CIF coaches contact rule changes - what impact?

BOF, what are the new rules?

Thanks!

The new rules allow coaches to be in contact with players, essentially year round. Previously there were periods of time during the year that coaches could not (legally) be in contact with athletes in their program.

There has been much debate about the rules as there was concern that overzealous coaches in a particular sport could dominate a players training time further exacerbating the trend towards single sport athletes.

BOF,
I didn't know that the rules regarding coaches contact with existing players have changed. Can you fill us in on when they changed? And which Bylaw number we're talking about?

Or is this a change in the rules of your section?

I am not sure if this is a southern section change only or not. The rule change happended some time last spring.

I do have a meeting tonight and our HS coach will be there so I will ask him about it and will try to get some more details and post it tomorrow.

BOF, we in the north seem to play by different rules than you in the south. It is a good question if it is section specific.

Thanks!

The rule that is being discussed is the Association rule. In Southern Section for 30 something years baseball coaches could coach regular season, summer ball, and then Sept. through Feb. in the context of 6th period only. Furthermore a coach "Technically" was not supposed to organize any types of games. That changed las year. Now we can be with our players with no restrictions year around.

My take is this. As a high school coach I am coaching players that are no older than 18 and they are not college players. I still run according to the old rules with the exception that now I can be on the field during fall and winter games. The only other thing I do is if a player wants to stay I will stay. The true benefit is being able to be on the field.

OK I found it - it is a Southern Section rule change and the vote was close. (see link)

It is early to tell but so far I have seen nothing but a postive impact - at least at our school. I was talking with one of the HS Basketball coaches last week-end and his concern is making sure they don't do too much too soon so the team peaks too early in the season.

Like I mentioned our baseball coach is planning on a couple of week-end tournaments in December but he was clear to me that he did not want to impact my son's basketball season. So far at least all of the coaches seem to be working together.


http://www.cifss.com/adm/news_detail.php?nid=0&id=81&from_page=index

BOF,
That change was for the Southern Section. To my knowledge, the Southern Section was the only section in CA that had the association rule so now the rule is universal throughout the state.

I have a similar question. If a kid is playing a winter sport, can he participate in a weekend baseball game (that doesn't conflict with the winter sport) with the high school baseball team in January and/or February. And does it matter if the winter sport is JV or Varsity?

This issue has come up at our school before this rule change. Last year my son was playing JV winter sports and played in a baseball game before the spring season (no high school caoches were present). He asked his winter JV coach and received his permission. This year, he will be on the varsity winter sport team, and it would benefit him to play some baseball in January and February, but I don't want him breaking any CIF rules.

Any knowledge of the rules on this out there?

Blprkfrnks,

It is OK for a high school student to participate in two CIF sponsored sport during the same season. For example, it is OK for a baseball player to also run track.

It is against Bylaw 600 for a high school player to play on an outside team in the same sport during the season.

But I think you are asking if it is OK for a participant in CIF sponsored high school sport, with a winter season, to also play baseball during the winter, with an outside team. That's OK and common.

However, the baseball season is determined by each Section, although it can't begin before February. Many sections will have a start date for baseball during February, so some February dates are likely not OK.

See Bylaws 511 and 600 at CIF Bylaws

Good Resource 3FG, thanks:

Blprkfrnks: Your son is OK participating in sport B while in season A.

From the section 60.

"A student on a high school team becomes ineligible if the student competes in a contest on an “outside” team, in the same sport, during the student’s high school season of sport (See Bylaw 511)."

My son plays basketball and baseball. (JV basketball, Varsity baseball) What we are seeing is both coaches are now training a little bit more and are getting kids into tournaments out of season. So far it has been fine with little conflicts. He will play in some baseball tournaments with the HS team in December and January, but will work around the basketball schedule. At least for us the new rules blur the season start a little, but so far so good. I can see that playing two Varsity sports back to back (particularly with basketball playoffs overlapping baseball season start) is going to be a challenge, particularly since our program has been a basketball powerhouse and generally goes deep in the playoffs.

Again, so far there are more positives than negatives.

All,

Thanks for the answers. I read the by-laws the same way, I thought it was okay. Some other parents were questioning whether the school was allowing rules to be broken, and I went with my interpretation. The overlap of winter/spring sports is the reason that I would like to have him getting into baseball shape in January.