The bulk of Thursday’s Tournament Management Committee was spent talking about the five initiatives recently put forward by MIAA Executive Director Bob Baldwin.

The most discussed of Baldwin’s five bulletin points was creating a standardized annual calendar for interscholatic athletes. Committee member John Brown, the athletic director at Wellesley, feels it is a thought that has merit.

“We are trying to get a schedule that makes sense for athletics throughout the state,” said Brown. “We do get an approved schedule from the school committee for the academic year so we know what has to be worked out during the year. We just want a calendar that makes sense and be consistent with all three seasons. One year Walpole and Wellesley played a lacrosse tournament game in late June and it wasn’t the Covid Year.”

Brown went on to add that the hope of many is that the athletic school year begins closer to Labor Day, the thought being more kids would be inclined to compete as opposed to starting the preseason in mid-August where all student/athletes are on vacation.

The other item which is always a discussion piece is the potential for establishing a Division 1A statewide tournament. While the official start date for any discussion is July 1, Baldwin has been adamant in past meetings that it would be prudent to begin any preliminary discussion in advance.

TMC chairman Shaun Hart said there has been discussion on the topic at recent district meetings. He said there is a place for it in some sports, pointing out field hockey for starters.

“As a fan, I think a field hockey 1A tournament would be amazing,” said Hart. “Having hosted some state finals here at Burlington, it would have been amazing tournament. I can’t answer all the questions about it (a future 1A tournament), but it needs to be discussed.”

Scituate athletic director Scott Paine expressed some concern over expanding the Div. 1A to other sports, namely girls hockey. While many have been beating the drums for a return to the highly-popular Div. 1A boys hockey tournament, Paine feels it could create a problem on the girls side.

“We only have two divisions in girls hockey and to pull out 8-12 teams to create a Super 8 would devastate the tournament,” Paine said. “I know if we do it for the boys, we are supposed to do it for the girls, but there are 75 less girls hockey programs. It would impact the tournament significantly.”

The meeting started with the rubber stamp approval of the Alpine and Nordic Skiing formats for 2026 as well as a revised basketball format which added language regarding uniforms. Now the team with the higher seed can wear a uniform other than white as long as they inform the visiting team, who must wear a contrasting color.

Much like the Div. 1A topic, there is always something regarding the margin of victory component. Brown said he’s received more correspondence this past winter over margin of victory and how it translates to overtime games.

“A game could be tied after regulation, yet a team could win by 10 in overtime (and pick up many extra points),” Brown said. “In other sports, there is not that much of a difference. It’s something that we need to give some thought to.”