Rod's Tuesday Sports Post

Ballots were mailed out yesterday from the South Dakota High School Activities Association to member schools to vote on a change of the current open enrollment policy in South Dakaota's High Schools. When open enrollment began with the 1998-99 school year, it was designed to allow a student living in one attendance area to go to school in another attendance area without his or her family having to move. Academics was the focus, but over the years, the policy has been used more frequently for athletic reasons. 31 member schools recently petitioned the High School Activities Association to change it's rules stating an athlete must sit out a year of varsity athletics if they open enroll but may compete at the Junior Varsity or lower level. School districts will have 60 days to vote on the matter and return the ballots to the High School Activities Association Office in Pierre. A 60 percent approval rate is needed for the change to go into effect July 1st.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association changed several rules last week at their meeting in Pierre. In Basketball and Volleyball, Class A District tournaments were eliminated beginning in the 2013-14 school year and the Class A school will play in either a 7 or 8 team Region tournament to qualify for the State tournaments. The seeding formula in basketball was changed in Class A and B that varies the points recieved for a win depending on the size of school. In Volleyball, a new 3 colored ball will be used. The Royal blue/gray and white ball from Baden will be used by all schools. In football, the High School Activities Association will now assign all officials for the regular season as well as the post season and beginning in 2013 the first practice for teams that have games during the first weekend of the season can begin on the Thursday of week 6 or August 15th. All other teams may not have their first practice of the season until the follwoing Monday or August 19th. In Gymnastics, Regon Meets have been eliminated at the Class A level with all teams allowed to compete during the first day on team day with a limit of 6 competitors per team. The top 50 percent of competitors on team day would then qualify for the individual day the next day as well as those who qualified during the course of the regular season.

The Pierre Tennis Association will be holding a Tennis Block Party on Saturday, May 5th at the Griffin Park Courts in Pierre from 1 to 4 pm. The public is invited to stop by and aquaint themselves with recreational tennis at anytime during the 3 hours. There will be activities for the entire family with games for young and old. There will be chances to test a new racquet while hitting balls from the ball machine (you choose the speed) and an introduction to the game for those that have not participated in the past. Registration for summer "Kids at the Court" recreation tennis program, adult beginner tennis lessons, and adult leagues will be available at the same time. Free t-shirts will be given to the first 100 youth to register for the "Kids at the Court" summer recreation tennis program. And there will be door prizes given away throughout the day. For more information on the Pierre Tennis Association's Tennis Block Party contact Heather Forney at 605-224-9914.

Oahe Speedway north of Pierre was scheduled to have their first shootout races of the season on Sunday, but a message on the speedway's website noted that while the grinding and polishing of the track was completed the cleanup was not and that the track prep work was taking longer than usual so track officials decided to cancel yesterday's season opening races. While track officials apoligize, they felt that the extra time was needed to do everything right. The scheduled starting weekend for races is now scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, May5th and 6th. Oahe Speedway is located approximatly 14 miles north of Pierre along highway 1806.