Central Coast Section

1
Central Coast Section
April 20, 2009

• Seminar on
• 2009-10
• Start Dates
• Maximum Number of Contests
• Other Pertinent Subjects

2
OVERVIEW

• Start Dates Maximum Number of Contests were
  designed to help create a level of consistency
  across the entire section
• Some leagues have had start dates and some have
  not
• Now the CCS will have the task to enforce and
  interpret both Start Dates Maximum Number of
  Contests for all leagues

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START DATES

• Review the specific dates on the chart Page 1
• Fall Practice No earlier than the 6th Friday
  in the NFHS Calendar
• Scrimmages No earlier than 1 week before 1st
  allowable game
• Games No earlier than the Thursday in the 9th
  week in the NFHS Calendar
• Winter Practice No earlier than the 1st Monday
  in November
• Scrimmages No earlier than 1 week before 1st
  allowable game
• Games No earlier than the Monday after
  Thanksgiving
• Spring Practice No earlier than the 1st Monday
  in February
• Scrimmages No earlier than 1 week before 1st
  allowable game
• Games No earlier than the 4th Monday in
  February

4
Concerns Raised

• Why are the seasons different lengths? Why does
  the fall Season have 2 weeks of practice prior to
  the first game and the winter season has 3 weeks?
• Fall season is only 13 weeks long
• Winter season is 16 weeks long.
• Spring Season is 15 weeks long
• Rationale The winter and spring seasons have
  holiday breaks. Several sports are locked in by
  state/regional championships.
• Note Soccer season was extended to match the
  basketball season-beginning in the 2009-10 school
  year.

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LAST REGULAR SEASON EVENT

• -See chart on page 2-
• This sets the last date a team or individual may
  have a regular season contest.
• League commissioners may grant permission for
  non-varsity teams to do make up games after the
  CCS last regularly scheduled date.
• Teams in CCS Playoff competition may scrimmage
  other CCS Playoffs teams in preparation for their
  playoff contest.
• A team can have a non-league contest after their
  last league contest as long as it is before the
  last season date.

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PRACTICE

• - Review Page 2 3 -
• What is a practice / What isnt a practice
• Interscholastic practice during the school year
  is defined as
• any school team or individual activity organized
  by the coach that is intended to maintain or
  improve a student-athletes skill proficiency in
  a sport AND/OR
• any school team or individual activity that
  includes skill drills, game situation drills,
  inter-squad scrimmages or games, chalk talks,
  film review, meetings outside of school time
  (excluding parent meetings). AND/OR
• any other coach-directed or supervised school
  team or individual activity or instruction for a
  specific sport AND/OR
• any other team or individual instruction for a
  specific sport organized or supervised by any
  team member, or anyone else associated with the
  team or the school AND/OR tryouts.

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PRACTICE (continued)

• Practice cannot be longer than 3 hours in length.
• There shall be a minimum of 2 hrs. between any
  two practice session in a single day.
• No sport shall have more than 54 hrs. of practice
  between the start date for practice and first
  contest.

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FOOTBALL

• Spring Football
• allowed for no more than 10 days and no more than
  20 hours-total, no earlier than May 1st.
• spring football cannot be used for tryouts and
  cannot be implicitly or explicitly mandated by
  coach or anyone associated in the program.
• CIF 1203 B. During the Summer (existing rule)
• During the summer period, CIF rules and
  regulations do not apply to any activities except
  as follows
• (1) No physical conditioning or practice sessions
  for football prior to the opening of authorized
  practice may be conducted by a high school,
  unless specifically authorized by the appropriate
  Section
• The CCS has implicitly given permission for
  football to conduct physical conditioning or
  practice sessions.

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OPEN GYMS etc.

• What is the intent?
• Open to publicthis means your entire school or
  district community (public) if your school or
  district restricts general public participation
  and only allows students enrolled in your school
  or district to participate in any activity on
  your site.
• Supervised by school personnel for safety reasons
• Cannot be mandatory
• No written or unwritten instructions or
  instruction

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SUNDAY PRACTICES

• 310. SUNDAY RESTRICTIONS
• A. In order to provide at least one day of
  respite from involvement in interscholastic
  athletics each week, no interscholastic games or
  practices of any kind are to be held on Sunday.
• (Approved May 2000 Federated Council)
• Exception Those schools founded upon religious
  tenets that observe the Sabbath from Friday
  sundown until Saturday sundown may practice or
  play on Sundays. Said schools must register each
  year by August 1 for the following year with
  their Section office and indicate either Friday
  or Saturday as their alternate day of respite.
• NOTE Declaration of Alternate Day of Respite
  form is available through your local CIF Section
  Office. (Approved May 2003 Federated Council)
• B. Violation of Bylaw 310 will result in the
  following sanctions
• (1) Practice for every practice conducted on a
  declared day of respite the violating school
  will be prohibited from conducting twice as many
  regularly scheduled practices (2 for 1)
• (2) Game a game played on a declared day of
  respite will result in forfeiture of the game.
• C. In addition to the above sanctions, the
  section depending on the violation may impose
  the following additional sanctions
• (1) The final season record will be reduced by
  at least one win at the conclusion of the
  season
• (2) The school will be placed on probation
• (3) The team/individual will be ineligible to
  advance to or in section, regional or state
  championships
• (4) Reduction of maximum number of contests
  allowed for the following year in that sport
• (5) Repeated violation may result in suspension
  of membership in the CIF.
• (Approved May 2004 Federated Council)

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SUNDAY PRACTICES

• It is clear from the letter and spirit of this
  rule, that it is meant to provide a safeguard
  against coaches scheduling, requiring,
  organizing, coordinating encouraging or having
  anything at all to do with activities involving
  their high school players on Sunday.
• Everyone deserves one day a week off.

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SUNDAY PRACTICES

• Any High School Coach should not be at any
  activity involved in the sport in which they are
  coaching with any of their high school player(s)
  on Sunday during the season of sport.
• A High School Coach should not even be involved
  in any activity involved in the sport in which
  they are coaching for other high school players
  who are in season.

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SUNDAY PRACTICES

• A coach and a player or players together anywhere
  on a Sunday during the season that remotely has
  ANYTHING whatsoever to do with the sport in which
  you they are involved is a violation.
• Leave the kids alone on Sunday!

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Outside Organizations

• INTENT (Spirit of the Rule)
• CIF By Law 514.
• ONE SEASON OF SPORT
• Each student shall be limited to one season of a
  particular sport for each school year.

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Outside Organizations

• What does that Mean?
• A school/coach/ assistant coach cannot
  implicitly or explicitly mandate students to
  participate and/or have a school program under
  the guise of another organization to have another
  season of sport.
• Explicitly Clearly plainly without disguise
  or reservation of meaning. Not by reference or
  implication.
• Implicitly Capable of being understood from
  something else, though unexpressed.

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Outside Organizations

• This is NOT intended to
• Prevent private lessons or club sports activity
• nor
• Designed to isolate the coach from the athletes
  in the off-season.
• However
• High School Coaches involved in such outside
  programs shall not implicitly or explicitly
  require any student-athletes on their high school
  team to participate in such.

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Outside Organizations

• If teams or individuals competing or practicing
  with an outside organization using school names,
  uniforms, colors, insignias, mascots, school
  equipment, or anything that identifies them with
  a particular CCS high school, it shall be
  considered a school team.

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CIF/CCSSUMMER DARK Period

• CCS Bylaws, Article VSection 5. SUMMER ACTIVITY
  (CIF 1203)
• B. DURING THE SUMMER (defined for purposes of
  this bylaw by CCS as beginning the second
  Saturday in June each year)
• During the summer period California
  Interscholastic Federation rules and regulations
  do not apply to any activities except as
  follows 
• 1.No physical conditioning or practice sessions
  for football prior to the opening of authorized
  practice may be conducted by a high school,
  unless specifically authorized by the appropriate
  CIF Section. .(The CCS has allowed physical
  conditioning and/or practice sessions during the
  summer)
• 2. Participation in any other sports during the
  summer is governed by the nationally recognized
  authority for each sport, if such authority exists

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• Maximum Number of Contests

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Maximum Number of Contests- Review page 5 -

• In all sports every contest is counted contest
  for contest except where noted in tournament
  competition.
• Specific Sports that are impacted (tournaments)
  Basketball, Softball, Soccer,Tennis
• Tournament Directors should design their
  tournaments so that all teams will receive the
  same number of contests.
• Allows for the coach to count from the end of the
  season and not violate the maximum number of
  contests.

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Maximum Number of ContestsPenalties

• - Review Page 6 -
• Schools who find themselves in jeopardy of
  exceeding their maximum of contests may NOT
  cancel any league contests in order the be in
  compliance with this rule.
• See Section G Page 6 for penalties

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Scrimmages/Jamborees/Alumni/Faculty Games

• Scrimmages - Review Page 3
• Maximum of 2 scrimmages
• Do not count in teams maximum of contests
• Post season scrimmages only between CCS Playoff
  teams and before 1st round.
• Jamborees - Review Page 4
• Must be league sanctioned, must be played prior
  to first league contest.
• Do not count in teams maximum of contests
• Limited to 1 jamboree per year

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Scrimmages/Jamborees/Alumni/Faculty
Games(Continued)

• Alumni Faculty Games - Review page 4
• Do not count in teams maximum of contests
• Limited to 1 alumni and 1 faculty game per year
• Limited to Varsity Competition only
• Game must occur between 1st scrimmage date and
  CCS last regular season contest date
• Review other parameters - Section 7 page 7

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• Other Pertinent (but related) Subjects
• All Star games (CIF Article 900)
• Only seniors who have completed their season of
  sport
• Any practice/tryout/game cannot be conducted
  until the conclusion of the last section or state
  contest in that sport
• Undergraduates are prohibited from participating
  in any all-star event except during the summer
  black-out period.

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Other Pertinent (but related) Subjects

• Tournament Sanctioning
• Event involving four or more teams
• Applications for sanctioning due dates
• Fall sports Apr 10 (late date w/fee May 10)
• Winter sports Sept 10 (late date w/fee Oct 10)
• Spring sports Dec 1 (late date w/fee, Jan 1)
• Tournaments inviting non-CIF teams (out of state)
  may require NFHS sanctioning as well
• Minimum penalty for playing in a non-sanctioned
  event forfeit all contests played in the
  tournament

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Other Pertinent (but related) Subjects

• Games vs. non-CIF opponents
• Non-CIF opponents (out-of-state)
• Any competition with a non-CIF member team must
  be approved by the League Commissioner and the
  CCS Commissioner using CCS Form 502
• International opponents
• Any competition with an international team must
  be approved by the League Commissioner and the
  CCS Commissioner using CCS Form 502 and be
  sanctioned by the CIF state office (fee required)

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SOME QUESTIONS TO CONDSIDER
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Q As continued

• QUESTION 1 Can a coach open the batting cage
  and have instruction for a batter asking for help
  in the off season?
• Answer Private instruction and coaches
  volunteering their time to help kids is a very
  positive thing. An activity like this should not
  be used to get around the practice rule or be
  used to augment practice for an individual player
  before or after practice starting and ending
  dates. However, in the off season should a
  player ask for some assistance from their high
  school coach and either with payment for services
  or not to the coach, we want our high school
  coaches helping kids. High School coaches have
  a great heart for helping kids with academics,
  sports, life in general. It is not the intention
  of practice starting dates to prohibit our
  coaches from continuing to help kids when they
  need it.

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Q As continued

• QUESTION 2 A varsity softball coach, who also
  makes a living giving pitching and hitting
  lessons offers her varsity softball team the
  opportunity to come and work out in her indoor
  facility for free. During these workouts the
  varsity coaching staff is there-evaluating talent
  and offering constructive criticism.
• ANSWER Private enterprises involving high
  school coaches away from school time and with no
  affiliation with the school is a rather common
  phenomenon (i.e. tennis pros, golf pros, club
  swimming coaches etc). The CCS is not authorized
  nor does it intend to restrict such private
  enterprises because that individual also coaches
  a high school team at some point during the
  school year. However, using your private
  enterprise to benefit your school team off-season
  is a violation of the spirit, if not the letter
  of this rule. Offering this special opportunity
  to the softball team players only from the
  coachs school off season would surely be
  considered a violation of this rule. If this
  occurred during the season (NOT on Sunday) it
  would be considered a practice and would be
  considered the same during the off season and
  would, therefore, be a violation of this rule.

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Q AND AS continued

• QUESTION 3 A varsity baseball coach holds a
  team player meeting and tells the perspective
  players that starting after Thanksgiving he will
  be holding voluntary conditioning three days a
  week. His conditioning workout consists of
  stretching, wt. training, running, throwing and
  the use of an agility ladder.
• ANSWER Conditioning to stay in shape for your
  sport off season is a goal of every coach. The
  challenge is convincing and motivating athletes
  to have the discipline and drive to undertake the
  program. Off-season conditioning is not
  prohibited by these rules. Having the coach
  involved in voluntary conditioning in order to
  encourage, support and motivate athletes off
  season is not a problem. However, THROWING is a
  sport specific skill and is not part of the
  non-sport specific conditioning that is allowed
  within this rule. If throwing was involved or
  any other sport-specific skill program, this
  would be a violation of practice start and ending
  dates. In addition, VOLUNTARY, is the key word.
  NO implicit or explicit requirement of such
  activity is allowed. Coaches cannot wink and say
  its voluntary. Coaches should follow the spirit
  of the practice rule and making sure that kids
  participation in such an off-season activity is
  purely voluntary and participation in this
  conditioning may not benefit or hurt (beyond the
  natural advantage of being in better shape) the
  tryout consideration, playing time or any other
  aspect of the students role or participation in
  the high school season of that sport.

31
Q As continued
QUESTION 4 In the spring I coach an AAU team
that is made up of only my girls basketball
players from my high school team. I am signed up
with the AAU and everything. Is this legal?
ANSWER Maybe, maybe not. There are several
factors to consider.-What is the purpose of this
team? To practice and play as a school team off
season? -How are signups managed? Are girls
required explicitly or implicitly to participate?
-Will their participation/performance on this
AAU team impact whether or not they make the high
school team or what role they will play on the
high school team (not considering the natural
benefit of becoming a more skilled basketball
player from participating in some off-season
program) or not make the high school team. If
so , it would be a violation. -Did the coach
restrict the team membership to only members of
the high school team or was it open to other
players from other areas other schools? If so,
this would be a violation. -Does the name of
the team, the mascot of the team, the equipment
of the team, even the colors of the jerseys of
the team relate in any way shape or form to the
high school? If so, this would be a violation.
If the high school coach is coaching an AAU
team for the benefit of the girls or boys in the
community who want to get better at basketball,
there would be no reason, other than trying to
have practice for your high school team off
season, not to invite other students in the
community to participate, to require your own
school team athletes to participate, to use
school equipment, school name, school mascots.
After all it would not be a school team and would
serve a totally different purpose. What is the
purpose of this activity is a key question that
must be asked. Remember the rule says that the
use of an outside organization cannot be used
to get around the rules. Do we want to
restrict our high school coaches to using their
coaching skills to benefit kids in their
community solely during the high school season?
Of course not, but we do want to restrict a high
school coach from coaching their high school team
to ONLY during the approved CCS practice start
dates. The purpose is to protect families, kids
and coaches from unreasonable demands that take
away from family time, academic pursuits and
other activities in order to participate in
sports at their local high school.
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Q As continued

• QUESTION 5 In the spring I coach an AAU team
  that is made up of girls from our league. I am
  signed up with the AAU and have a mixture of
  players from the league, my school and other
  schools. Is this legal?
• ANSWER Maybe, maybe not. Simply having other
  girls signed up from other schools in and of
  itself does not make something that is otherwise
  a violation to be ok. For example I have a team
  that is really only my high school girls but I
  invite one or two other girls to play so it is
  legal. Remember outside teams cannot be used
  to circumvent the practice start date rules.
• If the high school coach is coaching an AAU team
  for the benefit of the girls or boys in the
  community who want to get
• better at basketball, there would be no reason,
  other than trying to have practice for your high
  school team off
• season, not to invite other students in the
  community to participate, to require your own
  school team athletes to
• participate, to use school equipment, school
  name, school mascots. After all it would not be a
  school team and would
• serve a totally different purpose. What is the
  purpose of this activity is a key question that
  must be asked. Remember
• the rule says that the use of an outside
  organization cannot be used to get around the
  rules.
• Do we want to restrict our high school coaches to
  using their coaching skills to benefit kids in
  their community solely
• during the high school season? Of course not,
  but we do want to restrict a high school coach
  from coaching their high
• school team to ONLY during the approved CCS
  practice start dates. The purpose is to protect
  families, kids and
• coaches from unreasonable demands that take way
  from family time, academic pursuits and other
  activities in order to
• participate in sports at their local high school.
  
• See question and Answer 4 for more specific
  things to consider. The bottom line will be
  making a
• determination of the primary purpose of this
  activity will need to be made before a
  determination of

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Q As continued

• QUESTION 6 Could basketball players condition
  (running on the track, lifting weights etc.)
  prior to the Winter Start dates. Can this
  conditioning be supervised by the basketball
  coach?
• ANSWER YES AND YES, as long at it is VOLUNTARY!
  See question 3 for more details.
• QUESTION 7 A High School coach is hired by the
  local JC to have a night basketball classes at
  the local JC campus under the jurisdiction of the
  college. All of his players sign up for the
  class along with others. Is this legal?
• ANSWER Lots of questions must be asked in such
  a scenario. Does the high school coach
  normally teach JC classes? Are they an
  employee of the JC and only coach high school
  seasonally? Is there any implicit or explicit
  requirement for the high school players to sign
  up for this basketball class? What is the
  curriculum and description of the class? Who can
  sign up for the class? How are teams formed,
  activities organized within the curriculum? Are
  teams formed that match up players from the same
  high school to play against players from another
  high school? REMEMBER, outside organizations
  cannot be used to circumvent these rules.
• We must ALL evaluate activities and talk to our
  coahces about the spirit of these rules, not just
  the letter of the rules. Remember activities
  that look like, smell like, act like a high
  school practice or competition off season during
  the school year not only are a violation of this
  rule, but put the school ro school district in a
  situation to encumber liability for any outcome
  of any such activities.

34
Q As continued
QUESTION 8 Is the coach allowed to request the
gym usage and supervise off-season activities or
would that have to be a parent? ANSWER Any
concern would not revolve SOLELY on who requested
gym time for any off-season activity. Open gyms,
off-season activities cannot be practices.
Please review the definition of practice. Who
requests the gym is irrelevant if the activity
held in the gym is not a violation. If it is a
violation the gym request of the coach would
probably be a confirmation that the intent of the
activity was an attempt to conduct practice in
violation of the practice rules.
35
Q As continued

• QUESTION 9 What if school begins August 1st .
  Can we start fall practice although it is before
  the CCS Start date for practice?
• ANSWER The start dates for the fall of 2009 is
  August 14. Whether or not your school as begun
  is irrelevant. No one can start practicing before
  that date.

36
Q As continued

• QUESTION 10 There is a Baseball Homerun Derby
  scheduled to happen the first weekend in June-is
  this a violation?
• ANSWER It may be, again, it depends on the
  specifics of how it is set up, organized, etc.
  It would be much easier to host such an event
  after the second Saturday in June when summer
  starts and when CIF officially goes dark and
  does not control the sports activities of its
  member schools. One of the rules that does apply
  all year long is CIF 510 Undue Influence.
  Recruiting or trying to influence students to
  enroll in a particular high school is forbidden
  365 days a year.

37
Q As continued

• QUESTION 11 If a high school volleyball coach
  has his club volleyball program begin at his
  school at 330 pm and goes to 530 pm and only
  his players can get there to participate. Is this
  a violation?
• ANSWER This certainly has the potential of
  being a serious violation and a clear attempt to
  circumvent the practice start date rule by the
  use of an outside organization. However, it
  may also be just fine. If the club team was
  formed so that players from the area were invited
  to tryout, but it happened in this rural area
  that only the high school players were
  realistically available and able to participate
  and it truly was a matter of circumstances that
  kept others from being on this team just because
  all the players were from one high school by
  itself, everything else being rationally based
  and reasonably structured, that by itself might
  not make it a violation. Remember, the
  determination will be based on the intent and
  primary purpose of the activity with a discerning
  eye to be able to establish that an outside
  organization/activity has not been used to
  circumvent the rules

38
Q As continued

• QUESTION 12 If a coach has an open gym, can the
  coach play in any pickup games during that open
  gym without violating any open gym
  Interpretations?
• ANSWER Just by having the coach play would not
  necessarily make this any type of violation. In
  fact, some may argue that while the coach is
  playing, he can hardly be coachingIt may not be
  prudent however. Remember courts involved in
  injury lawsuits involving minors often consider
  whether the match up of those participating in
  an athletic contest resulting in injury, was
  reasonable and safe. A grown man playing
  against young high school students may be deemed
  a mis-match and may lead to a negative finding of
  a court. Of course some may say the mis-match is
  really that the varsity players are so good, the
  older coach may have more exposure for an injury
  to themself ?. Just be thoughtful about what
  you are doing with SAFTEY of the student-athletes
  involved ALWAYS being your primary concern. The
  title of Open Gym cannot disguise what is
  otherwise by its activity a practice. Its not
  the name you put on the activity, its the
  content of what goes on during that activity that
  will determine whether its a violation or not.

39
Q As continued

• QUESTION 13 If a team already has 2 scrimmages
  in pre-season and they make the CCS Playoffs and
  want to scrimmage another CCS playoff team after
  the CCS seeding meeting and before their first
  contest in the playoffs can they do this since
  they can only have 2 scrimmages in a year?
• ANSWER Yes, they can have an additional
  scrimmage with another team in the playoffs, as
  long as it is before either teams first CCS
  playoff contest and after the seeding meeting for
  that sport.

40
Q As continued

• QUESTION 14 If the track team sends 2
  individuals to one invitational track meet and
  the rest of the team goes to another invitational
  the same day how many contests does that count
  for the team and for the individuals?
• ANSWER This counts for 1 for the individuals.
  It also counts for 1 for the team since both
  invitational meets occurred on the same day. If
  one of the students ran in both meets on the same
  day, it would count for 2 for the individual, but
  still count as 1 for the team.

41
Q As continued

• QUESTION 15 A coach goes to a college
  workout/club practice on Sunday during the high
  school season and when he walks in he see two of
  his athletes in the room working out? What
  should he do?
• ANSWER While what students do in their own time
  during the season cannot be controlled by
  coaches, the CIF Sunday rule is designed to
  protect students from overuse injuries and
  provide for a respite from the physical demands
  of a high school season of practice and
  competition. Parents should be encouraged to
  discourage additional training sessions during
  the high school season on Sunday in the same
  sport in which they are participating at the high
  school level. Coaches generally should not be
  ANYWHERE their student athletes are on a Sunday
  during the season of sport.
• If a coach coincidentally stumbles unknowingly
  into this type of scenario, the coach should
  immediately excuse themselves and leave the
  premises. They should upon the first opportunity
  contact their school AD or Administration and
  notify them about what happened. This provides
  some protection for both the coach and the
  student from a possible determination that there
  has been a rule violation.

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WHAT ARE YOUR QUESTIONS??????