The majority of Iowa high schools begin classes this week

A Message From the Executive Director …

The majority of Iowa high schools begin classes this week. Although fall sport practices have begun, the first playing dates are one week away. Whether it is the start of the academic year, or the start of a sport season, all students require some time to get re-acquainted with their new daily routine. For many of us who have been around athletics and education for several years, it is easy to think that “everyone has heard this before” when it comes to providing students all of the information they need to participate successfully in our programs. We forget that nearly 30 percent of the participants this year are freshmen who have never been around our programs at the high school level. Another 20 percent are sophomores or juniors who are making their way to the varsity level for the first time. Easily a full 50 percent of our 70,000 participants are experiencing something very foreign to them.

Rules allow all coaches a pre-season team meeting. The agenda of discussion items in these meetings is essentially endless. Each coach has their own program in place which requires specific discussion. But, some things are critical for students to know to ensure they do not violate rules or regulations of the Iowa Department of Education or the Iowa Girls’ High School Athletic Union. The purpose of this memo is to address two very critical things which can cost students eligibility if they are not careful; award rules and non-school competition rules. While we publish these rules on our web site, it is the school coach who is most critical in passing this information on to their students.

AWARD RULES:

The Iowa Administrative Code dictates the value of awards a student can receive for participation. They are broken down into three categories:

1) Awards from the student’s school. A school can give ONLY a ribbon or medal for participation in an interscholastic contest. As a reward for participating in the school program, a school can present an award to a student as long as the value of that award does not exceed $25. A school can present an unframed certificate to a student for participation in the school program, or for their participation in a contest.

2) Awards from someone other than the school for participation in the school program. The ONLY thing a student can receive from a source outside the school for their participation in a school program is an unframed certificate. We often see local radio stations, etc. award a “player of the week” or some other recognition to students for their performance on a school team. That is fine as long as the student receives nothing more than a certificate. Plaques, trophies, t-shirts, etc. can not be presented to students.

3) Awards for participation in non-school programs. During the school year, the value of an award a student can receive for playing in a non-school competition is $25. During the summer, the value of that award may not violate the award rule of the amateur sanctioning body for that sport.

NEVER, EVER, can a student accept cash or cash equivalents. A cash equivalent is a gift certificate that spends like cash. For example, a student wins a golf tournament this fall, and the prize is a $25 gift certificate in the pro shop. The student may not accept the award because the gift certificate is a cash equivalent. However, if the student wins a shirt, or golf balls, etc. in the pro shop valued at $25 or less, she may accept the award.

The penalty for accepting awards in excess of those allowed by Iowa Administrative Code spelled out above is ineligibility for high school athletics in the sport in which the violation occurs. Make sure your students check closely before they accept any award. This is easy to regulate in the school program, but not so easy to keep an eye on in the non-school programs. A good rule of thumb is to make sure a student on your team knows to ask before she accepts any award she earns while competing outside the school team.

Of note – this rule does not apply to a student who competes outside the school in sports not sanctioned by the state. For example, a student may receive a $500 cash prize for winning a rodeo event which would make them ineligible for high school rodeo only. Since we don’t have high school rodeo, the penalty is moot.

NON-SCHOOL COMPETITION:

Rules regulating non-school competition have changed a few times over the years. There are four scenarios to address:

1) Playing on a non-school team during the same school sport season. For example, playing on a non-school volleyball team during the volleyball season. The Iowa Administrative Code requires each IGHSAU member school to have a policy in place which addresses when (if) such concurrent non-school participation is legal. Any penalties are locally imposed as well. This means, if a volleyball player wants to play club volleyball during the school season, she has to comply with the local school policy. Most schools allow concurrent participation as long as the school team is chosen when a conflict between the two exists – but check locally.

2) Playing on a non-school team during a different sport season. For example, playing non-school volleyball during the basketball season. This is not regulated by the DOE or the IGHSAU. In other words, there are no state restrictions which prohibit or regulate a student’s ability to play on a non-school team in a sport which is not currently in season. Some schools do regulate this locally, which is where the only authority in this scenario lies.

3) When a student is playing on a non-school team, she is not permitted to train with a college squad or to participate in a college contest. This is particularly relevant to soccer, but can apply to any sport. Many elite-level club soccer teams play college teams. It is illegal to play in a match against a college team. HOWEVER, it is never illegal to play against older students who may be college athletes (i.e. going to the soccer field to play a game against players from the University of Northern Iowa is not illegal, unless those players are representing the University of Northern Iowa and the workout is a part of the Northern Iowa practice or competition schedule.)

4) NCAA Division II allows high school students to “try-out” with/against their college team. However, a student compromises her high school eligibility by doing so.

Keep in mind in #3 and #4 above, the penalty for violating these rules is a loss of eligibility for the school program IN THAT SPORT. In other words, a senior who has completed her high school season but tries-out with or trains with a college team would become ineligible only in that sport. Since a volleyball player would be done with her high school volleyball eligibility in December, the penalty is moot, and the try-out wouldn’t impact her in basketball or other sports which lie ahead in her senior year.

There are so many different scenarios which come up every day with both awards and, increasingly, with non-school participation opportunities that I can’t begin to do a thorough question and answer in this column. Rather, my purpose today is to bring these areas to everyone’s attention, hoping that school administrators ensure coaches know these rules, and that coaches do a great job in passing these regulations on to their students. The bottom line is we hope students, parents, coaches and administrators are comfortable in asking the question before a violation of a rule occurs.

The rules aren’t in place to penalize anyone, they are in place to keep the playing field level for all students. Why can’t I train with collegians? Because in a college community, the geographic opportunity to train with collegians would create competitive advantages for students vs. students in non-college communities.

The best anyone can do is present level playing fields for all 70,000 students who participate in our events. Season limitations and starting dates for practice, and even out-of-season contact rules are in place for two reasons: to ensure a level playing field for all students, and to ensure that interscholastic sports remain a part of the educational program, and not an end upon themselves.