Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 1

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 2 Purpose Review important VHSL policies and information Explain this year’s rule changes Answer any questions you might have

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 3 Clinic Attendance Each school must be represented by one girls soccer coach & one boys soccer coach Officials must attend each year to be eligible for varsity and post-season consideration

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 4 Penalties for Non-Attendance Coach  Letter to principal  $50 fine  Head coach must take NFHS soccer rules exam Official  1 year – cannot work varsity soccer

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 5 Clinic Make-up Coaches or officials who are unable, due to extreme or unusual circumstances, to attend one of the VHSL Rules Clinics, MAY be given an opportunity to meet the clinic requirement by viewing the PowerPoint presentation online.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 6 Clinic Make-up Request Procedure  The request for an official must come from a VHSL Principal or his/her designee.  The request for a coach must come from his/her Principal/AD.  Requests must be in writing ( is OK).  Past clinic attendance and present circumstances along with any additional pertinent information will be considered in the decision to grant or deny the request.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 7 Rules Clinic Make-up Requirements If the request is granted  The coach/official must pay a $25 administrative fee to VHSL in order to receive credit for attendance.  The requesting school/association must verify that the official/coach did in fact view the presentation.  The coach must take the online exam.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 8 On the Web NFHS soccer rule changes & interpretations AR/CR signal charts Soccer rules comparison Soccer field diagram Soccer headgear and ASTM performance Rule change proposal form VHSL Rules Clinic PowerPoint

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 9 Important Dates First Practice Date First Contest Date District Deadline Regional Deadline State QF Feb. 21* Mar. 14* May 28 June 4 June 7 * Local restrictions may apply

VHSL Championships Groups A & AA June 10-11, 2011 – VHSL Spring Jubilee Hosted by Radford University

VHSL Championships Group AAA June 10-11, 2011 – VHSL Spring Jubilee Hosted by Westfield High School and the Northern Region

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 12 Contest Limitations Regular season contests *  No player may exceed 16  No team may exceed 16  *Local restrictions may apply

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 13 Pre-Season Conditioning Must be open to entire student body May include weight training and/or running Cannot be sport-specific – no soccer equip. Cannot be required There can be no instruction

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 14 EXAM REQUIREMENT All soccer officials must take and pass the exam to be eligible to work VHSL matches.  Minimum score of 70 for regular season eligibility  Minimum score of 80 for post season eligibility Soccer coaches who miss the rules clinic must take the exam

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 15 ONLINE EXAM Exam will be taken online -- exams.nfhs.org  VHSL will provide a link to the NFHS site from the Soccer landing page of the VHSL web site. NO PAPER COPIES OF THE EXAM WILL BE ISSUED.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 16 TESTING DATES Exam opens on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011  Exams completed by Mar. 6, 2011 – no fee  Officials have 4 weeks to complete the exam requirement  This provides our staff with time to process results from the NFHS and send information to commissioners in time to make any necessary adjustments to assignments

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 17 LATE FEES  March 7-13 … $50.00 fee will be applied to exams taken during this time period. $50.00 check must be received by VHSL before credit will be given.  March … $75.00 fee will be applied to exams taken during this time period. $75.00 check must be received by VHSL before credit will be given.  March 21-April 30 … $ – Must be received before credit will be given.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 18 EXAM CLOSES All exams will close on April 30, 2011 Officials may NOT be assigned to VHSL contests until they have completed the exam requirement.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 19 Testing Deadlines Do not mistake “Days remaining” on the NFHS testing website with VHSL deadlines. The number of “days remaining” refers only to how long the exam will remain available, and has NOTHING to do with VHSL testing deadlines.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 20 VHSL Testing Deadlines (Review) Feb. 7 – Mar. 6 … No fee Mar.7 – Mar. 13 … $50.00 Mar. 14 – Mar. 20 … $75.00 Mar. 21 – Apr. 30 … $ YOU MAY NOT OFFICIATE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE EXAM REQUIREMENT

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 21 ABOUT LATE FEES Prior to online testing, there was a SINGLE test date  ALL officials had to go to a testing location at a specified time on that date.  Officials had 90 minutes to complete a closed- book exam. With online testing, opportunities for completing the exam are significantly greater.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 22 ABOUT LATE FEES The exam is an annual requirement – officials know this. Officials have a responsibility to meet requirements within specified deadlines.  This is no different than paying your mortgage or any other bill on time – late payment results in penalties. Every official who fails to complete the exam within the first 4 weeks creates additional work for commissioners and VHSL staff.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 23 VHSL ID REQUIRED Officials must have a VHSL ID to take the exam  Officials should have only ONE VHSL ID, regardless of the number of sports you officiate.  If you do not have a VHSL ID, contact your association commissioner.  Registration fees must be paid prior to receiving a VHSL ID.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 24 EXAM WEBSITE If you took ANY NFHS/VHSL exam online last year, you already have an exam website username and password. Bring up exams.nfhs.org and sign in.  Soccer landing page on VHSL website will have a link to the exam site.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 25 NEW USERS If you have never taken an NFHS/VHSL exam online, you will need to create a username and password. There is an online PowerPoint presentation that describes how to do this.  PowerPoints and other similar information are listed as “Resources” in the lower right- hand part of each web page.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 26 EXAM INSTRUCTIONS If you need help with the mechanics of registration or taking the exam, view the power point presentation “Instructions for Taking Online Exams” in the resource section on the soccer landing page of the VHSL website.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 27 EXAM LAYOUT 100 True/False questions Order of the questions is random  NO TWO TESTS ARE ALIKE!!!  If you need to re-take the exam (because you failed on your first attempt), the questions will appear in a different order.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 28 RE-TESTING Officials who score less than 80 may take the exam a second time  No additional attempts will be permitted  Do NOT attempt the exam until you are prepared to take it. Officials who score 80 or higher on their first attempt are not permitted a second try.

VHSL PROGRAMS ARE EDUCATION-BASED

SPORTSMANSHIP IS THE #1 PRIORITY OF EDUCATION-BASED ATHLETICS

Sportsmanship The sole purpose of VHSL and other “education-based” athletics and activities programs is to provide students with opportunities to learn skills through sport that will make them better people.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 33 Sportsmanship More and more VHSL schools are realizing that sportsmanship is an issue that needs to be addressed VHSL has established sportsmanship guidelines for championship events, and has encouraged schools to adopt the same or similar guidelines for regular season play. VHSL Handbook thru We are about “Building better citizens!” Good sportsmanship is simply having RESPECT for oneself, for others, and for the sport.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 34 Player Ejections Total – 447 (363 last yr.) 185 Boys players (increase of 34) 26 girls players (decrease of 1)

Causes for Ejections Fighting Foul language directed at official 35

Causes for Ejections Intent to Injure Taunting 36

Causes for Ejections Penalties for fighting, foul/abusive language directed toward officials, intent to injure and taunting are cause for ejections in ALL sports. These are not unique to soccer. 140 of the 211 ejections in soccer (66%) were for one of those reasons.

Causes for Ejections Those 140 ejections represent 31% of all players ejected across sports. PLAYER BEHAVIOR MUST CHANGE! Assistance from coaches is needed.

Kids want to play. If coaches were to bench a player who exhibited inappropriate behavior, most inappropriate behavior would end. 39 Soccer Player Ejections

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 40 Coach Ejections Total # of coaches ejected = 61 (38 last yr) 10 Boys Coaches ejected (increase of 5) 5 girls coaches ejected (increase of 4)

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 41 Our Goal Our goal is ZERO We MUST do better There is NEVER a good reason for a player or coach to be ejected Excessive celebration is not “enthusiasm” Coaches who “support their athletes” by being unsportsmanlike and/or ejected have done just the opposite

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 42 Coaches are Teachers Coaches, if you are more concerned with wins and losses than with teaching your athlete skills that will make him/her a better person – GET OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL COACHING! NOW!

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 43 Behavior of Officials Officials – you are the “protectors of the sport.”  NEVER engage a spectator – not before, not during, not after a meet  NEVER “bait” a coach or participant  ALWAYS behave in a professional manner  You are always an official, whether you are in the grocery store or a spectator at your child’s wrestling meet – behave like one.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 44 Behavior of Officials  ALWAYS show respect for players, coaches and administrators.  If you have “an attitude” about a coach or team, don’t do their matches.  If a question is asked in a respectful manner, it deserves an answer.  What you permit, you promote.  The match is about the student athletes, not you.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 45 Questions about Sportsmanship All questions regarding VHSL regulations should be directed to VHSL office – not to contest officials Soccer officials do not determine the number of matches a player or coach will miss if he/she is ejected.

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 46 Reporting Sportsmanship Problems ALL ejections must be reported to VHSL office Sportsmanship “incidents” (things that happen external to the game itself) must be reported to the VHSL office

Virginia High School League Building Better Citizens 47 It’s All About RESPECT Good sportsmanship is nothing more than having and showing respect for competitors, coaches, officials, each other, and the sport itself! Play with honor! Player behavior mirrors that of his/her coach.