B9

Kevin Barrett
Telegraph-Journal

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Five sports on the provincial high school chopping block have survived a motion to end their tenure with the New Brunswick Interscholastic Athletic Association.

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Peter Corby

Tuesday, the members of the NBIAA voted to keep baseball, softball, golf, curling and swimming in the provincial high school calendar for the 2009-2010 campaign.

The motion to shelve the sports was introduced by the NBIAA's executive committee, which identified several concerns, ranging from lack of coaching and training time to seasons being too short in duration.

But when it came to a vote, the status quo won out as schools opted to maintain participation levels.

"There were a lot of different schools who spoke against the motion to drop the sports," said Tom Hendershot, who coached the Campobello Vikings to the AA golf title in the first semester.

"They were basically coming from the idea that, 'isn't it the NBIAA's responsibility to try and encourage participation in a variety of sports and to offer a variety of sports to choose from'."

It was the second time in the past three annual meetings the move was put on the floor for a vote.

In 2007, the proposal was defeated by one vote.

Peter Corby, the executive director of the NBIAA, did not provide the official vote total but said it was not that close for any of the sports under review.

The Southern Conference stood to be impacted the most with the proposed elimination of the five sports as 51 of the 145 teams that would have been impacted reside in the south.

"It is definitely a positive result," said Eric Pelletier, head coach of the provincial champion St. Malachy's Saints girls softball team. "I don't see how any sport can't be a positive thing. You are hanging out with a group of kids, they are doing something positive and you are keeping them active."

Corby said the issue of transportation was not formally addressed because the association is waiting for the provincial government to issue its policy following recommendations made at the inquest into the tragic crash that killed eight people, including seven players with the Bathurst High School basketball team in January, 2008.

Meanwhile, the association approved a motion to cap participation in the junior varsity level to two years.

The membership rejected a motion to introduce a tier system to the AAA and AA conferences in light of a move to the two conference system this past year from the three conference model used previously.

Doug Prescott of Riverview returns next year as president of the association while Yvon Arseneault of Dalhousie will be back as the association's vice-president.

Both will serve two-year terms.

The meeting drew representatives from 69 of the 76 schools in the NBIAA.