The Georgia High School Association (GHSA) is an organization that governs athletics and activities for member high schools in Georgia, USA. GHSA is a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations. The association has 455 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 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.[1] Many private schools that do not enter the GHSA compete in the interscholastic organization of the Georgia Independent School Association (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.
Classification - Regions[]
The GHSA currently has seven classes, AAAAAAA, AAAAAA, AAAAA, AAAA, AAA, AA, and A, (called "7A","6A", 5A", "4A", "3A", "2A", and "1A" respectively) 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 -17 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, and volleyball.
Other[]
Literary activities administered by the GHSA are dramatic interpretation, essay, GHSA Debate, extemporaneous speaking, one act plays, quartet, spelling, trio and vocal solo.
Schools[]
For the 2016–2017 season, GHSA has 455 member schools[2]
