Membership in the TSSAA is open to any secondary school in Tennessee, both public and non-public, that meets the following criteria:

  1. Includes grade 9 and/or higher.
  2. Is approved by the State Department of Education, State Department of Education approved agencies (Schools must be in Category 1, 2, or 3), AdvanceEd, and/or Southern Association of Independent Schools.

Schools meeting the above criteria desiring membership in TSSAA must make application to the Board of Control. By completing the New Member Request Form, you are asking the TSSAA Board of Control to consider your application for membership at their next Board of Control Meeting. (This form must be completed at least one week prior to the next Board Meeting.) Schools wishing to join the Tennessee Middle School Athletic Association only should complete the form on the TMSAA Membership page.

Board of Control Meeting Schedule: August 16, 2021; November 11, 2021; January 13, 2022; March 15, 2022; June 7, 2022

TSSAA schools that contain grades 6, 7, or 8 on the same campus and under the same administration can join TMSAA at no additional cost, if desired. A school that participates in TSSAA and TMSAA is asked to fill out a membership invoice and contract for both levels of participation each year.

TSSAA and TMSAA member schools must join for all sports the school offers that are sanctioned by TSSAA/TMSAA. For example, a school may not join for basketball only if the school also offers a football program.

Member schools that withdraw their TSSAA membership must be an affiliate member for one year upon application to renew membership. Affiliate membership is defined as having all rights of other member schools but not being allowed to participate in the TSSAA tournament series.

Further information about membership, including a listing of minimum annual dues, can be found in Article I, Section 1 of the TSSAA Bylaws.

Annual Membership Dues

Membership dues must be paid annually by September 1 and are for the entire school year (July 1 - June 30). There will be a $5.00 per business day late fee for schools that fail to meet this deadline. Membership Statements are made available in July through the TSSAA Portal.

Submitting your Membership Statement:

  1. Sign-in to the TSSAA Portal using your school's master account (your log-in will be your school ID, not anyone's personal email address).
  2. From the left side menu, select "Forms" and then "New Form." Select the Membership Statement and follow the instructions to submit your Statement. After the Statement is submitted, links to both the contract and invoice will be shown.
  3. Send a check for payment of membership dues to the TSSAA office by September 1. A printable, itemized invoice showing the total amount due can be found in the Accounting area of the Portal.

Annual membership dues for TSSAA range from $250.00-$550.00, which includes catastrophic insurance coverage. The amount for each school depends on the school's enrollment and classification. Additional fees apply to football-playing schools, golf-playing schools, and schools using non-faculty coaches.

Annual Membership Contract

No longer will your school need to send the signed contract to the state office by mail. Instead, submit the signed membership contract (accessible after you submit your Membership Statement) via file upload to the Portal. This must be received with the signature of the head of school (principal) no later than August 1.

Divisions

For tournament competition, there are two categories. Division I shall consist of all member public schools. Division II shall consist of all member independent schools.