Georgia High School Association

Georgia High School Association

Abbreviation	GHSA
Formation	1904
Legal status	501(c)(3) Association - 1986
Purpose	Athletics/Educational
Headquarters	151 S. Bethel St. Thomaston, GA 30286
Region served	Georgia
Membership	455 high schools
Official language	English
Executive Director	Gary Phillips
Affiliations	National Federation of State High School Associations
Staff	13
Website	ghsa.net
Remarks	(706) 647-7473

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

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 five 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 2012–2014 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, 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]

Class AAAAAAA

Class AAAAAA

Class AAAAA

Class AAAA

Class AAA

Class AA

Class A

Notes

References

External links

• GHSA official website
• In The Game High School Sports Magazine – Recognizing high school athletes and sports in Georgia
• Georgia Football Historians
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class 7A, Regions 1 thru 4
• Helmet Project (Class 7A, Regions 5 thru 8
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAAAAA Regions 1-4)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAAAAA Regions 5-8)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAAAA Regions 1-4)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAAAA Regions 5-8)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAAA Regions 1-4)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAAA Regions 5-8)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAA Regions 1-4)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AAA Regions 5-8)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AA Regions 1-4)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class AA Regions 5-8)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class A Regions 1-4)
• Georgia Helmet Project (Class A Regions 5-8)

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