[Stardust]

Hot off the Press, I have yet to read it in it's entirety but looking for others feedback:




This is being sent to all Superintendents, Principals and Athletic Directors at KHSAA member schools. We are also attempting to send this to the coaches in our database, but realize that during the transitional time of the summer, many of the coach addresses may not be correct. Administrators, we would ask that you forward this to each of your coaches as many of the email addresses we have on file are obsolete due to retirements, transfers and other personnel related decisions.


Over the last year, the Board of Control along with the Executive Staff of the Association have been in review of the Association's rules and rule interpretations. One of the key elements of discussion has been concerns over what our high school coaches and team members are allowed to do (or restricted from doing) during the school year, outside of the limitation of seasons period as defined for each sport.


Since its original passage in the late 1970s, Bylaw 25 has defined a limitation of seasons for each sport. These dates define the start and end date for practice and competition, the number of allowable contests and other sports specific limitations. This also provides for a window of time that the KHSAA Catastrophic Insurance is in place. Through the years, various interpretations have been added to the rule to try and detail what was allowed, and what was not. In reality, these interpretations actually created additional rules about what was legal and illegal during the off-season. The evolution of these interpretations over the years has led to more and more restrictions on the high school coach and the high school facilities and resources.


At the same time, outside groups (clubs, local gyms, AAU-type agencies, etc.) have increased in both availability, prominence and influence. That change has led to many student-athletes and their families being left with difficult choices and in many cases, they are choosing this outside competition over the high school based opportunities. This undermines the very purpose and value of school based competition, and could lead us down the road of the devaluation, and perhaps elimination, of high school sports.


Primarily for that reason, the Board of Control endorsed my proposed re-interpretation of Bylaw 25, specifically, eliminating Case Situations BL-25-18, BL-25-19 and BL-25-20, and replacing them with a consolidated revision. The revised interpretation is at the end of this email. Such a revision was made three years ago in the individual sports, but would now apply to the team sports. I am sure that this change will not be unanimously accepted. And I am certain that if this creates subsequent issues in future years, our membership will come together with a proposal to re-define restrictions in these areas. There are also those who worry, as do I, about the situations where the dominant coach in a school somehow influences students to play in a particular sport year round and not compete in other sports. In reality, that (specialization) is a nationwide trend that all high school associations are attempting to fight. However it has come to the point that this office does not have the resources and personnel to monitor all potential illegal activity by its nearly 15,000 coaches and their involvement in out of season play. It is also apparent that a wide portion of the membership is unwilling or unable to provide the impetus and resources to enforce these restrictions at the local level, and that is certainly an understandable prioritization of resources and personnel.


Perhaps the bottom line was the realization that the rules we had were broken and hard to enforce, even becoming a bit antiquated compared with the needs of students and the desire of students and parents. Kids wanting to get extra help and individualized attention, instead of having to pay to go to a clinic or camp or outside group, can actually have the opportunity (provided its approved by the Principal) to get that help from their own high school coach. Instead of curtailing the high school coach and teacher and subsequently forcing kids to look to people that perhaps don't have the best interest of the individual student at heart, we should allow some opportunity for our coaches, the high school coaches, to have more time with the students who are looking to expand their skills. This was the primary topic of the discussion and the genesis of my desires for a revised interpretation.


This change puts the decision making for this important facet of the school athletic program, the high school coach's involvement with the students during the school year but outside the season, where it likely always belonged, at the local school, and in accordance with Bylaw 1, in the hands of the Principal. The interpretation is fairly self-explanatory, and will be printed in the 2011-2012 KHSAA Handbook. Coaches, please address specific questions to the sport contact in the KHSAA office: :


REVISED INTERPRETATIONS
Deleted CS BL-25-18, CS BL25-19, CS BL-25-20 from 2010-2011 Handbook
Replace with -
Case BL-25-xx- Are there restrictions during the school year outside of the defined Limitation of Seasons (off-season) when the school’s team members are participants or school coaches are involved?

Yes, there are restrictions during the school year outside of the defined limitation of seasons. The “off-season” is the period for each sport or sport/activity that is outside the defined start and end dates for the sport or sport/activity as detailed in Bylaw 25. The restrictions begin on the first day of school and end on the earlier of the day following the last day of school or May 31;

The following general provisions apply to the off-season in all KHSAA sports and sport/activities:


There is no insurance coverage (catastrophic medical or other) expressed or implied by the KHSAA;
Any restriction includes all members of the athletic coaching staff, paid or unpaid, head or assistant, and at all levels;
No activity may be required for the student-athlete in that particular sport and there may be no penalties assessed, expressed or implied for non-participation;
There may be no organized activity (where sports specific skills are being taught, refined, developed or evaluated) that is restricted solely to the members or prospective members of any sports team; and
Nothing about these interpretations allow the use of any specific football gear during this period except during the allowable spring practice window and the use of a football helmet during any supervised activity.

A member of the coaching staff, member school, group of school representatives, or school or team-related booster group may not:


Pay the entry fee for a team or individuals into a practice, league, camp or tournament;
Pay other necessary fees for competition including umpire payment and game or facility management;
Provide or fund transportation for team members to go to games, or tournaments;
Allow school transportation to be used for team members to go to games, or tournaments;
Allow the use of the school name, nickname or other accepted likeness on school issued or non-school issued apparel;
Allow the use of school issued or school identifying apparel, including uniforms, hats, sleeves, jerseys, pants or school owned protective gear to be worn by team members, with the exception of football equipment during the allowable spring practice window, the use of a football helmet during any supervised activity and the use of appropriate and legal equipment during the April Cheer tryout period; or
Allow the use of the school facility for organized competition for which no rental/lease arrangement exists using comparable regional fair market values.

All other restrictions related to the scheduling, composition, pool and use of available personnel including coaches, and other logistical arrangements are the jurisdiction of the building Principal for any activity held within that local school facility or off-site activities where the coach and team members are simultaneously present, in compliance with Bylaw 1 of the Association.