Bucknell University Athletics
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INTERPRETATION SKETCH FOR:
Playing & Practice Seasons
ALL SPORTS
Countable Athletic Related Activity or Not?
Not Allowed- Practice by a student-athlete (whether he or she played or not) after institution's competition is not permitted.
Yes- A student-athlete preparing the field for practice or competition would be countable if it is required, supervised or monitored by an institution's staff member. Would not count if facility work were part of formal employment.
No- Student-athlete participating in a physical education class (any credit class for that matter) that uses equipment in the sport the student-athlete participates PROVIDED it is not a rouse set up for practice activities.
No- Student-athletes who voluntarily serve as counselors or demonstrators in a sports camp would not be countable during the playing and practice season.
(All sports except football) Allowed- When outside the declared playing season, individual skill instruction may set up offensive and defensive alignments.
ALL SPORTS
Coach's Interaction With Student-Athlete (When OK and When Not)
An institution's coach in one sport may participate in pick-up games with student-athletes in another sport provided the coach does not monitor or supervise. Similarly, a coach may compete against his or her student-athlete in an "out of season competition" provided the coach does not monitor or supervise or engage in practice activities. However, coach and student-athlete may not participate on the same intramural team, regardless if it is the same sport or not.
Summer (and outside declared playing season)- Coach may not participate in summer individual workout sessions with their own student-athlete if workout takes place in conjunction with a competition in which student-athlete participates. Likewise, when outside the institution's playing season (and the summer), a coach may not require a student-athlete to report information relating to a voluntary workout or provide any expenses (e.g., postage, phone calls) for the reporting thereof.
A strength and conditioning coach (or the team's designee) may not engage in weight-training or conditioning activities during the summer. However, such an individual may monitor, supervise or assist student-athletes in voluntary weight training and conditioning (for safety purposes) without that activity becoming countable.
When outside the declared playing season, coach may not "observe" enrolled student-athletes in non-organized sport settings (pick-up basketball for example) inasmuch as the activity is a nonpermissible, out-of-season, countable athletically related activity. However, if within a permissible recruiting period, coach may observe enrolled student-athletes in organized competition (e.g. summer basketball leagues) without it being countable if coach does not direct or supervise the activity.
ALL SPORTS
Use of Videotape
When traveling back from a competition (bus or plane), a coach may not review videotape of the previous contest (during travel) if the use of the videotape is for preparing student-athlete for future competition or to enhance the student-athlete's athletic skills. It would be permissible to view the tape if it was run like a "silent movie." Otherwise, this situation would infringe on how the NCAA defines "practice."
However, a coach may provide videotapes "with personalized messages" to student-athletes about athletically related information (i.e. discussion of plays, general workout themes, lectures, strategy, etc) even during the summer as long as the student-athlete's viewing is voluntary.
ALL SPORTS
Weekly Hour Limits & Day Off
For multi-sports athletes, apply the hourly limits separately for each sport. The required day off may be applied individually to each student-athlete on a team (as opposed to having the entire team take off the same day per week) & the day off per week can be a day outside of the declared playing season. For example, if an institution declares its playing season-week as Sunday to Sat. and the first practice date is to occur on Wed., then the team may use the Tuesday to satisfy the day off per week provision for that week.
ALL SPORTS
Practice and Missing Class
A student-athlete may not miss class time during the academic year or in summer school for practice activities, except when traveling to an away-from-home contest and the practice is in conjunction with the contest. Also, "away from home" is defined as any location away from the institution's local community (i.e. Lewisburg).
ALL SPORTS
Misc.
Transfer rules apply to a student-athlete who returns to the original institution after only participating in preseason conditioning activities at a second school.
Institutions may provide expenses (e.g. paying greens fees) to reserve a facility for student-athletes who wish to engage in voluntary activities outside the playing and practice season. This legislation extends to situations where student-athletes would want a voluntary workout during the declared season, even on required day offs.
It is not permissible to assemble members of a team with remaining eligibility for demonstration purposes only in conjunction with a sports camp that occurs outside the declared playing season. It is not permissible to provide expenses (e.g. ropes course, team building activities) to student-athletes in conjunction with permissible conditioning activities that may occur outside the playing season during the academic year.
When an academic year ends prior to the completion of the institution's regular season, an institution must count any time between the end of the academic year and the end of the season. Informal scrimmages- A scrimmage between two institutions, regardless of formality (i.e. no coaching involved, no clock was utilized, no score was kept) must be counted in the institution and student-athlete's maximum contest limitation.
SPORT SPECIFIC
(Football, Volleyball, M & W Soccer, M & W Cross Country perhaps) - Certification meetings are not considered sport meetings. Therefore, the meeting may occur the day or night prior to taking squad pictures or issuing equipment or the first preseason orientation day. However, strength and endurance tests may not be done on picture day.
Crew- Use of ergometers is not considered equipment related to the sport of rowing. Therefore, in the sport of crew, any use of an ergometer during the required conditioning activities that may occur during the academic year outside the declared season is not limited to two hours of permissible skill-instruction activities.
Baseball- Even if it is his or her normal responsibility or has potential liability concerns, a baseball coach is not permitted to supervise the batting cage facility (i.e. Baseball does not equal swimming). Swimming coaches are permitted to supervise the facilities outside the declared playing season.
(Field Hockey & Soccer)- If you want an alumni game to be considered "exempt" from the maximum number of contest legislation, make sure the event occurs after the first permissible contest date during the declared playing and practice season.
Water polo- The coach may not referee activities during voluntary individual water polo workouts without such activities being considered countable.