FAQs
FAQ About Athletic Events
Below are some Frequently Asked Questions about FIYA Athletic Events. You can also download a copy of the FAQ SHEET with the button below. As a general rule of thumb, we encourage all incoming and returning FIYA participants to re-read this "FAQ About Athletic Events" document and our Regulations Manual EACH YEAR as we update both documents annually before the start of the school year.
FIYA (pronounced FEYE-Yuh) is the acronym for FOUNDATION FOR INTERSCHOLASTIC YOUTH ATHLETICS. Established in August 2011, FIYA is a nonprofit entity providing athletic events for middle and elementary schools in Los Angeles and the surrounding areas.
For more detailed information about FIYA’s rules and protocols, please review the FIYA Regulation Manual which can be found in the About Tab of this website.
FIYA offers three (3) divisions by grade level for competition:
- Division 1 is for students in grades 8 and below.
- Division 3 is for students in grades 4 and below.
- Division 2 is for students in grades 6 and below.
Typically, each division has a girl’s component and a boy’s component.
No high school student, regardless of his/her age, can play in a FIYA athletic event. Middle school and elementary school students must meet the age eligibility requirements as set forth in ARTICLE III, SECTION 2 of the FIYA Regulation Manual.
FIYA offers athletic events in two forms: (1) LEAGUE EVENTS and (2) TOURNAMENT EVENTS
- (1) LEAGUE EVENTS occur over an 8 to 10-week period involving a regular season league schedule and playoffs (for qualifying Division 1 teams only). See Question 4 for the listing of FIYA league events.
- (2) TOURNAMENT EVENTS can be designated as tournaments, meets or competitions and are generally one day or multiple day events that typically offer an individual competition as well as a team competition. See Question 4 for the listing of FIYA tournament events.
League Events by Season:
Early Fall
Girls Volleyball
Boys Flag Football (7 v 7)
Girls Flag Football (5 v 5)
Late Fall
Girls Floorball (5 v 5)
Boys Floorball (5 v 5)
Girls Futsal (5 v 5 Indoor; Division 1 only)
Boys Futsal (5 v 5 Indoor; Division 1 only)
Winter
Girls Basketball
Boys Basketball
eSports (Rocket League, Knockout and Fortnite)
Spring
Girls Soccer (11 v 11)
Boys Soccer (11 v 11)
Girls Futsal (5 v 5 Indoor; Divisions 2 and 3 only)
Boys Futsal (5 v 5 Indoor; Divisions 2 and 3 only)
Boys Volleyball
Summer
Girls Basketball
Boys Basketball
Tournament Events by Season:
Fall
5-7 Cross Country Meets
Virtual Cross Country
Winter
3-4 Dance Competitions
eSports (Chess, Madden, NBA2K, FIFA)
Spring
4-6 Track & Field Meets
First contact FIYA at INFO@ONFIYA.ORG to ensure that someone from your school is on the FIYA email distribution list. If your school does not already have an athletic director, we recommend that you appoint a school employee as the school’s athletic director or coordinator and this individual is the main contact for FIYA. FIYA sends periodic emails to our active email distribution list about upcoming events and important dates.
Second go the REGISTRATION tab of our website and view the information for the league and/or tournament event for which your school is interested in participating. Complete the online registration as it pertains to that sport. Please note for some sports - - cross country and track & field - - the registration is done via a separate platform as described in the information section of such sports.
First FIYA organizes its league events geographically. That is, we group school teams together based on their physical location in order to minimize travel. Second, based on the number of schools in a geographic area, we attempt to organize the school teams into leagues of similar quality based on our historical knowledge of the teams and any input we receive.
FIYA league events are centralized which means our games occur at a location in the region which hosts multiple games per day. The majority of our league events and tournament events occur on weekdays between the hours of 4 pm and 7 pm start times.
There are two general fees: the first is a Membership Fee and the second is the Registration Fee for the League Event and/or Tournament Event. When a school registers for a league event or a tournament event for the first time in a particular school year, the school will be charged the one-time Membership Fee at that time.
A. Membership Fee – All participating schools will be charged a one-time membership fee of $125. The membership fee covers the entire school year. This fee is intended to cover some of the incidental expenses involved when a school team participates in FIYA including, without limitation, coaching, marketing, signage, & banking fees.
B. Registration Fee – This fee depends on whether the sport is a League Event or a Tournament Event.
i. League Event – the cost is $550 per team with the exception of eSports (which ranges from $75 to $150 per eSports team). This covers the entire expense for referees, game operators, facility and administrative fees for a 7 to 9 game regular season plus playoffs for Division 1 qualifiers.
ii. Tournament Event – unless otherwise stated in a sport’s registration information, the cost is based per individual and is $15 per athlete.
Payment for Membership Fee, League Events or Tournament Events can be by credit card and check. Unless a school is notified otherwise, payment is not needed prior to the start of the event; we typically invoice a school for league events during the league event season and for tournament events after the completion of the entire tournament events.
There is no refund for the annual membership fee, which must be renewed each school year so long as a school continues to participate in our athletic events.
With respect to the registration fee for a league event, if a school team drops from a league event on or before the mandatory coaches meeting for that league, the school will not owe a registration fee. However, after the mandatory coaches meeting, a school dropping from the finalized league schedule still owes the registration fee.
With respect to the registration fee for a tournament event, the school is charged for the number of athletes that it registers for the event regardless of the athlete’s participation on the day of the event.
FIYA strives to keep its costs as low as possible. FIYA works with schools to ensure that finances do not prevent their students from participating. In addition, schools that provide gyms and/or fields to host league games are given substantial discounts on the registration fee.
Yes, we can schedule games so that your school team has home games as long as the centralized model is adopted. That is, we need to schedule at least two games (back to back) at your school’s gym/field. Each FIYA game is no more than 1 hour in length. FIYA substantially discounts a hosting school’s registration fee based on the number of hours the school hosts FIYA games.
FIYA offers city wide playoffs for all qualifying teams from Division 1 leagues. There are NO playoffs for Division 2 and Division 3 leagues. For Division 1 playoff teams, we typically create two playoffs brackets: Division 1 (usually first place teams and higher skilled teams) and Division 1A (quality teams but slightly lesser skilled).
FIYA awards league championship plaques to all first place teams in all divisions. We also award sportsmanship awards based on league voting. For playoff teams, we award a championship and runner up trophy along with individual medals for the final 2 teams in the playoff brackets. Awards are also given for various tournament event winners.
With a few exceptions, FIYA generally does NOT supply any of these items. However, FIYA can and has provided referrals to obtain practice equipment and uniforms at a discounted rate as well as aid with schools looking for individuals to coach their teams.