There’s a new game for high school athletes in the state of Washington and new rules pertaining to transfer eligibility.
Also, an advisory vote on transgender athletes fell short by one vote of attaining a 60-percent approval.
After falling just short last year, girls flag football won approval by the Representative Assembly of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association.
The proposal to add girls flag football, the first new sport to be added by the WIAA since girls bowling in 1999, earned 22 of 35 votes among representatives of high school athletics statewide, one more than needed to pass.
“I am incredibly thankful for the membership’s hard work throughout this amendment cycle, and the WIAA is excited to welcome a new activity to the Association,” WIAA executive director Mick Hoffman said. “We’re thankful to the Seattle Seahawks and James Neil for their leadership in helping bring girls flag football to this point, and we look forward to continuing that partnership as the sport grows statewide.”
The representative assembly also approved, by a vote of 29-6, significant changes to transfer eligibility rules.
After establishing initial eligibility at a high school, students may now transfer one time during their four-year high school career, but only within designated transfer windows.
A student who transfers would be ineligible for varsity competition for 40 percent of their first season at their new school in any sport they participated in during the previous school year.
But this rule only applies to situations in which a student would have ineligible for the entire season under previous rules.
It does not apply to students whose entire family relocates to a new residence. Those students would be eligible at their new school without penalty, as they have been in the past.
The representative assembly is comprised of 53 school administrators — 35 from high schools and 18 from middle schools — representing each of the six WIAA districts. The assembly votes on proposed amendments, with voting delegates typically casting proxy votes aligned with the opinions of their league and WIAA District.
To pass, an amendment requires 60 percent approval from voting members. Specifically, 32 votes are needed for a high school/middle school amendment to pass, 21 votes for a high school-only amendment, and 11 votes for a middle school-only amendment.
Two amendments pertaining to athletic eligibility for transgender students were changed to advisory-only votes last month after the WIAA determined that the proposed amendments did not comply with state law.
The first amendment, that would have limited participation in girls sports to only biological females, received 31 of 53 votes or 58.5 percent.
A second proposal, that would have created separate divisions for boys, girls and an open division for all students, received only 13 of 53 votes.
In a statement, the WIAA said: “Despite the failure of (the two proposals), the association’s message remains clear: The WIAA remains committed to following Washington state law and will continue to do so moving forward. If state law changes in the future, the WIAA Executive Board holds the authority to revise policies accordingly—and now has input from the membership on how to proceed in that event, while remaining in compliance with state law.”
In all, 16 amendments were proposed. The seven approved proposals will go into effect on Aug. 1 for the 2025-26 school year.
Among the other proposals winning approval was a mercy rule for soccer that will end a match at any time after 60 minutes of play in high school competition and 45 minutes for middle school if one team is leading by eight goals.
Another approved amendment requires that a suspension following an ejection must be fulfilled at the same level of competition as the contest in which the ejection occurred, unless the ejection happened in the final event of the season.
Two proposals that failed to pass would have extended the number of games played in the regular season in baseball, softball and soccer by two games.
