Kentucky High School Athletic Association

This information is in effect, as stated below, through April 30, 2020. Prior to that time, revised guidance and policy will be issued to be effective May 1 as we all collectively work to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus on our campuses and among our athletes and coaches. Updated 4/2/20 and 4/17/20 based on inquiries from member schools and revised orders from the Governor and CDC Guidance.

This impacts all KHSAA constituents and includes guidance from the Governor, Public Health Officials, the Kentucky Department of Education, and additional guidance from federal authorities. This original directive will continue to be updated regularly. This will be the sole site for information regarding interscholastic athletics in Kentucky involving rostered athletes or those that have participated in practices this year and coaches from KHSAA member schools, as well as the use of interscholastic facilities.

Effective Friday, March 13, all sports and sport-activities, regardless of season, are declared to […]

03/30/20- Status of KHSAA Sponsored Events and Deadlines

Updated: 3/31/20, 8:00 a.m.

This information is solely a summary of KHSAA events. Other specific information concerning options including the required Coronavirus Shutdown Period is listed elsewhere on the KHSAA website at https://khsaa.org/athletic-dead-period-instituted-for-athletic-programs-in-all-sports-and-sport-activities/. This list will be continually updated and potentially revised.

Tryout Period for Sport-Activities, including Cheer and Dance has been postponed. See the post at https://khsaa.org/03-19-20-spring-sport-activity-tryout-window-postponed-for-now/ for details.
All opportunities at KHSAA member schools and Kentucky middle schools for spring football practice have been eliminated for 2020. See the post at https://khsaa.org/spring-football-practice-eliminated-for-2020-for-high-and-middle-schools/ for details;
No final determination has been made regarding annual Title IX and roster reporting for 2019-20. Member schools will be updated if and when this is revised.
2020 Mingua Beef Jerky/KHSAA Girls’ Sweet Sixteen (originally March 11-15) remains currently suspended. Will be continually reviewed as more data is available regarding school resumption or cessation, and activities being conducted in alignment with CDC and state and local […]
More

03/16/20- Update on KHSAA Office Opening/Closing and Staff Availability

In partnership with our State Department of Education, the Governor’s office, our member schools, the NFHS and similar to many other state associations, KHSAA staff has been directed to work remotely from home until at least April 10 (revised 4/2/20). Administrators will available via email. Our hope is to return to the office for regular hours later in April, however, this is a very fluid situation and could change at any time. Updates will be posted online.

As of now and through at least May 1, all activity by rostered participants, coaches and those who have participated in at least one practice session for a middle or high school remain shut down as do all athletic facilities in control of our membership. As we all work together, everyone is hopeful to contain the spread of this virus. Staff will communicate any changes to future events through social media and the KHSAA website.

Closer to May […]

01/27/20 – PlayVS/KHSAA Esports Winter State Championship Decided Thursday at UK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 27, 2020

State Champions will be crowned in Rocket League and League of Legends on Thursday, Jan. 30 when the PlayVS/KHSAA Esports Winter State Championship takes place at the Gatton Student Center on the University of Kentucky campus.

The Rocket League finals are set for 4 p.m. and will feature Shelby County’s “Rockets Gold Squad” taking on Graves County’s “Leverage Esports” team. The League of Legends championship will follow at 5:30 p.m., with Elizabethtown’s “E-Town Panthers” squaring off against Lafayette’s “Generals (A)”.

Admission is free to the esports state championship, which will be held in Ballroom B&C at the Gatton Student Center. Those unable to attend Thursday’s championship can watch the event live online through the NFHS Network or Twitch.tv (https://www.twitch.tv/playvs).

This is the second year esports has been a KHSAA-sanctioned sport activity. Boyle County claimed the inaugural League of Legends state title during the 2019 winter season, with […]

2020 Esports Winter Championship Time Schedule

eSports Working

01/16/20 – Board Approves Site and Date for Esports Championship, Approves Extensive Survey of Officials’ Fees, Reviews Ongoing Operations

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 16, 2020

The Board of Control addressed several operational issues at its meeting at the KHSAA offices on Thursday. Among the actionable items on the agenda, the Board approved an offer from the University of Kentucky to host the upcoming esports state championship and approved the movement of five schools in Track & Field, as well as Cross Country, for the 2020-21 school year.

The University of Kentucky has offered to host the upcoming esports state championship on Jan. 30 and the Board accepted that proposal. UK has made a substantial investment into its Gatton Student Center as it expands its involvement in the world of competitive gaming.

“We are grateful to UK for reaching out to us to host a championship event in esports this year, allowing our competition and its participants to continue to receive outstanding support, ” said Commissioner Julian Tackett. “Their new facility is outstanding and will […]

10/10/19 – Esports Registration Deadline Extended to October 25

The esports registration deadline has been extended to Friday, October 25th. If your school intends to compete in this Fall 2019 season, there are a couple of steps that must be taken before that date to ensure your teams are put on the schedule.

Have your principal fill out the authorization form distributed earlier this week by the Commissioner – https://schools.khsaa.org/es101-esports-school-permission-form/
Add an esports team, coach and student-athletes in the schools.khsaa.org subdomain
Complete registration through PlayVS and activate your teams

Follow these steps to complete the registration process through PlayVS.

Verify students, after checking their names and emails for accuracy
Purchase a Season Pass for verified players and select an esport for them to play
From the Manage Teams tab, create and name your team
Then, place verified players on your roster
Finally, hit the ‘Activate’ button for each team. You MUST activate a team in order […]
More

10/08/19- Update on Participation in Esports with KHSAA

As the KHSAA heads into its second year of offering an Esports program, we have worked collaboratively with the Kentucky Department of Education as well as the Kentucky Center for School Safety to enact a directive from the Board of Control for 2019-20. After you have read the material and are ready to complete the permission form, you may do so on the school login site at https://schools.khsaa.org/es101-esports-school-permission-form/.

Each of you has a login on this site. Contact Communications Director Joe Angolia at the KHSAA (jangolia@khsaa.org) for specific Esports questions. Contact Rob Catron at the KHSAA (rcatron@khsaa.org) if you are having issues with logging in.

As we reviewed year one of this project, it was determined by the Board of Control in consultation with our partners at KDE and KCSS that we needed to ensure we had informed consent from […]

KHSAA General Esports Information

General KHSAA Esports Information

KHSAA/PlayVS Specific Game Information

League Of Legends Information Rocket League Information Madden Information Mario Kart Information SuperSmash Brothers Information Hearthstone Information NBA2K Information Splatoon 3 Information

Operation Unite State Championship Information

Operation Unite State Championship Information
Fall Season Championships 2024 Spring Season Championships 2025

09/23/19- KHSAA and Midway University Expand Student-Athlete Awards Program

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 23, 2019

The Kentucky High School Athletic Association and Midway University are expanding their partnership in the Midway University/KHSAA Student-Athlete of the Year Awards program to include recognition for males beginning in the fall of 2019. The program originally began in the spring of 2016 as a way for Midway University to honor female student-athletes, and will now include male and female student-athletes for all KHSAA-sanctioned sports and sport-activities.

“We value our partnership with the KHSAA as we expand our on-campus offerings to include male students and male sports and look forward to continuing to get our message out across the Commonwealth to even more student-athletes and potential students,” said Midway University President John P. Marsden, Ph.D.

“It is exciting to expand our relationship with Midway University to coincide with its own expansion of sports offerings,” said KHSAA Commissioner Julian Tackett. “This was already a tremendous partnership through its effort to […]

PlayVS General Esports Information

General PlayVS Esports Information

KHSAA Esports Forms

KHSAA State Championship Information

07/11/19 – Board Finalizes Golf Format; Addresses Tennis Championships and Future of Esports

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2019

The Board of Control conducted its first organizational meeting of the 2019-20 academic year on Thursday in Covington, finalizing the format of the state golf tournament while also addressing the calendar for the state tennis championships and the future of esports.

After reviewing feedback following its earlier decision to change the team format to a four-person squad at the state tournament (which was a format of the tournament in past years), the Board of Control elected to revisit the issue at its July meeting. After significant discussion, the Board eventually settled on a final resolution to address its original concerns with the size of the field, match its boys and girls alignment, ensure all schools have an opportunity to participate in the championship regardless of squad size and complete the tournament during the mid-fall season while also addressing the team composition […]

Past Esports Staff Blogs/News

Archive of Past Staff Blogs

ESports Competition History

Athletic Department Blog Updates

2/14/19- Reminder to Schools about Esports Rosters and Information

For the 2018-2019 school year, KHSAA member schools participating in the sport-activity of esports through the KHSAA/PlayVs partnership are required to enter and maintain their teams, coaches and participants in the KHSAA member school database. THIS STEP DOES NOT REPLACE THE NECESSITY OF REGISTERING COACH AND PARTICIPANT SPECIFIC INFORMATION WITH PLAYVS. If you are participating in esports through another entity (not through PlayVS), please disregard this notice and do not enter your school information.

DECLARING THAT YOU PARTICIPATED IN KHSAA ESPORTS SEASON ZERO OR SEASON ONE DURING 2018-19

As with any other sport/sport-activity, the first step the AD (or other designated administrator) will need to do is update the school’s Sport Participation Information grid to add the team(s) to the database, which will then allow entry of participants and coaches. (Direct link: https://schools.khsaa.org/schools_update/)
On this grid, you will now see both of the newly added esports seasons (Esports – Fall and Esports – […]
More

02/05/19 – Esports Spring Season Participation Deadline February 8

Athletic Department Blog Updates

Season Zero ended last week with Boyle County High School taking home the first KHSAA esports state title. Congratulations to Coach Laymon and the BoCo Gold team. The livestream of the state championship match is available at https://www.khsaa.tv

The deadline to join the esports Spring 2019 season is this Friday, February 8th. If your school is interested in participating, please be sure to create an account on PlayVS.com by the deadline to get started. You can still complete your profile and fill out your computer specifications afterward. Players have until February 22nd to sign up and finalize teams.

GET STARTED ON PLAYVS TODAY

SPRING 2019 REGULAR SEASON STRUCTURE

The regular season will run from the week of February 25th – April 22nd.
Matches will be played at 4 p.m. EST on the following days for each league:
- Tuesdays: League of Legends – Two consecutive […]
  More

01/23/19 – Collins HS to Host Esports Season Zero Championship Monday

2018-2019 News Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 23, 2019

The Season Zero Esports State Championship will be determined Monday at Collins High School, when squads from St. Henry District and Boyle County square off to decide the first state champion in a best-of-three League of Legends match. Admission to the esports state championship is free, though interested fans should reserve their tickets online at http://bit.ly/2sLlBAV.

Those unable to attend Monday’s championship can watch the event live online through the NFHS Network or Twitch.tv (https://www.twitch.tv/playvs).

Through its partnership with PlayVs, the KHSAA offered its member schools a new participation opportunity in October to join Season Zero and compete in League of Legends. The esports program will expand for the spring season, with team competing in League of Legends, SMITE and Rocket League. For more information on the Spring Season, visit http://bit.ly/2M4BKul.

-KHSAA-

About the Kentucky High School Athletic Association
The Kentucky High […]

01/11/19 – Esports Season Zero Playoff Info, Spring Season Update

2018-2019 News Releases

The playoffs for Esports Season Zero are underway! Congratulations to Wolves Blue from Wolfe County High School for an undefeated regular season. They will face off against BoCo Black from Boyle County High School in the semifinals next week.

A huge congratulations to all of the following schools for making it into the Top 8:

Cardinals 1 from Nelson County
SDHS from St. Henry District
Titans from Collins
Paarthurnax from Warren Central
BoCo Gold from Boyle County
Eagle Level 7 from Johnson Central

Schools and students alike have seen the tremendous benefits of participating in esports.

“Collins High School esports has given a select group of students the chance to get out of their comfort zone and be a part of something with our school. It’s fun to see them interact with students they wouldn’t have without this opportunity. Win, lose, or draw this is a success!” – Powell Miller […]

10/09/18- KHSAA eSports Schools To Date

09/27/18- Information Regarding School Participation in eSports