Most students play a sport at least one season throughout their high school career. For each of these sports, there are playoffs at the end of the season where teams can be supported and rooted on towards victory.

        What many do not know about the playoffs is that there are variations between the different sports’ structure and how the playoff teams are chosen. 
        “Football and basketball have subdivisions and everyone else has state championships for AAA, AA, and A where they take the top third,” said athletic director Joe Fleming.

        For all sports, Dominion is in the AA group, and the basketball and football teams are in subdivision three within AA.

        In the football and basketball playoffs, the teams compete in their subdivisions, resulting in two winners for each subdivision. “It’s good and bad, for AA we’ll have two state champions which gives more opportunities,” said varsity girls’ basketball coach, Anne Gasser.

        Having those two state champions rather than the regular one does have both advantages and disadvantages. “Some old school coaches don’t like having two state champions in one division. I personally like it, it gives us more of a competition,” Gasser said.

        In addition to football and basketball, lacrosse has recently been attempting to be included in this subdivision format. “We’re fighting for it but they just don’t want it [the divisions], or at least the principals don’t want it,” said varsity boys' head coach Peter Lenotti.

        Besides just the differences in the structure of the playoffs, every sport is also different in the way that teams are chosen to participate. For example, in football, the six teams chosen to be in the playoffs are decided by the power points that are gained throughout the season.

        “Football use power points to get their top six and we go by district standings,” said Gasser.

        The volleyball competitors are chosen in a way different than other sports as well. “For volleyball the top two teams go,” Fleming said.

        Lacrosse is also one of the sports that differ in the way the teams are selected. “We are way different than any other sport I know of,” said Lenotti. In lacrosse, the teams advance “straight into the big leagues,” said Lenotti.

        For Districts and Regionals in lacrosse, the teams play in their district and group, as in Dulles District and AA. However, when the winner goes to the State level, they play against all regional winners, from A, AA, and AAA.

        In many sports, such as soccer and baseball, there is a state champion for A, AA, and AAA, but for lacrosse there is one winner for all three of the groups. “It makes it harder, some of the teams are three times the size,” said Lenotti.

        There are also many minor differences that make each playoff different.  “Depending on the sport there are some differences.  Field Hockey (combines with A), Swim and Dive (combines with A), Lacrosse (all classifications play for one championship) and Gymnastics (A and AA schools are allowed to send participants) have combined championships in which AA may be joined by A and or AAA schools in a state competition,” said assistant director in the Virginia High School League, Tom Dolan. 
        Although there are many differences between the playoffs and their structure, there is one similarity that is important. “At the core you still have to earn the right to get into the playoffs,” said Fleming.