Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association
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| Abbreviation | WIAA |
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| Formation | 1895 |
| Type | Volunteer; NPO |
| Legal status | Association |
| Purpose | Athletic/Educational |
| Headquarters | 5516 Vern Holmes Dr. Stevens Point, Wisconsin 54481 |
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Region served
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Wisconsin |
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Official language
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English |
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Executive Director
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Dave Anderson |
| Affiliations | National Federation of State High School Associations |
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Staff
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21 |
| Website | wiaawi.org |
| Remarks | (715) 344-8580 |
The Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) is the regulatory body for all high school sports in Wisconsin. Its history dates to 1895, making it the earliest continually existing high school athletic organization in the country. It also provides the licensing program for more than 10,000 officials in the state, and oversees junior high or middle school athletics in about 100 of the state's nearly 400 school districts. Among its duties are the administration of state tournament series in its various sports, overseeing eligibility and conference alignment, and promoting sportsmanship.
The WIAA considers its start to be a meeting in December 1896 of part of the state teachers association following a state track and field meet organized by the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Meetings led to the formation of a rules committee, followed by a Board of Control, which is still the WIAA's governing board. It has 11 members, seven chosen by regions, three at-large and a representative from the Wisconsin Association of School Boards. An Advisory Council, made up of 18 members, also provides governance and advice. It is made up of 15 members, five each from large, medium and small schools, a gender at-large representative, a minority at-large representative and a nonpublic school representative.
Until 2000, only public schools were WIAA members. Private schools had belonged to the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association. When that organization announced it would shut down, the WIAA changed its rules to allow private schools. The WIAA, unlike some other states, does not add a multiplier to enrollment of private schools to contend with perceived advantages private schools have in drawing athletes.
The WIAA held its own state track meet in 1897 and its first state boys' basketball tournament in 1920. For boys' sports, it added cross country (1913), golf (1923), tennis (1925), and swimming (1925). In the 1940s, wrestling (1940), volleyball (1948) and baseball (1948) were added; in the 1950s, skiing and curling, and in the 1960s, gymnastics. These sports have been dropped by the WIAA. 1965 also brought a second baseball tournament, this one for summer participants. Ice hockey was added in 1970, Soccer (1982) was added, and volleyball, which had been dropped (in 1982), returned to tournament status in 2000.
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