South Dakota HS athletics runs through SDHSAA with football tiered into 11-man and 9-man classes (with 8-man at the very smallest), basketball compressed into girls' AA and boys' A/B, and East River/West River geography driving travel logistics. Lightning for Schools is built for SDHSAA athletic directors: SDCL 13-3-51 + 13-10-57-compliant student-data handling and pricing with 10 included coach seats plus low-cost extras.

Built for SDHSAA

Governing Body

South Dakota High School Activities Association (SDHSAA)

Member-school eligibility rules, classification, and championship workflows shape what an athletic department needs from its software. Lightning for Schools is configured to support SDHSAA-aligned workflows out of the box — not generic NFHS templates that don't map to your state's specifics. Reference: sdhsaa.com.

Compliant with SDCL 13-3-51 + SDCL 13-3-51.1 (privacy of records) + SDCL 13-10-57 (penalties)

Student Data Privacy

SDCL 13-3-51 + SDCL 13-3-51.1 (privacy of records) + SDCL 13-10-57 (penalties)

South Dakota Codified Laws 13-3-51 require the Secretary of Education to maintain a uniform student-data reporting structure; SDCL 13-3-51.1 defines records-privacy terms; SDCL 13-10-57 imposes criminal penalties up to $10,000 in fines or up to two years imprisonment for willful violations of state student-data confidentiality requirements. Lightning's data-handling practices are built to meet these requirements; a vendor that can't speak to your state's privacy framework should not be on your shortlist.

What South Dakota athletic directors actually deal with

SDHSAA football is tiered into 11AAA, 11AA, 11A, 11B PLUS 9AA, 9A, 9B — the 11-man / 9-man split is decided by an ADM cap, with the rule that a school playing 50%+ of its regular-season games at 9-man (or even 8-man at the smallest schools) is classified as a 9-man school for playoffs. ADs at the boundary track schedule composition closely.
SDHSAA basketball uses just girls' Class AA and boys' Classes A and B — a relatively compressed classification structure compared to most states. State tournament travel logistics consolidate around the largest venues (Sioux Falls Premier Center, Rapid City Civic Center).
Sioux Falls metro and Rapid City form the two dominant recruiting clusters; small-school East River and West River programs operate at significant travel distances from each other and from D1 college recruiting visibility.
SDCL 13-10-57 carries criminal penalties up to $10K fines + up to two years imprisonment for willful student-data confidentiality violations — among the rarer state-level statutes that include criminal liability for non-compliance.

What Lightning for Schools includes

10 coach seats included

Flat $150/yr base includes 10 full coach seats. Need more for a big multi-sport department? Add extra seats anytime at 50% of the coach-tier price.

Roster + eligibility

Per-sport, per-season roster management with eligibility tracking, transfer documentation, and out-of-season practice limits.

Recruiting portal integration

Your student-athletes' Lightning profiles roll into a searchable college-coach portal — recruiting attention without leaving the AD platform.

DPA-compliant data handling

Aligned with SDCL 13-3-51 + SDCL 13-3-51.1 (privacy of records) + SDCL 13-10-57 (penalties) requirements. Documentation available for your district's procurement review.

Stat verification

Coach Verified and Tournament Verified stats flow into the recruiting layer automatically. Reduces manual roster-update workload for AD staff.

Multi-season scheduling

Fall / winter / spring sport scheduling in one tool — facility allocation, transportation requests, official assignments.

Built for athletic departments across South Dakota

We're looking for our first partner departments in the state. If you're an AD in one of these areas and want to talk through a pilot:

Sioux Falls metro Rapid City / Black Hills Aberdeen Brookings Watertown Mitchell / James River Valley

Lightning for Schools · SD

$150 / year

Base tier · 10 coach seats included · SDCL 13-3-51 + SDCL 13-3-51.1 (privacy of records) + SDCL 13-10-57 (penalties) compliant

See full Lightning for Schools details →

Talk to Christian directly

I'm the founder. South Dakota athletic directors who want to talk through a pilot or just get specific questions answered can reach me directly: [email protected] or (443) 996-6563.