1. Playing and Practice Seasons
Division III Bylaw 17
Playing and Practice Seasons
Jeff Myers

2. Overview Declaration of Playing Season
Preseason activities and report date.
Contest exemptions.
Postseason activities.
Out of Season Activities
Captain’s practices.
General out of season activities
Primary focus is on out of season activities
Because it is an advanced session we will go into particular depth concerning Captain’s practices
First discuss and understand the current rule
Look to small group discussion to develop resource to help clarify current rule and provide feedback whether current rule is the best place for Division III
Will also address other out of season strength and conditioning issues
Will start with a review of a few playing season regulations that have come up over the past year

3. Preseason Activities
Expenses to student-athletes for preseason may begin with an evening meal and lodging on the evening prior to the equipment issue, and team pictures day.
If team's first day of practice is a Monday, then equipment issue, team pictures and administrative activities may occur on the preceding Saturday.
Bylaw (f)
Staff Interpretation 6/9/04
Educational Column 8/10/05
Situation with football the last two years including the waiver brought to light that there is some confusion over the Administrative days for Fall sports.
Administrative days apply to all fall sports and:
They are the days in which you can bring SA to campus before the first permissible practice date and pay expenses but can’t conduct practice
Rule: If you either (or both) hand out equipment or take team pictures the day before the first permissible practice date, then can start providing expenses (dinner and lodging) the evening before equipment issue/picture day
Example: 1st practice day is Thursday, then can hand out equipment on Wednesday, then can bring them in for dinner on Tuesday and lodge them that evening.

4. Preseason Activities (cont.)
Before the first day of fall preseason practice an institution may:
Issue equipment and/or take team picture. (Required if the institution brings the team to campus two days before first practice date.)
Conduct administrative and academic activities.
Conduct medical examinations.
Administer NCAA compliance forms.
Staff Interpretation 6/9/04
Educational Column 8/10/05
What can and can’t do on the administrative days
Can: Medical exams, compliance forms, academic meetings and other administrative meetings
Can’t: film review, weights, condition/testing, chalk talk

5. Standard Contest or Dates of Competition Exemptions
Conference championship.
Season-ending tournament.
Two exhibitions, scrimmages or joint practices.
Alumni contest.
Foreign tour – once in three years.
Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico – once in four years.
Bylaw
Contest exemptions subject of legislation the last two conventions
Exemptions are contests which don’t count towards the maximum contest limits
Recent legislation intended to standardize across sports- For example ice hockey would no longer have no exemptions while basketball had two. The legislation achieved this with one exception.
ON the slide the top four bullets represent the annual exemptions.
Focus on the annual exemptions because the other two have not changed.
Conference championship- all contest in a conference championship tournament are exempted from the max limits
End of season (NCAA, NAIA, ECAC, football conference challenge events) are exempted
Also get two discretionary exemptions that may be used at any time during the traditional segment (including before the 1st permissible contest date)
Alumni contest- can occur anytime during the traditional or nontraditional segment. Doesn’t apply to the sport of football (the one exception to standardized across sports)

6. Postseason Activities
Must be included within the institution’s playing season.
Conference championship.
Non-NCAA postseason championships and qualifying competition (except National Christian College Athletic Association or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics Championships). 
The previous slide we discussed exemptions. This slide we are discussing what must occur within the defined playing season.
Conference championship- even though exempted from contest limits it must occur within the 18 or 19 week playing season.
NCAA championship –both exempted from contest limits and does not have to occur within the 18 or 19 week playing season
If declare for NAIA or NCCAA championship then those don’t have to occur within the 18 or 19 week playing season.
Any other end of season tournament must occur within the defined playing season. For example, ECAC and football challenge events (where top two teams from nearby conferences that didn’t make the NCAA tournament play in what is effectively a bowl game) must occur within the defined playing season.

7. Out of Season Activities
Opportunity or Obligation
Captain’s practices.
General out-of-season activities.
Out of Season Activities consistently ranks high on volume of questions submitted through RSRO
Also an area that has seen significant legislative amendments over the past several years (e.g. Certified strength and conditioning coaches conducting workouts, using athletics ability to fundraise).
Seems to be an area where no one is happy
Difficult from an education and monitoring.
Some think the legislation should be more restrictive
Some think the legislation should be less restrictive
Many (Most?) believe others are abusing the situation- getting an unfair advantage.
Deeply rooted philosophical basis. - Well rounded student to which athletics is a significant part but not the only part.
“Opportunity vs. Obligation” one way of identifying this tension.
Questions come down to whether the institution is obligating the SA to engage in out of season activities or is it creating an opportunity for these SA to do more/better of what they want to do. This was the exact rationale behind legislation that allowed certified S and C coaches to conduct workouts. Many institutions have these resources, SA want to take advantage of those resources, so how to do it without creating an explicit or implicit obligation.
It is with that backdrop that we are going to look at three areas of the out of season legislation
Captain’s practices – governance structure as well as external membership groups have discussed this, the frustrations, - attempted to address some of the gray areas.
Strength and conditioning activities. - seeing some old issues resurface and want to talk about social media in conjunction with these activities.
Sport specific facilities. Recent legislation as well as an interpretation has raised some issues for discussion.
Finish this session by looking at a few RSRO examples

8. Captain’s Practices On-court or on-field activities.
Called by any member(s) of a team.
Confined primarily to members of that team.
Considered requisite for participation in that sport.
Bylaw (g)
Legislated definition for a captain’s practice.
Difficult to monitor; difficult to educate; difficult to address.
The DIII Interpretations and Legislation Committee and Advisory Group reviewed this definition.
Two areas that came to the forefront
Confined primarily to members of that team
Considered requisite for participation in that sport.
Practically speaking if the answer to either of these elements is “yes” then the activity must occur within the defined playing season and is not permissible outside the season.

9. Captain’s Practices (cont.)
An activity is not “confined primarily to members of that team” if:
The activity is open to members of the student body.
An activity is “confined primarily to members of that team” if:
The ability to participate is limited to members of the team; or
The team members control and limit who may participate.
*Actual participation isn’t determinative
Confined primarily to members of that team- what does it mean
Start with the asterisk- “actual participation isn’t determinative.” This means that just because only student-athletes are engaging in the activity doesn’t mean the activity is confined primarily to members of the team. The question we get is, “if it is only Student-athletes, do I have to break up the activity.” the answer is, “not necessarily.”
The operative question is, “is the activity limited to members of the team or do the team members control and limit participation?”
It is not the obligation of the student-athletes to ensure non-team members are in attendance but the activity however must be legitimately open to members of the student body.

10. Captain’s Practices (cont.)
Considered requisite for participation in that sport
Examples:
Coach organizes the activity.
Students precluded from trying out for the team because don’t attend the activity.
Students are rewarded or penalized based on participation in the activity.
Coach indicates the activity is mandatory.
Required is a difficult concept to evaluate. Consequently, on the slide are example of “required.”
Coach organizes the activity- Even if the coach does not intend for the activity to be required, the position of the coach and the influence of the coach whether intentional or otherwise raises the activity to being required. The SA may have a much different perception than the coach. Therefore, any activity the coach organizes would be considered required and could not occur outside the playing season (unless there is a specific legislative exception)
The next two bullets- effectively if there are any consequences tied to the activity (even if positive) then the activity is considered requisite.
Finally, if the coach indicates that the activity is mandatory then it is considered required.

11. Student-Athlete Only Facilities and Reservation of Facilities
Legislative exceptions
Student-athletes may use student-athlete only facilities for voluntary workouts at any time.
Certified strength and conditioning coach may conduct voluntary workouts in student-athlete only facilities.
Certified strength and conditioning coach may reserve institutional facilities for voluntary workouts.
Bylaw
On more thing before small group discussion.
Recent legislation allowed SA access to SA only strength and conditioning facilities outside the playing season.
Certified Strength and Conditioning coaches may conduct voluntary workouts in SA only facilities outside the season or reserve any facility for similar workouts
SA may use SA only strength and facilities outside the season.
But the legislation does not allow SA only sport specific facilities outside the season
For example if SA are playing pick up basketball on a SA only court then it will be difficult to show that the activity wasn’t confined primarily to members of the team (not absolute, but difficult)

12. Group Activity
In small groups will look at the five examples (example reviewed by the Interpretations Committee and Advisory Group_ on the document (5 examples are copied below) and determine the following:
Under the current rule is the activity permissible
Regardless of the rule, should it be permissible
Is this a good example to include on an educational column
Provide any other thoughts
Example 1: A junior on the basketball team wants to play a pick-up basketball game. The institution's facility schedule, which is used by all students, indicates that the court is open from noon to 1 p.m. The junior sends a message to his teammates about the opportunity to play and only his teammates attend the open gym.
Is it permissible? Yes No
Should it be permissible? Yes No
Should it be included as part of an Educational Column? Yes No
Example 2: The same junior on the basketball team wants to play a pick-up basketball game but instead of organizing it during open gym time he reserves the court and then sends a message to his teammates about the opportunity to play. Only his teammates attend.
Comments:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Example 3: Members of the baseball team would like to use the baseball field outside the playing season. The institution does not make the facility open to all students but allows the student-athletes to use the field.
Comments:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Example 4: A team member has scheduled the gym every Tuesday night from 8 to 10 p.m. for volleyball activities. While the court is reserved for these activities, it is open to all students. After several Tuesdays, the same volleyball student-athletes are the only ones attending.
Is it permissible? Yes (but need to monitor) No
Comments:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Example 5: The institution's volleyball courts that are used by all students, are open from noon to 1p.m. The volleyball coach instructs one of her junior student-athletes to send a message to the team about the opportunity to play. There is a mix of volleyball student-athletes and members of the student-body that attend the open gym.

13. General Out-of-Season Activities
Scope and type of strength and conditioning activities.
Non-institutional sport specific facilities (new official interpretation).
1. General overview slide

14. Scope and Type of Strength and Conditioning Activities
Conducting workouts.
Conducting fitness classes.
“Voluntary” and social media.
Bylaws (d);
; and
Certified S and C coach can:
Conduct voluntary workout
Can reserve facilities for voluntary workouts
Can set open times in the facilities for voluntary workouts
Can set times for voluntary workouts by teams.
Social media – posting results or pictures negates voluntary.
A key element of voluntary is that the activity can’t be reported back to the coach.
Posting pictures of voluntary workouts on team pages (even if run by students) is impermissible
Posting pictures by the strength and conditioning coach is impermissible.
New/old issues
Physical fitness class – to be permissible the class has to be open to all
If coaches involved in any way then it not only has to be open to all but it should be attended in a manor that confirms it is open to all and not a practice under the guise of a class.

15. RSRO Question 1
Case # cites a secondary violation for posting an athletically related activity outside of the playing season but I wondered if this same logic was applied to permissible activities that fall under the exceptions to the athletically related activities (i.e. strength and conditioning sessions led by a certified instructor)?
This is an actual question submitted by the membership
Secondary case that is cited here references a volleyball team that posted pictures of a pick-up volleyball game on the team page. The activity was permissible in that it was not mandatory and it was not confined to members of the team, but the posting on the team page was the issue.

16. RSRO Answer 1 Not permissible.
1. It is not permissible to post about exceptions (Bylaw ), such as voluntary strength and conditioning activities, outside the playing and practice season. To maintain the “voluntary” nature of these activities, they must satisfy Bylaw
2. The one caveat to this is when an institution engages in a fundraising activity outside the playing and practice season (Bylaw ), there is inherent promotion of the activity. Any promotion of these voluntary activities must satisfy Bylaw , and should not be done for the purpose of reporting back to the SA’s sport-specific coach, recording attendance, or punishing or awarding a SA for participation (Bylaw ).

17. Non-institutional Sport Specific Facilities
Access to non-institutional facilities:
During the academic year, a member institution may provide student-athletes access to sport specific non-institutional facilities outside of the declared playing and practice season as a benefit incidental to their participation in intercollegiate athletics.
Official Interpretation (2/23/18, Item Ref. 2-d)
This is an interpretation issued by ILC in February 2018 it deals with Bylaw 16 issues not bylaw 17 issues. However the majority of the questions are bylaw 17 issues.
Official Interpretation 2/23/18 allows the institution to provide access to non-institutional sport specific facilities.
Debate was is this an extra benefit or is this an expense incidental to participation.
Interpretatively stated an expense incidental to participation.
Focused on golf membership- This was to allow golf student athletes to continue to use the golf membership that they had during the season to access the golf course outside the season (during the academic year)
Allows for institution to purchase memberships to use pool, ice, golf.
Doesn’t allow the institution to reserve time outside the season. This isn’t a work around to the captains practice. It only allows the institution to pay for expenses associated with obtaining a membership so those SA can have access to facilities in their sport in a way other SA (e.g. basketball) have access to institutional sport specific facilities.

18. RSRO Question 2
Is it permissible for the institution to pay for the individual membership fees for student-athletes to use a facility outside of declared season?
Could the institution provide transportation to the off campus facility within 30 miles of campus outside of declared season?

19. RSRO Answer 2 1. Permissible. 2. Not permissible.
1. Is it permissible for the institution to pay for the individual membership fees for SAs to use a facility outside of declared season?
Yes, provided the institution does not have said facilities on their campus, it would be permissible for the institution to pay for a membership fee to allow a SA to access sport specific facilities outside of the playing season. Per the attached February 23, 2018 official interpretation, the Interpretations and Legislation Committee determined that during the academic year, a member institution may provide student-athletes access to sport specific noninstitutional facilities outside of the declared playing and practice season as a benefit incidental to their participation in intercollegiate athletics. Therefore, the legislation would not preclude the institution from paying the individual membership fees for SAs.
2. Could the institution provide transportation to the off-campus facility within 30 miles of campus outside of declared season?
No, the institution would not be permitted to provide transportation to an off-campus facility within 30 miles of campus outside of the playing season. While the official interpretation (February 23, 2018) does clarify that an institution may provide access (i.e. membership, court time, etc.) to noninstitutional facilities, the interpretation does not impact the transportation legislation outlined in Bylaw 16. Further, per the attached November 21, 1991 official interpretation, if an institution provides transportation to a home competition site to a student-athlete who wishes to engage in voluntary athletics activities, such activities are considered athletically related activities; therefore, such transportation is precluded outside of the institution's playing and practice season. As such, the institution would not be permitted to provide transportation outside of the playing season to noninstitutional facilities.

20. Other Topics?

21. Questions?

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