The Big Sandy Mountaineer -

We know very little about the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations). What most people have heard about it is the NFHS Network, where they live stream events at high schools (and at the junior high level, too). The NFHS owns the NFHS Network, but first, we are going to do a little background history on who and what the NFHS is. I am hoping to turn this into a three-part series over the next few weeks.

This part of the series will be about how it got started and the multiple different facets that come with NFHS. Several things that you read will be from their website research done on the internet to learn more about them; you can find all this information and do some more digging, if you want, at NFHS.org.

“The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leader and advocate for high school athletics and fine and performing arts programs. Within our 51 member state associations (including Washington, D.C.), we serve 19,500 high schools and more than 12 million young people.

The NFHS writes playing rules for high school sports and guides a multitude of national issues. We offer online education courses for high school coaches, officials, students, parents, and speech and music leaders through the NFHS Learning Center. We showcase high school sports and performing arts online through the NFHS Network. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that all students have an opportunity to enjoy healthy participation, achievement, and good sportsmanship in education-based activities.”

The NFHS is recognized by two different names, (1) NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL FEDERATION™ or (2) NATIONAL FEDERATION OF HIGH SCHOOLS™. While not as accurate a description of their mission as the full legal name, the latter aligns with the acronym (“NFHS”) and suggests their mission of service to the high school community.

Their mission statement states: “The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) serves its members by providing leadership for the administration of education-based high school athletics and activities through the writing of playing rules that emphasize health and safety, educational programs that develop leaders, and administrative support to increase opportunities and promote sportsmanship.”

So what does the NFHS do, you may ask…

1. They develop and update rules to ensure fair play and safety.

2. They provide training and certification for officials, coaches, and administrators.

3. They offer educational resources and programs for student-athletes.

4. They organize and oversee national championships and tournaments.

5. They collaborate with member schools and state associations to uphold standards.

6. They advocate for the values of teamwork, respect, and sportsmanship in high school athletics.

So, how did they get started? I found this all actually very fascinating and found all this information on their centennial page. Yes, NFHS has been around for more than 100 years. The NFHS was born on May 14, 1920, when representatives from state high school associations in five states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin) met in Chicago to discuss eligibility concerns. Four of the five states (minus Indiana) returned to the 1921 meeting to formally adopt the constitution and became charter members.

Organized initially as the Mid-West Federation of State High School Athletic Associations, the name was changed to the National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations in 1923 as more and more states joined the organization. The organization retained that name until 1970, when “Athletic” was dropped to signify the federation’s involvement in fine arts programs – National Federation of State High School Associations.

Throughout its 100-year history, the NFHS has been instrumental in writing playing rules for high school sports. Currently, the organization writes playing rules for 17 sports for boys and girls and publishes about 30 rules publications annually, including rules books, case books, official manuals, and handbooks.

You can become a member of NFHS if you are a coach, official, music director or adjudicator, and speech, debate, theatre director, and judge. You can find all those details and benefits of being a member on their website under the membership section.

But not all schools are part of NFHS and not all participate in the benefits of the NFHS network. In part two, we will discuss more about the actual network aspect and why some schools choose not to be part of the NFHS community. We will also discuss the Learning Center and the causes the NFHS supports.

MHSA (Montana High School Association) is under the umbrella of the NFHS. We will look at that organization in the future.