Alabama Independent School Association
Encyclopedia
The Alabama Independent School Association is an organization which sanctions and oversees high school
athletics
for approximately 40 private school
s in the American
state of Alabama
. Its offices are located on the campus of Huntingdon College
in Montgomery, Alabama
.
The AISA was formed in 1967 as the Alabama Private School Association. Originally a group of eight schools, the membership grew to 60 by the 1971-72 school year.
The group sanctions varsity sports in football
, basketball
, baseball
, fast-pitch softball, track and field
, volleyball
, golf
, tennis
, soccer, and cheerleading
. Schools are classified into three classes, according to student enrollment, with championships awarded by class.
The AISA is the largest private-school counterpart to the Alabama High School Athletic Association
, which governs sports in all public schools in the state and approximately 50 private schools. In recent years, some of the AISA's larger schools have transferred to the AHSAA for various reasons.
The Alabama Sports Writers Association votes on the AISA's top football and basketball teams in its weekly polls, as a class separate from the AHSAA's six classes.
students so that they would not have to attend schools with black
students, after public school segregation was finally eliminated by law after the height of the civil rights movement
. While the organization has never addressed the issue of schools which exist primarily to avoid desegregation, and the group has since admitted schools with multi-racial enrollment (including one school whose student body is almost entirely African-American), many schools originally formed as "seg academies" are still members of the AISA.
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
athletics
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
for approximately 40 private school
Private school
Private schools, also known as independent schools or nonstate schools, are not administered by local, state or national governments; thus, they retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students' tuition, rather than relying on mandatory...
s in the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
state of Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
. Its offices are located on the campus of Huntingdon College
Huntingdon College
Huntingdon College, founded in 1854, is a coeducational liberal arts college in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. Related to the United Methodist Church, the college's central hallmarks are faith, wisdom, and service. The college is known for providing a solid academic experience based on good...
in Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery, Alabama
Montgomery is the capital of the U.S. state of Alabama, and is the county seat of Montgomery County. It is located on the Alabama River southeast of the center of the state, in the Gulf Coastal Plain. As of the 2010 census, Montgomery had a population of 205,764 making it the second-largest city...
.
The AISA was formed in 1967 as the Alabama Private School Association. Originally a group of eight schools, the membership grew to 60 by the 1971-72 school year.
The group sanctions varsity sports in football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
, fast-pitch softball, track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
, volleyball
Volleyball
Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules.The complete rules are extensive...
, golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, soccer, and cheerleading
Cheerleading
Cheerleading is a physical activity, sometimes a competitive sport, based on organized routines, usually ranging from one to three minutes, which contain the components of tumbling, dance, jumps, cheers, and stunting to direct spectators of events to cheer on sports teams at games or to participate...
. Schools are classified into three classes, according to student enrollment, with championships awarded by class.
The AISA is the largest private-school counterpart to the Alabama High School Athletic Association
Alabama High School Athletic Association
The Alabama High School Athletic Association , based in Montgomery, is the agency which oversees interscholastic athletic programs for public schools in Alabama....
, which governs sports in all public schools in the state and approximately 50 private schools. In recent years, some of the AISA's larger schools have transferred to the AHSAA for various reasons.
The Alabama Sports Writers Association votes on the AISA's top football and basketball teams in its weekly polls, as a class separate from the AHSAA's six classes.
Criticism
The AISA has been criticized over the years as comprising primarily so-called "segregation academies," private schools formed primarily for whiteWhite people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
students so that they would not have to attend schools with black
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
students, after public school segregation was finally eliminated by law after the height of the civil rights movement
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
. While the organization has never addressed the issue of schools which exist primarily to avoid desegregation, and the group has since admitted schools with multi-racial enrollment (including one school whose student body is almost entirely African-American), many schools originally formed as "seg academies" are still members of the AISA.