1. ATHLETIC ELIGIBILITY POLICY

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

JV Players 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.  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.

 

C. No player shall have reached his/her 19th birthday on or before August 1 of the current school year.  (For the 07-08 school year, this birth date would be 8-1-88.)

D. No player may receive any form of financial aid for athletic participation.

E. 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.

F. 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.

2. PENALTIES/FINES FOR INELIGIBLE PLAYERS.  Schools allowing an ineligible player to participate in any event will be assessed a $500 fine for the first offense and a $750 fine for the second offense.

 

3. GENDER POLICY.  Participation by boys in girls' sports and girls in boys’ sports in any event hosted and/or sponsored by an NCISAA school is prohibited unless otherwise designated by sport in the NCISAA Handbook.

4. ROSTERS.  In order to be eligible to participate in state tournaments, each student athlete must be recorded in the NCISAA office on an OFFICIAL ENROLLMENT ROSTER.  This roster must include names and dates of birth for all students in grades 7-12 who are enrolled on September 1 and must be postmarked no later than September 15.  For 2007-2008, students who enroll after September 1 may be eligible for fall tournament play if the NCISAA office is notified in writing by September 25, for winter tournament play if the NCISAA office is notified in writing by January 19, and for spring tournament play if the NCISAA office is notified in writing by April 12.  Please see the Form Appendix in the back of this Handbook for a sample form.

5. 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.

6. EJECTION POLICY:  ATHLETES:  If any NCISAA player is ejected from any contest, he/she will not be allowed to 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, he/she will not be allowed to 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, he or she will not be able to participate in or attend any sport until the beginning of the next school year.  

COACHES:  If any NCISAA coach is ejected from any contest, he or she may not attend the next scheduled contest and will be fined according to the schedule below.  If the same coach is ejected a second time from any contest, he or she will not be allowed to attend the next two scheduled contests.  If the same coach is ejected from any contest a third time, he or she will not be able to participate in or attend any sport 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.

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.

7. 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 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.

8. CLASSIFICATION CRITERIA

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.   

 

B. CLASSIFICATION APPEALS.  Any school desiring to be in a classification other than the one determined by its enrollment must apply in writing to the Executive Director.  The Executive Director will forward the request to the Appeals Committee who will hear all appeals following scheduled Board of Directors meetings.  An exception shall be in effect for one year and may be renewed annually by repeating the process described above. 

9.   SPORT PRACTICE

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 2007-2008

In season, or “Official” practice, with a school coach present -  in any sport - is prohibited outside these designated sport seasons.

 NCISAA SPORT SEASONS

FALL SEASON	Begins on Monday of the week containing August 1 (July 30, 2007)	Ends on the final Saturday in October except for football (October 27, 2007)
WINTER SEASON	Begins on the Monday after the last Saturday of October (Oct. 29, 2007)	Ends on the Monday following the last Saturday in February (February 25, 2008)
SPRING SEASON	Begins one Monday prior to the final weekend of the state basketball tournaments.  (Feb. 18, 2008)	Ends May 19, 2008

 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	no more than 9

 GUIDELINES FOR OFF SEASON PRACTICE

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.

 C. SUMMER PRACTICE (May 21 - July 29)

Summer will be defined as the season beginning on the Monday after the last spring tournament (May 21, 2007) and ending on the Monday of the week containing August 1.

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

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.

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.

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.

10.  RULES INTERPRETATIONS, APPEALS, HARDSHIP REQUESTS AND VARIANCES

ENFORCEMENT of all NCISAA rules is the responsibility of each conference and each member school.  All appeals including hardship requests and variance to any rule as well as appeals to conference decisions may be made in writing to the Executive Director who may forward these requests to the Appeals Committee.  The Appeals Committee will hear appeals following scheduled Board of Directors meetings.

Failure to comply with any NCISAA rule or regulation may result in players, coaches, or schools forfeiting an event; loss of state tournament privilege, monetary fines levied by the Executive Director, and suspension or expulsion from the NCISAA.