuesday on adding boys volleyball, girls wrestling for 2021
MINNEAPOLIS - The Minnesota State High School League will be voting Tuesday to determine if boys volleyball and girls wrestling will be high school sports as early as the 2021-22 academic year.
The 48-member MSHSL legislative group is scheduled to meet virtually at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, and among the agenda items are to consider proposed amendments that would add boys volleyball and girls wrestling as sports. The panel needs a two-thirds majority vote (32 votes) to approve the sports, and they would be added as early as next fall if they pass.
BOYS VOLLEYBALL
For boys volleyball, a request for a vote was approved by at least nine of the 16 administrative regions to have it added as a winter sport in the 2021-22 season. The request was tabled until the spring of 2021. Boys volleyball is in its third year as a recreational activity that is offered by some MSHSL schools. Three years ago, more than 50 schools had boys volleyball as a club sport.
The 2020 season was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are 24 state associations that have boys volleyball as a sanctioned sport.
GIRLS WRESTLING
There’s also a push to make girls wrestling a high school sport, starting in the winter of 2021-22. Nine of 16 administrative regions approved a request for a vote to have a girls varsity division as part of the winter wrestling season. Girls currently wrestle with boys in sanctioned wrestling programs, and compete in team and individual events at the high school level.
Under the proposal, girls would continue to train and compete with boys’ teams during the regular season, but would have the top to participate in a girls-only individual section and state tournament. It would run at the same time as the boys tournament. Girls would also be eligible to be on boys’ teams for dual tournaments at the section and state tournament level.
The proposal suggests 12 weight classes for girls. They include 95, 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 160, 170, 182 and 220 pounds.
MSHSL officials say during the 2019-20 season, there were 153 girls who participated in high school wrestling. League officials say more than 21,000 girls are wrestling across the country, and 30 states have girls wrestling as a sanctioned high school varsity sport.