05/14/18 – New Triple Threat Award Recognizes Three-Season, Multi-Sport Athletes

May 14, 2018 2017-2018 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 14, 2018

In an effort to continue the national emphasis and the KHSAA’s own efforts to de-emphasize sports specialization in the athletic culture, the Association recently launched the “Triple Threat Award” program to recognize those students who participate in high school athletics year round.

The award, which is given to student-athletes who participate in a KHSAA sport or sport-activity on the varsity level during each season of the academic year (fall/winters/spring), will be presented to a total of 1,814 student-athletes for 2017-18.

The awards are based solely on each member school’s rosters that were submitted through the KHSAA’s online system, as that is the only permitted determinant for athletic eligibility (including team eligibility).

A closer look at the breakdown of honorees for the 2017-18 academic year shows that:

• 266 of the 280 member schools have at least one honoree;
• Three schools (Holy Cross-Lou., Oneida Baptist, and Pikeville) each have 22 award recipients, followed by Villa Madonna with 21, and McCracken County and Scott with 19 each;
• By class, 465 seniors, 511 juniors, 458 sophomores, 318 freshmen, 43 eighth graders and 19 seventh graders were honored;
• By gender, 838 females and 976 males qualified for the award.

Further details on the breakdown of award recipients can be found at: https://khsaa.org/news-stats-pubs/news-and-information/triple-threat-award/

The KHSAA staff and Board of Control are proud to issue these first-time awards and look forward to continuing the program in the future to emphasize the values of participation and the now-documented likely negative aspects of sports specialization.

– KHSAA –

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High School Athletic Association was organized in 1917 and is the agency designated by the Kentucky Department of Education to manage high school athletics in the Commonwealth. The Association is a voluntary nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of 280 member schools both public and private. The KHSAA sanctions 44 state championships in 13 sports and 5 sport-activities, licenses and trains over 4,000 officials, provides catastrophic insurance for its more than 70,000 member school student-athletes, as well as overseeing coaching education and sports safety programs.