AAA introduces eSports, volleyball rule changes

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Activities Association recently announced a partnership to offer eSports throughout the state.

The AAA’s Board of Directors voted last month to enter a partnership with PlayVs, an online gaming provider based out of Los Angeles. PlayVs has worked directly with the National Federation of State High School Associations and NFHS Network to become the sole eSports league of member state associations.

“PlayVs is committed to high schools,” said Derek Walter, assistant executive director of the AAA. “We are excited to partner with a company like PlayVs. They are committed to introducing eSports to our member schools in the most efficient way possible.”

PlayVs partners with game developers to make sure games are team-based, appropriate for students and capable of being played on school computers to keep operating costs down.

“Starting eSports in Arkansas is first and foremost about increasing participation in schools,” said Walter. “Our goal is for eSports to target students who don’t currently participate in activities like football, basketball, band or drama.”

Currently PlayVs has three games available to students: League of Legends, Smite and Rocket League. The games will have teams of 3-5 students, each school can have multiple teams for each game and eSports will be structured into fall and springs seasons.

Today is the deadline for schools to sign up for eSports. The spring season will run from Feb. 25 through April 22.

The cost to play eSports is $64 per student per season.

The AAA also announced an overhaul of uniform-related rules and an adjustment to team roster submissions, which were among the most notable rules changes identified for the 2019-20 high school volleyball season.

All rules changes were recommended by the NFHS Volleyball Rules Committee at its January 6-8 meeting in Indianapolis and subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“The sport of volleyball continues to be in a really good place,” said Lindsey Atkinson, NFHS director of sports and liaison to the Volleyball Rules Committee.

“The rules committee focused its changes this year on improving the administration of the match by taking into account the feedback it received via the 2018 NFHS Volleyball Rules Questionnaire.”

The changes are intended to reorganize the uniform rules to improve understanding and eliminate solid-colored uniform requirements.

“The rules committee was very deliberate and measured in their language choices to ensure that

all currently compliant libero and team uniforms will be compliant under the new rule,” Atkinson said.

“The committee believes that this new rule will, in fact, be easier to apply and require less policing by both officials and state associations.”

Beginning July 1, 2023, a plain, Arabic numeral of a solid, clearly contrasting color from the body of the uniform will be required. The change eliminates the use of a border to create the number contrast, therefore, allowing officials and scorers to easily identify uniforms numbers while aligning the rule with that of other rules codes.

Sections of several rules were modified to eliminate warmup interruptions by officials requesting rosters with 10 minutes remaining on the warmup clock. The change is intended to create a smoother warmup process for coaches, players and officials.

“The logistical change of when, and to whom, the roster shall be submitted was again the result of questionnaire feedback,” Atkinson said.

“In an effort to improve the flow of the prematch requirements, the committee felt that the submission of the roster as a part of the prematch conference, with the ability to make changes until 10 minutes remaining on the clock, allowed for a more efficient process and alleviated the scorer of the responsibility to collect team rosters.”

A complete listing of the volleyball rules changes will be available on the NFHS website at http://www.nfhs.org.