Failure to comply with any NCISAA rules or regulations may result in players, coaches, or schools

                a) forfeiting an event,

b) losing state tournament privilege, and

c) being placed on probation, suspended or expelled from the NCISAA.

d) being fined by the NCISAA Executive Director as defined by the NCISAA bylaws.

 

I.  MEMBERSHIP REQUIREMENTS

 

Schools desiring NCISAA membership after August of 2004 must satisfy the following membership standards.  All members are encouraged to comply with these standards.

 

Application Process.  In order to apply for NCISAA membership, please contact the Business Office at 828-628-9069 or email ncisaa@aol.com for additional information and the application packet.  While existing members are encouraged to comply with the following standards, schools desiring NCISAA membership after August of 2004 must meet these requirements.

 

 

A. Enrollment.  Have an enrollment of 50 students in grades 9 and above (25 for single gender schools) and/or 75 students in grades 7 and above (37 in single gender schools).  Once approved for NCISAA membership all members are required to maintain these enrollment standards.  Any school attaining membership after 2004-2005 who fails to meet at least one of the requirements when submitting annual enrollment numbers for the school year will be placed on probation for one year.  If the same school fails to meet at least one of the requirements the following year their NCISAA membership will be revoked.

 

B. Participation.  Schools desiring membership must field a varsity team for the entire season in at least one sport for each gender in each of the three sport seasons.  Schools accepted for single sport participation prior to August of 2004 , i.e., football, are exempt from this requirement.  Any school failing to meet this requirement will be placed on a one year probation.  If they are unable to meet the minimum requirement the following year, NCISAA membership will be revoked.

 

C. Conference Affiliation.  Obtain provisional membership in a recognized NCISAA conference.  On rare occasions a school without conference affiliation may be granted NCISAA membership.  Reasons for exceptions must be extremely compelling and must be approved by the Appeals Committee.

 

D. Continued Membership.  Schools approved by the Board of Managers are accepted initially for a one year provisional membership and will be reviewed for continued membership by the Board of Managers at the next summer meeting.

 

Membership packets are available from the NCISAA office.  Questions concerning membership should be directed to 828.628.9069 or ncisaa@aol.com.

 

III. ATHLETIC ELIGIBILITY POLICY

A. STUDENT ATHLETES.  To be eligible for any level of NCISAA competition, a student must be enrolled as a full-time student in a NCISAA member school.

D. JV/MIDDLE SCHOOLPLAYERS may be moved up for participation in NCISAA play-off competition provided they are listed on the school’s enrollment roster by the dates shown above for each sport season.  In team sports with individual qualifications, i.e., tennis, golf, cross country, track and swimming, athletes must have completed in the minimum four varsity contests in that sport to be eligible for participation in NCISAA state championships. All new enrollees must be reported to the NCISAA office regardless of their intent to participate in athletics.    Pease see the Form Appendix in the back of this Handbook for a sample form.

 

E. DATE OF BIRTH.  No player shall have reached his/her 19th birthday on or before August 1 of the current school year.  (For the 09-10 school year, this birth date would be 8-1-1990.)

F. FINANCIAL AID.  No player may receive any form of financial aid for athletic participation.

G. GRADE STATUS.  No student who has  received the appropriate number of credits to graduate or a high school diploma or the equivalent of a high school diploma  will be eligible to participate in NCISAA activities.
 

1) Eligible students must be successfully progressing toward graduation with the expectation of meeting all graduation requirements.

2) Under special circumstances, a student may also take college courses while pursuing his/her high school diploma.

3) Home schooled students are not eligible for NCISAA competition.

H. SIX SEMESTER RULE.  Students may participate in athletics in no more than six consecutive semesters or nine trimesters after enrolling in the 10^th grade of any NCISAA member school, no more than four consecutive semesters after enrolling in the 11^th grade of any NCISAA member school, and no more than two consecutive semesters after enrolling in the 12th grade at any NCISAA member school, regardless of whether he/she remains continuously enrolled.  A student transferring from one NCISAA school to another at mid-year would be considered to have used up one semester of athletic eligibility for that school year.

 

V. NCISAA GENDER POLICY. 

Except as provided for in a particular sport under the Sports Specifics section of this Handbook, participation by boys in girls’ sports and girls in boys’ sports in any event hosted and/or sponsored by any NCISAA school is prohibited.

VI. FINANCIAL AID/SCHOLARSHIP POLICY. 

The NCISAA operates under the basic premise that student athletes do not receive preferential treatment in the awarding of financial aid from member schools.  The NCISAA understands that every school has individual criteria in the distribution of aid.  Most importantly, schools may not require participation in athletics as a condition for the allotment of financial aid.  Each member school will be required to:

A)  provide a written statement of its financial aid policy and any exception to that policy.  This statement must accompany the annual enrollment declaration and NCISAA dues payment and should be signed by the head of the school.

B)  offer financial aid to prospective student athletes based on needs consistent with the guidelines of the school's financial aid statement,

C) submit the roster and the foreign student declaration, and

D)  support the NCISAA's position concerning athletic recruitment.

 LATE PENALTIES.  A $25 per day late fee will be assessed after October 1 for failure to submit required information and/or annual fees.  Participation in state tournaments is prohibited until all required documents are on file in the NCISAA office and all late fees are paid.

VII. EJECTION POLICY.

An ejection is a judgment call; therefore, there are NO appeals.  If a wrong player is identified, a correction can be made.   Penalties are cumulative from sport to sport and from sport season to sport season, but not academic year to academic year.  Ejections in the last game of a given season carry over to the next sport in which the individual participates that year.  Conferences may choose to enforce a more stringent code of conduct regarding this rule. 

In an effort to reduce the number of missed reports, all ejections should be reported by the Director of Athletics of the offending school to the NCISAA Office within 24 HOURS OF THE VIOLATION.  Please mail to PO Box 1625, Fairview, NC 28730; FAX to 828-628-9439, or email to NCISAA@aol.com.  A copy of the ejection form may be found in the  APPENDIX in the back of this Handbook.  The NCISAA ejections consequences should be posted in boys’ and girls’ locker rooms of every member school.

ATHLETES:  If any NCISAA player is ejected from any contest, they may not participate in the next scheduled contest but may sit on the team bench.  If the same player is ejected a second time from any contest, they may not participate in the next two scheduled contests but may sit on the team bench.  If the same player is ejected from any contest a third time, they will not be able to participate in or attend any school sporting event until the beginning of the next school year.

COACHES:  If any NCISAA coach is ejected from any contest, they may not attend the next scheduled contest, and they will be fined $100. If the same coach receives a second ejection, they will not be allowed to attend the next two scheduled contests and they will be fined $250.  Any coach who is ineligible due to an ejection will be fined $500 if they attempt to coach or to attend a subsequent game.  If the same coach receives a third ejection, they will not be able to participate in or attend any school sporting event  until the beginning of the next school year

 

PENALTIES/FINES FOR EJECTION OF COACHES:  A $100 fine will be assessed should a coach be ejected from any game; ; if the same coach receives a second ejection, they will be fined $250.  Any coach who is ineligible due to an ejection will be fined $500 if he attempts to coach or to attend a subsequent game. Fines must be received by the NCISAA office within two weeks of the ejection.  Unpaid fines will render the coach ineligible to participate in athletic events until the fine is paid.

 VIII. ATHLETIC RECRUITMENT POLICY.

A member school shall not actively recruit athletes to play sports at their schools.  In order to enforce this rule, the following principles will be applied. Please note: When illegal recruitment allegations are made to the NCISAA office, the burden of proof will rest with the accusing school.

A. Coaches, teachers, administrators, other school employees or persons known to be associated with the school's athletic booster club, may not initiate contact with a student athlete to encourage him or her to attend the school.  Once a parent or student has made the initial contact with the school’s admission office, then coaches or other representatives of the school may approach the student about the school’s programs.  This rule should not be interpreted as a restriction of the school's usual student recruitment programs, i.e., the use of newspaper advertisements, direct mail campaigns, media presentations, and open houses.  The following are examples of inappropriate student contact.

1. Coaches, teachers, administrators, other school employees or persons known to be associated with the school’s athletic booster club approaching any student athlete before, during, or after any athletic contest for the purpose of interesting that student in their school.

2. Any contact by the said group - to a group of athletes.

3. Any target mailing to athletes ONLY.

B. NCISAA rules require a Transfer of Eligibility Form to be completed before a student may transfer from one NCISAA school to another NCISAA school during the school year.  A student MAY NOT participate in athletics if item #8 is checked on the Transfer of Eligibility Form indicating that additional investigation should be made by the NCISAA .  This prohibition of participation may be lifted following an NCISAA investigation. A copy of the completed form must be sent to the NCISAA office.

C. When a recruiting violation has been determined, the student athlete will be ineligible to participate in NCISAA games for one year.  Any member school found in violation will be placed on probation and will be ineligible to participate in NCISAA play-offs in any sport for one year.  The team involved will forfeit any previously played games.  A second incident resulting in probation of first incident demonstrating blatant disregard of this rule MAY result in a school’s expulsion from the NCISAA.

IX. CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA

B. Rapid Enrollment Changes.  Any school increasing enrollment to a level more than 8% over the minimum for a given classification (10 students over 125 for 1A, 18 students over 225 for 2A) will immediately be reclassified.  Any school exceeding the minimum for a given classification but falling below the above stated limits (135 and below for 1A, 243 and below for 2A) may continue to play at their previous classification.   

 

C. CLASSIFICATION APPEALS.  See procedure for APPEALS 

X.   SPORT PRACTICES

All students in grades 7-12 are considered potential varsity athletes and therefore are required to abide by the following.

A. IN SEASON or “OFFICIAL” PRACTICE 2009-2010

In season, or “Official” practice, with a school coach present -  in any sport - is prohibited outside these designated sport season (Summers are exempt.) 

 

NCISAA SPORT SEASONS

FALL SEASON	Begins August 1	Ends on the final Saturday in October except for football (October 31, 2009)
WINTER SEASON	November 1 is recommended.  Practice may begin no earlier than the Monday of the week containing November 1.	Ends on the Monday following the last Saturday in February (February 27, 2010)
SPRING SEASON	Begins on the third Monday in February. (Feb. 15 in 2010)	Ends on the third Saturday in May.  (May 15, 2010)

 B. OFF SEASON OR “UNOFFICIAL” PRACTICE

 The following are the designated numbers of athletes, per sport, allowed to practice with coaching instruction in the off-season or “unofficial” practice.

SPORT	# Athletes	SPORT	# Athletes
Baseball	no more than 8	Soccer	no more than 10
Basketball	no more than 4	Softball	no more than 8
Cross Country	no more than 6	Swimming	no more than 10
Field Hockey	no more than 10	Tennis	no more than 5
Football, 11 Man	no more than 10	Track	no more than 10
Football, 8 Man	no more than 7	Volleyball	no more than 5
Golf	no more than 5	Wrestling	no more than 10
Lacrosse(BOYS)	no more than 9	Lacrosse(GIRLS)	no more than 11

 C. RULES FOR OFF SEASON PRACTICE OR COMPETITION

Organizational meetings, for the purpose of discussing policies or academics, distributing equipment or paper work prior to the beginning date of practice is allowed, but no sports instruction is permitted on those days.

 Skill Development/Restricted Number (See grid above.) Practice Sessions with school caches are permissible AS LONG AS:

1. they are not a requirement for participation on that team,

2. attendance is voluntary and open,

3. they are not held during tryout periods for another sport,

4. no more than the allowable number (See grid above.) of athletes may participate in a skill development session no matter how many coaches are present,

5. multiple skill development sessions are allowed per day provided that no student participates in more than one session per day,

6. any NCISAA coach does not coach a practice or game for a non-school team (select/challenge, AAU, USVBA, fall baseball, etc.) that has more than the allotted number of athletes from his/her school,

7. any officially employed or volunteer coach at an NCISAA school abides by these rules.

D. OPEN GYM/OPEN FIELDS

During any season informal pick-up games with a school coach present - in any sport - are permitted.

During the off-season or “unofficial” practice, a coach may not play and may not give verbal or physical instruction of any kind in the open gym or open field arena.

E. SUMMER PRACTICE (May 18 - July 31)

Summer will be defined as the season beginning on the Monday after the last spring tournament (May 18, 2010) and end on August 1.

During the summer coaches are permitted to work with individuals or an entire team AS LONG AS

1. this is not a requirement of participation on the team,

2. attendance is voluntary and open.

 Ethical Statement: Any coach who promotes the idea that participating in summer practice is required is out of compliance with the intent, spirit, and purpose of these rules.

Heads of schools and directors of athletics are responsible for seeing that these rules and concepts are understood by their coaching staffs and that they are followed without exception.  Enforcement of all NCISAA rules is the responsibility of each school, each conference, the NCISAA Board of Managers and the NCISAA Board of Directors and the Executive Director.

XI. RULES INTERPRETATIONS, APPEALS, HARDSHIP REQUESTS AND OTHER VARIANCES. 

ENFORCEMENT of all NCISAA rules is the responsibility of each conference and each member school. Rules for each sport are found in the Sport Specific sections of this Handbook.  National High School Federation rules apply when NCISAA rules do not cover a particular application. 

 

All appeals, including hardship requests, classification changes, and variance to any rule as well as appeals to conference decisions may be made in writing by December 1 of the current school year to the Executive Director who may forward these request to the Appeals Committee.  The Appeals Committee will hear appeals following scheduled Board of Directors meetings.  An exception will be in effect for one year and may be renewed annually by repeating the process described above.

 

The fee for any appeal is $250 payable to the NCISAA Business Office at the time the appeal is filed.  If the appeal is approved, the $250 will be refunded.

 

 

XII. VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PRACTICE IN ATHLETICS

The NCISAA principles outlined in this document are for the purpose of guiding schools, conferences, and the NCISAA in conducting school athletic programs and the NCISAA post-season athletic competition in a manner that supports member schools’ academic programs, enhances the health and emotional well being of student athletes, respects the importance of family life, and recognizes the value of athletic participation and competition.

The principles are intended to create and maintain balance in each student athlete’s educational life.

All coaches and athletic administrators should have a strong collegial relationship with other educators and should contribute to the school’s understanding of the needs of the whole child in achieving balance in his or her life.

The principles are organized into four major areas: games, practices, seasons, and athletes/teams.

Games

            1. Maximum of two playing dates per week (Monday through Friday) with the option of a third playing date on Saturday in order to provide for rescheduled games or a third contest during the regular season.  Schools with football teams may designate one of those playing dates for football.

            2. Maximum of two preseason dates for scrimmages against other teams (with officials) or for endowment games.

            3. Reschedule a postponed contest according to guideline #1, i.e., no more than three playing dates per week.

            4. Maximum number of games per season (includes all tournaments) according to the following ranges.

·         Baseball          22-28

·         Basketball       27-33 (girls and boys)

·         Cross Country            13-15

·         Field Hockey   20-24

·         Football           10-11

·         Golf                  16-18 (nine holes)

·         Lacrosse         20-24 (girls and boys)

·         Soccer                        20-24 (girls and boys)

·         Softball                        22-28

·         Swimming       10-12 (girls and boys)

·         Track               13-15 (girls and boys)

·         Tennis             20-24 (girls and boys)

·         Volleyball         27-33

·         Wrestling         20-24

 

Practices

            1. One practice session per sport per day with a maximum of two hours of actual time on the court/field (does not include time spent conditioning or in film review).

            2. Teams or individual student athletes should not practice more than six days per week.

            3. Saturday practices are allowed when necessary, but Sunday practices are strongly discouraged.  (Exception:  Practice is allowed on Sundays for state golf tournaments provided the heads of the involved schools agree.)

Seasons

            1. Fall Season practice may not begin until August 1.

            2. Winter season practice may begin on the Monday of the week in which November 1^st falls.  It is strongly suggested that the fall season should not start before November 1.

            3. Spring season practice may begin on the third Monday of February.

Athletes/Teams

            1. Students in grades 7-12 are eligible for varsity competition, with the exception that only students in grades 9-12 may participate on a varsity football team.

            2. Double participation in a season is acceptable as long as students meet recommended guidelines for practices, i.e., one practice per day of no more than two hours in duration.

            3. In reference to possible conflicts between participation on school athletic teams and outside activities, student athletes should be strongly encouraged to participate in only one athletic event per day.  A student athlete should understand that participation on a school team should be his or her priority.