CAMP, CLINIC AND NONSCHOOL & PARTICIPATION REGULATIONS

It is strongly recommended athletic directors have a preseason meeting with all coaches to clarify the rules.  The coaches should then have a preseason meeting with players to explain the limitations they face under the rules. The following guidelines are taken from the 2006-07 By-laws:

36.15(6) Summer camps and clinics and coaching contacts out of season.

a. School personnel, whether employed or volunteers, of a member or associate member school shall not coach that school’s student athletes during the school year in a sport for which the school personnel are currently under contract or are volunteers, outside the period from the official first day of practice through the finals of tournament play.  Nor shall volunteer or compensated coaching personnel require students to participate in any activities outside the season of that coach’s sport as a condition of participation in the coach’s sport during its season.

b. A summer team or individual camp or clinic held at a member or associate member school facility shall not conflict with sports in season.  Summertime coaching activities shall not conflict with sports in season.

c. A member or associate member school may open its gym or athletic facilities for the purpose of making recreational activities available for all students or the community.  When students are participating in open gym in the hours immediately before or after school, school personnel shall be assigned to supervise.  Open gyms are subject to the following restrictions:

(1) The supervisor shall not engage in any type of coaching nor participate  during supervision.

(2)  Attendance by students is voluntary.

(3) Volunteer or paid coaches may not directly or indirectly require the attendance of students or require the performance of activities by students prior to the legal practice period for that coach’s sport.

(4) Open gym shall not be called or posted for specific sports.

(5) An open gym notice shall be posted on the general student information  bulletin board and shall be signed or initialed by a school administrator other than the coach supervising the open gym.

d. Penalty.  A school whose volunteer or compensated coaching personnel violate this rule is ineligible to participate in a governing organization-sponsored event in that sport for one year with the violator(s) coaching.

36.15(7) Nonschool team participation. The local school board shall by policy determine whether or not participation in non-school athletic events during the same season is permitted and provide penalties for students who may be in violation of the board’s policy.

This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code sections 256.46, 280.13 and 282.18.

DEFINITIONS

1. Who is a "volunteer" as used in 36.15(6)?

A volunteer is an unpaid person who holds a coaching authorization or a coaching endorsement and who is acting under the direction of an employed coach and with the knowledge and approval of the school administration.

2. Who is a "coach" as used in 36.15(6)?

“Coach” means an individual, with coaching endorsement or authorization as required by Iowa law, employed by a school district under the provisions of an extracurricular athletic contract or employed by a nonpublic school in a position responsible for an extracurricular athletic activity. “Coach” also includes an individual who instructs, diagnoses, prescribes, evaluates, assists, or directs student learning of an interscholastic athletic endeavor on a voluntary basis on behalf of a school or school district.

3. What is covered by the term "coaching"? Can a coach's spouse or friend serve as the "declared coach" of a non-school team when the real coach is actively in the background?

A coach diagnoses, prescribes, evaluates and directs the athlete and supervises assistant coaches and volunteers in the performance of coaching objectives. If a coach is "directing" the team or play through another person, "prescribing" who should play, at what position, or who needs to work on certain skills, then the coach is coaching.

4. What is "contact"?

The presence of a coach, as defined above, in a supervisory, instructional, or coaching capacity at a 9th-12th grade camp or clinic, summer or recreation league, or open gym constitutes "contact." Mere presence as a spectator, where the coach is neither supervising nor directing student activities, is not "contact." There is an exception for immediate family members.

5. What does "conflict with sports in season" mean?

If a student athlete has to make a choice between going to a practice or game for a sport in season or contact with a member of the coaching staff, a conflict exists; therefore, the sport in season takes precedence. In cases of emergency or rescheduling, the priority is with the sport in season.

6. What is "summertime" as defined in 36.15(6)?

The beginning of summertime coincides with the end of classes and ends with the first day of school in the fall. The school year begins with the first day of classes, ends after the final day of classes in the spring and includes all days in between.

7. What is "participating" as defined in 36.15(7)?

If a student is a member of the school team, she is "participating" in that sport. A student is "participating" on a nonschool team when the team is involved in a competition. Practice with a nonschool team does not constitute participation.

8. What does the term "school personnel" mean regarding who must supervise open gym before and after school?

"School personnel" means any school employee or volunteer who is there in the role of supervisor at the request of a school administrator.

GENERAL INTERPRETATIONS

9. Can a school impose stricter guidelines on its coaches and/or students than those imposed by these rules?

Yes. Stricter policies than outlined by these rules are the prerogative of the local district.

10. Who is covered by these rules?

Students in grades 9-12 and personnel under contract to coach or who serve as volunteer coaches of a school team involving students in grades 9-12. Students and coaches in seventh and eighth grade are NOT covered by the provisions of these rules. However, local school districts may choose to extend nonschool participation rules to middle school students.

CONTACT INTERPRETATIONS

11. Is a team meeting outside the season legal?

Each coaching staff is allowed one preseason team meeting. Meetings in excess of one are illegal during the school year.

12. If a player works as an instructor at a grade school camp run by the coach, does it count as contact?

During the school year, outside the sport season, students may work at a one-time, one-day clinic for elementary/secondary students run by the coach with contact.

13. If a coach runs for exercise and health reasons and occasionally runs with some of his/her cross country runners during the off-season (winter or summer), does this constitute contact?

During the school year, outside the sport season, a coach may not participate with or against his students in the sport the coach coaches. During the summer, such would constitute contact.

14. Can coaches officiate their athletes outside the sport season?

Officiating does not constitute contact.

15. If a parent or non-coach is taking a team to a summer basketball tournament, can they go on any day, regardless of the summer sport?

Yes. However, restrictions prohibit camps or clinics held at school facilities from conflicting with sports in season.

16. A baseball/softball player has enrolled in a basketball camp in which his coach is a member of the staff. Can the baseball/softball player still attend the camp?

Yes. The student can participate in any camp, clinic, etc. s/he chooses. The coach must avoid having contact with a summer sport student if that contact prevents the student from participating or practicing with the in season school team.

17. Does transportation count as contact?

The act of transporting students to nonschool competitions, camps, etc. is not permitted during the school year, but is not in itself contact during the summertime.

18. Softball practice is scheduled from 1-3 p.m. A student is attending a camp in which contact with her school team coach is occurring and she misses softball practice. The coach says he did not have contact with the student in the specific hours the softball practice was held.

The coach has violated the rule because the contact s/he was having forced the student to miss the school team practice or competition, even though the contact did not occur during the 1-3 p.m. time frame.

19. During the school year, is there any time a coach can have contact with his/her athletes outside the sport season?

No. Contact outside the sport season is only permitted in the summertime, and then only when the contact does not keep a summer sport athlete from practicing or competing for the school team.

OPEN GYM INTERPRETATIONS

20. What facilities are covered by the term "open gym"?

The gymnasium or similar indoor facility excluding the weight room, the swimming pool, and the track.

21. What does "immediately after school" mean?

An open gym is held "immediately after school" if it occurs when the gym is first available after school. For example, if the school teams are practicing until 7:00 p.m. in the gym, an open gym scheduled for 7:00 p.m. would be immediately after school. But, if no activities were taking place in the gym after school, and the open gym began at 7:00 p.m., it is not immediately after school.

22. Who may participate in "open gym" as the term is used in these rules?

Under the provisions of the open gym rule, only elementary/secondary students are allowed to participate in before- and after-school open gym.

NON-SCHOOL PARTICIPATION INTERPRETATIONS

23. What procedure must be followed if a student wishes to participate in a non-school event in a sport during the school team season.?

The local board of education shall determine a policy to regulate any and all non-school participation

24. May a coach of a summer sport give a player permission to miss a practice or contest:

a) To attend an out-of-season camp on his/her own

b) To attend a camp in which the student's coach in that sport will have contact?

A - Yes. no violation occurs. B - Yes. A student can attend any camp or play any basketball s/he chooses. However, if a member of his/her school's coaching staff in that sport has contact with her while she is missing the school practice or competition (even though she has permission to do so), the coach having contact violates the provisions of 36.15(6).

25. When does the school team season begin?

The first legal date of practice defines the start of the school team season.

26. Do the non-school participation rules prohibit any participation in sports which are not currently in season?

No. The only non-school sports prohibited by this rule are those which are concurrent with the school team season.

FAMILY - COACH CONTACT

27. I'm a coach and my son or daughter plays basketball for me on the high school team. Is it permissible for me to have contact at any time of the school year or summertime?

Yes. At no time is contact with a son or daughter a violation of any rule.

28. A team's head coach and assistant coach each have a daughter playing for the school's volleyball team. May the head coach and the assistant coach be in the gym giving instruction to their respective daughters at the same time?

Yes. Coaches may work with their family members at any time without being assessed contact. If other members of the team are in the gym, contact occurs.