MSHSAA and off-season coaching

[Scarf]

Just received an email from MSHSAA about offseason conditioning.

Athletic Directors and Football Coaches;

As the school year wraps up, we are receiving more and more phone calls about football teams having open facilities where coaches are directing play and coaching their students in spring football drills.

There are references to kids being brought in before or after school and doing football drills or 7-on-7 type drills with athletes led by a coach or coaches. This is against MSHSAA By-Laws put in place by member schools. The only thing football coaches can do prior to the summer is weight lifting and conditioning with their players and no instruction or no organization of play. Kids can do football drills on their own or go throw the ball around but those activities cannot be facilitated by a coach.

AD’s please be proactive in make sure your football coaches know this, and football coaches please do not jeopardize your student’s eligibility. Thank you for following the rules the member schools have put in place.

Respectfully,
Kerwin

Here is the rule from MSHSAA:

3.14.7 Out-of-Season Sports Conditioning: During a period the student is not a member of a school sport team, he/she may participate in an out-of-season sports conditioning program administered by the school in which he/she is enrolled, under the following conditions:
a. Participation in the program must be open to all students enrolled in the school.
b. Participation is voluntary and is not required directly or indirectly for membership on a high school team.
c. Participants will furnish their own clothing (sweat suits, shorts, shoes, etc.).
d. Activities shall be limited to running, weight training, and calisthenics. Agility drills that do not involve specific skills of a given sport are also permitted.
e. Specific equipment pertaining to a given sport may not be used. This includes, but is not limited to, such items as footballs, basketballs, volleyballs, wrestling mats, hurdles, shot put, discus, high jump or pole vault standards or landing pits, batting cages, blocking or tackling dummies, charging sleds, and other similar equipment.


Does this mean that we are not allowed to provide instruction during the offseason? I thought that this rule got changed about 5 or 6 years ago? Wrestling mats can't be used. Give me a break.

[warriorsfsc]

Our A.D. forwarded this to us as well. I'm confused as well but my guess is that the rule was changed to the "contact days" but that is only during the summer months. Therefore if you're doing more than lifting/conditioning with your athletes during the school year then you are in violation.
What you need is a good parent or coach that is not on your staff that can do these things...or is willing to do these things.
I don't know, maybe someone else can shed some more light on this.

[don schreimann]

Here is my question: Are Greco and freestyle considered to be different sports than folk style wrestling? I think they are different sports and are not under the jurisdiction of MSHSAA. The scoring is different, the technique is different, even what constitutes a fall is different. If I am right, then I think a high school folkstyle coach can coach freestyle and Greco with no problem. Then again, maybe I am thinking too much like an attorney.

[Scarf]

Even if they are considered different sports, would we be allowed to use the school's mats?

I thought that the rule had been changed(around 6 years ago) to allow you to coach during the offseason as long as it was open to anyone. Seems to me that they are changing it back to the way it was. The down side of it is that there is now the 25 contact day rule during summer vacation that wasn't there before.

[don schreimann]

I think the same reasoning would apply. You couldn't use the mat to work on MSHSAA sanctioned folkstyle wrestling but you could for freestyle and Greco. MSHSAA would have no say. I would suggest that all wrestlers have a USA card though. That way there is insurance.