Mississippi High School Activities Association The place for high school sports in Mississippi Related Articles
Hosting Tournaments & Game Administrator Reminders
Please review these requirements for invitational tournaments:
Playing Out of State, Approval Form Required
Hosting a Tournament, Pre-Approval Form Required
See Rules Governing Basketball page 126 & Rules Governing Soccer page 118
School Checklist for Hosting a Tournament
For invitational tournaments, classics, etc.
Host school must receive tournament approval for sanctioning the event before the event occurs. All tournaments must be sanctioned (catastrophic insurance, out-of-state teams approval, in-state approval of non-member schools, tournament receipts and expenditures). Third-party involvement
as a tournament host must be requested when approval form is submitted (charity organization, non-profit group, booster club, etc.)
Game officials must be scheduled through assigning secretary (to be placed in Arbiter). Officials must be assigned through the district area assigner. Payment of game officials must be through proper school district process of issuing checks. (Host school and game officials are accountable for all monies paid to game officials, W-9’s, etc.)
Host school is accountable for all funds involved in the tournament. Ticket sales, gate receipts, tournament expenses, workers, other miscellaneous revenue and expenses … recorded in a tournament financial report for school auditing purposes. If payment of funds includes a third party (charity, non-profit, etc.), the proper school district process of issuing checks must be followed.
Host school administration is responsible for the security of the event. Adequate security must be provided in accordance to the size of the event (number of teams and spectators, parking, nature of facility, rivalries, etc.).
Host school must provide administrator supervision (before, during, and after the contest), and game management (taking care of game officials, pre-game coaches conference, game supervision, post-game activities, etc.).
Host school should follow their Security Plan and Emergency Action Plan when hosting the event at home or at another location.
MHSAA Handbook, page 41, rule 4.10.14 (Tournament sanctioning …)
School in violation of tournament requirements: … for failing to secure MHSAA approval, the school shall be assessed a penalty.
Guidelines For Game Administrators
The MHSAA requires that each host school have a game administrator that is in charge of each athletic contest.
The MHSAA Executive Committee further designates that the Game Administrator in varsity contests in football, softball, basketball, volleyball, soccer, and baseball be an administrator or his/her designee and this shall be someone other than the participating coach.
The principals of member MHSAA schools are to plan properly for game administrators to be present at all home contests. The use of proper event planning will, hopefully, insure the successful hosting of the event.
Prior to any varsity contest in the sports listed above, the game administrator is required to conduct a pre-game meeting with the game officials, security, and both head coaches. The purpose of this meeting is to make sure that all individuals understand their role in the athletic contest. They should understand the level of expected conduct each is to display.
This meeting may include information of the following:
• Welcome by Game Administrator.
• Introduction of those present.
• Reminder to officials that the MHSAA Executive Committee supports their efforts and that they are expected to enforce the playing rules.
• Reminder to coaches that they are expected to display the highest level of conduct at all times.
• Reminder to coaches that they should instruct their players to conduct themselves in a sportsmanlike manner at all times.
• Security should be identified and reminded that they must follow the security plan established by the host school.
• Game administrators should identify where they will be located during the game should game officials or security need them for any reason.
• Each school is responsible for the conduct of their fans and student body. If, however, a fan acts in an unsportsmanlike manner and it is recognized and reported by the game official to the game administrator, the game administrator should handle the situation in an appropriate manner.
• Game administrators, coaches, and officials shall not start any varsity contest in football, softball, basketball, soccer, and baseball until the pre-game meeting has been held.
