Athletic directors and administrators from across the state gathered for the first of three days at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Kalani Takase | SL

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Athletic directors and administrators from across the state gathered for the first of three days at the Hilton Waikoloa Village. Kalani Takase | SL

View image 1 of 1

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WAIKOLOA, Hawaii — The 54th Annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association Conference got underway Friday on the West side of the Big Island.

Athletic directors and administrators from across the state gathered for the first of three days at the Hilton Waikoloa Village to discuss concerns and and possible rule changes for the 2014-15 school year.

The hot-button issue at this weekend's conference centers around the regional format that was implemented on a one-year, trial basis for the Division I girls basketball and boys volleyball state tournaments last year.

Under a proposal submitted by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association, a double-regional format would be used with two, six-team regionals on two separate islands. The tournament would still be played over two weekends, however, HHSAA executive director Chris Chun said he is opting to exclude girls basketball and instead include both boys and girls soccer and boys and girls volleyball.

"We wanted to address some of the travel concerns, missed school time, that kind of thing," Chun said. "This way the travel would be easier for teams and parents, alike. The tournament, the pairings, everything is still the same, we'd just be moving half the tournament to the Big Island or Maui for the first weekend."

The proposal would place the Oahu Interscholastic Association and Interscholastic League of Honolulu champions in the Oahu regional and the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and Maui Interscholastic League champions in the Neighbor Island regional.

"It won't matter what the seedings are, because the seeded teams wouldn't potentially play each other under the semifinals the following weekend," Chun said.

That would mean two first-round games on Friday and three more games (two quarterfinals and one consolation game) Saturday at each regional site. The remaining teams would then meet on Oahu the following weekend for the semifinal and championship games.

That would mean the elimination of teams playing on one island one night and traveling to another island for a quarterfinal the following day.

"Right now, the way the tournament is, we can block air seats for the teams, but it can be hard for the parents who want to travel and watch their kids play, so this way they know where they're going to be," Waiakea athletic director Tommy Correa said. "The downside is you have two Oahu teams having to travel to Maui or to the Big Island on the first night, but you're playing in more of a state-tournament atmosphere."

Correa said attendance figures should increase as a result.

"The HHSAA should make more money on the gate and the host school will probably make more on the concession, too," Correa said. "The impetus came from the committee, because we kind of looked around at how do we answer the concerns that came up to begin with and felt that this was the best answer."

In a straw poll vote in committee Friday, the proposal received 24 votes in favor to none against. However, 22 athletic directors abstained from voting just yet.

"You can't really put too much into what happened in the straw poll, because the leagues can always change their minds after their caucuses, so I think that's why most people abstained, because their league isn't sure where the proposal stands," Correa said.

Chun's proposal must pass a committee vote Saturday to reach the floor of Sunday's final general assembly. If it passes both votes, the proposal must then get a final stamp of approval from the HHSAA Executive Board, which will meet Monday on Oahu.

Among the other opening-day events were a character education workshop by former Miss America Angela Perez Baraquio-Grey and an awards dinner that featured former National Federation of High Schools executive director, Robert Kanaby, as a guest speaker.

The conference resumes Saturday at 8:30 a.m.