The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle's sports editor recently complained about North Augusta High School's boys basketball team being banned from the 2009 postseason when some of its players, under the authority of an assistant coach, engaged in an ILLEGAL pickup game just a couple of weeks after the High School basketball season ended.
Here is the offseason section of the rule book, on pages b-5 and b-6:
OUT-OF-SEASON
Strength and conditioning programs will not be affected by the limitation on practice seasons.
Conditioning programs are not to include agility drills that enhance specific skills for a given sport, nor may equipment for any sport be used. Agility drills appropriate for all sports will be acceptable.
Practice and weight training must be open to all students. These sessions cannot be mandatory for any student.
Any student participating in an illegal practice will be declared ineligible for that sport season. Any school allowing an illegal practice will be subject to League discipline to include the placing of the sport on probation.
1. Open-Season/Open Facility
a. June 1 - July 26, 2008 for Fall sports. (July 27-31, 2008 is Closed Season)
b. June 1 - July 31, 2008 for Winter and Spring sports.
c. Ten days for Fall sports to be conducted between the last 30 days of school and the first 10 days after the closing of school.
NOTE: Ten days of school against school competition are permitted June 1 - July 26, 2008. Participation at team camps and other outside organizations is included in these 10 days. No school will be permitted to attend or participate in team camps between July 27, 2008 and In-Season.
School facilities will be open to all students and coaches who may be involved with the planning and monitoring of activities, including organized practice, during these time periods.
Participation cannot be mandatory for any student.
2. Closed Season
Any time except In-Season and the Open Season/Open Facility dates listed above. During closed seasons, school facilities cannot be used for anything except conditioning and weight training.
3. Other Regulations
a. Organized practice is defined as the gathering of a coach (es) and more than three athletes in a given day for the purpose of teaching skills. It also includes the use of school facilities by more than three students.
b. Activities that take place during the school day are local matters and are not affected by these regulations. However, any activity involving prospective athletes during the school day must be open to all students.
c. School facilities may not be used after school hours during closed season by students of a school except if they are members of an outside team clearly sponsored by an outside agency. If an outside team uses school facilities during a closed season, no coach (including volunteer coaches) from that school or its feeder school may be associated with that outside team. Coaching outside teams during a closed season is permissible provided school facilities, including those of feeder schools, are not used and the 75% rule is not violated. (Refer to A-26 for details on the 75% rule.) Beginning March 25, a coach may coach an outside team and use school facilities.
d. Outdoor facilities normally available to the public will not be restricted by these regulations on non school days. In other words, if it is the normal practice of the school to allow the general public to use these facilities on the weekends, there will be no violation if more than three students are present, provided there is no coach present, and there is no attempt to facilitate practice.
e. A coach may accompany prospective team members to a camp or clinic during a closed
season, but may not be involved with teaching skills to his or her own players.
Here is the section that is referred to in 2c:
Out of Season
1. If a coach from a school (including volunteer coaches) is associated with an outside team, no more than 75% of the allowable starters for that sport may be on the roster of the outside team. Examples of squad limits are: Basketball (3), Soccer (8), Volleyball (4), Baseball (7), Softball (7), Swimming (3), Golf (3), Competitive Cheer (15), Tennis (2), Wrestling (11) and Track (3). This restriction applies to all students who were included on the school's certificate of eligibility and dressed for a varsity game during the previous season. Students with no remaining eligibility will not count. There is no limit on the number of students from
the same school if there is no coach involved from that school. Also, there is no restriction on baseball or softball during the months of May, June, and July as it pertains to the 75% rule.
2. Member schools will be permitted 10 days of competition in summer leagues, team camps, or other outside organizations during the time period of June 1 through July 22, 2007. They may use school facilities and equipment for these 10 days. The exact 10 days must be documented by date and records of these days supplied to the League Office if requested.
NOTE: Any school violating either of the above may be fined up to $500.00 and placed on probation in the sport involved.
So, there are the rules. And clearly in this case, they were broken. The Yellow Jacket players playing the pickup game were rising seniors, meaning that they still have eligibility for one more year. Now, if those 11 players in the pickup game were graduating in June, this would be ok, since their eligibility would have ended in March. But they're not. They are projected to graduate from NAHS in June 2009. A similar thing happened to the yet-to-be-opened Cave Bay High School in Charleston County. Its football team won't get a chance to make a good first impression, since it engaged in illegal workouts similar to the North Augusta boys' basketball team.
It is easy to cry foul, like many Blythewood Bengal fans did last year after its football team was unable to defend the 2006 Class AAA title due to being banned from postseason play for an illegal workout, but you have to look at the rules (and I'm sure that every one of the state's high schools have a handbook) in order to understand what to do and what not to do in order to protect the integrity of those who play within the rules.
Or look at the angry protests that erupted in October 2002 when the football squads of Northwestern High in Rock Hill and Marlboro County High in Bennettsville attempted to get back into the postseason after a postgame fight. Thankfully, in that case, a state judge averted boycotts by South Aiken High School and others by overturning a lower court decision that had allowed both schools in the postseason.
If we believe in integrity in sports, then the courts must uphold the SCHSL's decision banning the Yellow Jacket boys' basketball team from participating in the 2009 Class AAAA playoffs. Failure to uphold this reasonable decision by the High School League will severely compromise the integrity of all sports.
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