The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) is an organization that governs athletics and activities for member high schools in

Georgia, USA Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west ...

. GHSA is a member of the

National Federation of State High School Associations The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) is the body that writes the rules of competition for most high school sports and activities in the United States. NFHS's headquarters are located in White River State Park in Ind ...

. The association has 463 public and private high schools as members. GHSA organizes all sports and academic competitions as well as overseeing registration, training, and approves local area sports officials associations to administer regional athletics and activities per member schools.

Membership

Membership to the GHSA is voluntary and open to every high school in the state of Georgia, although participating private schools must have at least 150 students in their high school. Many private schools that do not enter the GHSA compete in the interscholastic organization of the

Georgia Independent School Association The Georgia Independent School Association (GISA) is an association of private, independent, and parochial schools throughout the state of Georgia. It was established in 1967 as the Georgia Association of Independent Schools, at the time a large n ...

(GISA). Member schools of the GHSA make most decisions by appointing region representatives who vote on proposals in the GHSA Executive Committee. Individual decisions by regions are made by the schools in the region on such issues as region tiebreakers and hosting of region tournaments. Members are divided into seven classes by size and then further divided into regions based on geographic locations.

History

At least one prior organisation was integrated into the GHSA. The

Georgia Interscholastic Association The Georgia Interscholastic Association (GIA), formed in 1948, was a sports league of high schools serving African Americans in Georgia. It merged into the Georgia High School Association with desegregation in 1970. '' As If We Were Ghosts'' is a ...

(GIA) was a school sports league in Georgia. It was integrated into the GHSA in 1970. The Big 7 Conference included large high schools for African American students in Georgia. The GIA was an expansion of this league that came include county high schools around the state. '' As If We Were Ghosts'' is a documentary film made about the GIA and its athletes.

Classifications – Regions

The GHSA currently has seven classes, AAAAAAA, AAAAAA, AAAAA, AAAA, AAA, AA, and A, (called "7A","6A", 5A", "4A", "3A", "2A", and "1A") based on the schools' student population. Each class has eight regions, numbered 1 through 8, based on the geographic location of the schools involved. Region 1 of each class is usually the southernmost region, with the region numbers generally increasing as one moves north. Regions realign every two years. Regions generally have ten schools, but can range from 4 to 16 teams. Class 6A was created for the 2012–2013 school year and Class 7A for the 2016–2017 school year to accommodate growth in local schools.

Competitions

Athletics

Boys athletics governed by the GHSA are: baseball, basketball, cross country, football, golf, lacrosse, riflery (co-ed), soccer, swimming, tennis, track, and wrestling. Girls athletics programs overseen by the GHSA include basketball, competition cheerleading (co-ed & non co-ed), cross country, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, riflery, fast pitch softball, slow pitch softball, soccer, swimming, tennis, track, volleyball, and wrestling.

Other

Literary activities administered by the GHSA are dramatic interpretation, essay, GHSA Debate, extemporaneous speaking, one act plays, quartet, spelling, trio and vocal solo. The GHSA has also added Esports as an event.

List of schools

For the 2022–2023 season, GHSA has 457 member schools.

Notes

* NFHS

References

External links

GHSA official websiteIn The Game High School Sports Magazine
– Recognizing high school athletes and sports in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...