Senator William Stachowski (D 58th) Meets With NYSPHSAA Executive Director Regarding Reduction in High School Sporting Events
Senator William Stachowski (D 58th) Meets With NYSPHSAA Executive Director Regarding Reduction in High School Sporting Events
Senator William T. Stachowski (D 58th), Chairman of the Senate’s Economic Development and Small Business Committee, met with Ms. Nina Van Erk, Executive Director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association in Albany today to discuss the reduction in sports schedules for state high schools.
“It concerned me that the NYSPHSAA Executive Committee recently voted to reduce the number of events for high school sports teams across the state so I asked to meet with Ms. Van Erk,” said Senator Stachowski. “I fully understand the concerns of the Executive Committee and their proactive decision to reduce events before schools begin dropping programs. However, I am hoping that once the stimulus money is distributed to school districts across the state there will be no need for a reduction in events,” stated Stachowski.
The NYSPHAA Executive Committee voted in January to reduce sports with 24 contests to 20, sports with 20 contests to 18 and sports with 18 contests to 16. There are also cutbacks for the sports of football and wrestling.
“Hopefully, the Executive committee will be able to reverse their decision when they meet again in May. Many of New York’s high school athletes are awarded college scholarships or financial aid based on their performance in competition. A reduction in events could limit their exposure to college recruiters and we certainly would not want to handicap our children when competing for scholarships against athletes from surrounding states,” added Stachowski.
Senator Stachowski, a former standout scholarship football player at Holy Cross, is a long time supporter of high school and college athletics, serving as a volunteer high school football coach and is currently an executive board member of the Ilio DiPaolo high school wrestling scholarship committee.