On Feb. 15, the Ohio High School Athletic Association approved a proposal to employ a new formula that will determine how many divisions will be offered in the postseason tournaments of High School sports.  

Athletic Director of Olmsted Falls High School, Rob Coxon, attended both meetings held by the OHSAA.  

“From their perspective, the committee of the OHSAA is trying to be in more alignment with what other states offer,” Coxon said. “If you go to their website, you can see the number of divisions the other states have.” 

The new divisions will go into effect in fall 2024 and will affect OHSAA General Sports Regulation 17. The changes will result in boys’ and girls’ soccer having five divisions, and girls’ volleyball, boys’ and girls’ basketball, and softball and baseball having seven. There are no changes to the number of football divisions.  

John Justice, Athletic Director at Berea-Midpark High School, said his biggest concern is the new changes potentially taking away from student-athlete experience and postseason games. 

“The change for us is that the sports are gonna see more divisions,” Justice said. “It’s good from the standpoint that you don’t have to win as many games to get to district or regional … We’re talking about affecting the experience the kids are going to have in the postseason.” 

Both athletic directors believe the new changes will not greatly affect their respective high schools.  

“For [Berea-Midpark High School], it doesn’t change what division we’ll be in, it’ll just kind of change what the tournaments look like for us,” Justice said. “I’m indifferent right now, because I want to see how it goes.” 

“It’s not going to change us too much,” Coxon said. “Whether we’re three or four divisions in certain sports, we’re going to increase to seven divisions or five. That doesn’t change what we do. We’re still going to provide the best opportunities and the competition they can handle on their level.”