Big changes are coming to high school sports.
B.C. School Sports (BCSS) won its governance proposal vote at their AGM May 1 and this will immediately change the way high school sports is run in this province. The vote passed 212-77, garnering the required two-thirds majority of votes.
As of May 2, the 20 sport commissions in B.C. and their many volunteers are basically out as decision-makers for their respective sports. But some of the commissions are legal entities and it鈥檚 unknown what they will do moving forward, or what type of influence they鈥檒l have.
Paul Eberhardt, treasurer for the boys high school basketball commission, has already indicated his commission will continue to work in the best interests of boys basketball, whether it be from inside the new system or from outside.
鈥淲e are very disappointed that the BCSS Governance proposal was adopted,鈥� Eberhardt told the Cloverdale Reporter via email. 鈥淲e do not believe this is what is best for high school sport in this Province. Our Association has been around for 75 years, and we are certainly not going away. We will continue to work hard on behalf of all our coaches and student-athletes to make sure their voices are heard.鈥�
Jordan Abney, BCSS executive director, said he鈥檚 thrilled the proposal passed.
鈥淚t was a lot of years of work from a lot of different people,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t was a very strong mandate and clear message about the direction the membership wants to go.鈥�
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Abney said he was surprised at the 鈥渂ig margin鈥� by which the vote passed. The proposal needed 66.7 per cent of 鈥測es鈥� votes and ended up getting 73 per cent. Usually there are about 450 schools registered with BCSS, but Abney said a number of smaller schools didn鈥檛 pay their fees this year as there were no high school sports due to COVID. He said there were only 375 fee-paying member schools that were eligible to vote.
鈥淥f that, there were six abstentions and 80 schools didn鈥檛 vote,鈥� he explained. 鈥淪o, 295 of 375 schools participated. Given the fact that this was probably the single largest vote in the 53-year history of the organization, it also explains the need for a bit of a tweak from a governance perspective, as well.鈥�
Abney said there were 247 advance ballots cast and only 48 ballots cast at the AGM.
He said BCSS already has all the paperwork prepared and ready to go out the door so the next steps toward this sweeping change will begin immediately.
鈥淭he legislative assembly will come together quickly. The transition from the commissions to the SACs (sport-advisory committees) will also help with zone reps鈥攚e have invites going out to various commissioners鈥攁nd other committees will be formed.鈥�
He said he wants to get all the wheels in motion before the summer break, adding the new governance system will mean business as usual for student athletes.
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鈥淚 don鈥檛 think the student athlete experience is going to change drastically, especially for the high-profile sports,鈥� Abney explained. 鈥淲e鈥檙e hoping to continue to maintain the status and level of the high-profile sports and to elevate the experience for athletes in some of the sports that have not had quite the same experience.鈥�
He added after the transition to the new model, they鈥檙e going to look at ways to help improve all sports.
鈥淥ur commissions鈥攖hat are essentially being phased out here鈥攈ave really focused on championships,鈥� he noted. 鈥淏ut only about 13 or 14 per cent of student athletes make it to championships. So there鈥檚 a whole swathe of kids that don鈥檛 make it that far that we are also responsible for. So we鈥檙e going to take a look at that and look at how we can serve all 70,000 student athletes.鈥�
Walter van Halst, commissioner for boys rugby and a teacher at Cloverdale鈥檚 Lord Tweedsmuir, said he鈥檚 disappointed with the result and 鈥渧ery disturbed鈥� by a voting process that he says wasn鈥檛 transparent.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what I鈥檓 going to do now,鈥� he indicated. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 very worried about the future of high school sports in British Columbia鈥攚hich were already in decline.鈥�
According to van Halst, the number of teacher-coaches has steadily dropped across the province.
鈥淏ig drop in the last five to 10 years, and that鈥檚 bad for kids because it means less teams that kids can play on.鈥�
He said the new governance model, which he fought against, devalues community-coaches in favour of teacher-coaches and takes the voice away from community-coaches.
(Community-coaches and retired teacher-coaches are not allowed to be a part of the new governance system, only active teachers and administrators. This is different from the commissions which have quite a high number of volunteers that are not active teachers/administrators.)
鈥淲hen coaches aren鈥檛 valued, it鈥檚 bad for kids, because fewer people will be willing to volunteer. And this new model doesn鈥檛 show appreciation for community-coaches.鈥�
He said he doesn鈥檛 think the SACs (essentially powerless replacements of the commissions, that sit below two new layers of empowered decision makers) will attract the same massive numbers of volunteers.
鈥淭hese people volunteer because they鈥檙e passionate about their sport. They feel appreciated and empowered. And that鈥檚 why they do it.鈥�
Van Halst also thinks the voting process wasn鈥檛 entirely transparent.
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鈥淢any of the ADs, or principals鈥攂ecause I鈥檝e heard some principals were voting in place of their ADs鈥攚ho voted in advance didn鈥檛 know exactly what they were voting for,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he people who voted Saturday (May 1), didn鈥檛 either because no one knows how many stakeholder groups were consulted.鈥�
Two days before the AGM, that the B.C. Teachers鈥� Federation, one of the stakeholder groups listed as being involved in the new legislative assembly, wasn鈥檛 asked to be part of the new model. BCSS responded with a statement from their board of directors that said, 鈥淎n invitation for the BCTF to name a Legislative Assembly member is already prepared, should governance pass so they can begin their process. Just as invitations are prepared for all other stakeholder groups, who as a result of our current relationships have varying levels of knowledge of the proposal.鈥�
Abney disagreed with van Halst, saying the entire process was very transparent. He said the actual vote covered the bylaws and handbook and the proposal was a supplementary document.
鈥淲hat was in the bylaws 鈥� was never changed or altered at all,鈥� he said. 鈥淲hat was voted on in the advance voting was exactly what was voted on in the live voting.鈥�
He also said the voting system was very secure. 鈥淓very school had to register their vote and got a secure pin that was individualized to their school that was sent directly to their principal of record in our membership system.鈥�
He said a lot of the people that were against the new proposal and unhappy about the change have since contacted Abney to say 鈥渏ob well done鈥� and have told him they are looking to move forward together.
鈥淚 think the margin of victory, over 73 per cent, is a strong mandate from our membership 鈥� our focus right now is looking forward on how we now put this into action and ensure we鈥檙e ready to go for the fall.鈥�
editor@cloverdalereporter.com
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