Class is in session for Section 6’s athletic directors

“It’s what you learn after you already know it all that counts.”

-- UCLA coaching legend John Wooden

One day after athletes and coaches across Section 6 return to the practice fields, their athletic directors will gather on Aug. 19 for updates on recent rules changes and a refresher course on stuff they should have already committed to memory but sometimes forget.

            The meeting is an annual requirement and is conducted by Robert Zayas, the executive director of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association. Zayas and the assistant directors are walking encyclopedias when it comes to the 160-page NYSPHSAA handbook, which covers everything from the organization’s constitution to the proper length of an ice hockey game.

            Still, numerous questions land on their desks every school year, which helps explain how the handbook has grown by 20 pages since 2017. The annual meetings conducted in each of the 11 NYSPHSAA sections between now and late September lighten that load of inquiries. I have attended these meetings five or six times in Section 5 over the years, and there are some constants in the PowerPoint presentation:

-  A reminder about the minimum number of practices required to start the season and the maximum number of regular-season contests. Most sports also require a minimum number of practices before the first scrimmage; disregarding that rule in baseball was the final straw in getting La Salle Institute thrown out of all Section 2 championships in the upcoming year.

-  A refresher course on transfers and exchange students, and a reminder that the principal or superintendent cannot unilaterally declare an athlete eligible.

-  A discussion of weather conditions requiring schools to curtail, delay, or call off practices or games.

-  Coaching certification requirements, with a reminder that “volunteer” coaches are held to the same standards.

Despite all that, some rules have had a not-so-proud tradition of being violated on a seemingly regular basis. When Zayas opened his presentation in 2018, he noted that at least one team had violated the rule for the maximum number of contests every year since his arrival from New Mexico in 2012. Followers of Western New York sports may recall that a very good Holland girls soccer team was forced to sit out the 2011 Section 6 tournament after playing one too many regular-season games.

      Thankfully, we’ve finally reached a point where ADs and coaches have embraced what had been Zayas’ annual suggestion: Sit down before the start of the season and literally count the number of games on the schedule together.

      That’s not to say, however, that schools don’t try getting creative after they’ve been tripped up by the rule. Fayetteville-Manlius (Section 3 boys ice hockey in 2013) and Lake George (Section 2 girls volleyball in 2018) each contended that one of the games was really just a scrimmage. The problem with that was that the result of the contest in question was reported to local media, complete with statistics.

            Obviously, the NYSPHSAA administrators at the mandatory meeting can’t cover every rule in the handbook. As a service to the ADs, some of whom are beginning their first year on the job, here are some other ways to land in hot water that might not be covered in the upcoming meeting:

(1)  A student loses his or her eligibility in a sport by participating in practice or competition with any individual or team representing a college that season. That can be triggered by something as innocuous as practicing a takedown move in the wrestling room against a recent grad home on semester break. Similarly, student-faculty basketball games are not permitted during the season.

(2)  While raising money for a charity or to help pay for a team trip is a worthwhile idea, doing it by lining up pledges for every touchdown pass or 3-point basket is a no-no. Part of the rationale prohibiting performance-based promotions is that it potentially encourages running up the score in a game that is already all but decided.

(3)  I shouldn’t even have to mention this one, but participating under an assumed name will get an athlete benched for the remainder of the season, with a longer ban at the discretion of the section also permitted. I actually saw this play out in Section 5 wrestling in the mid-1980s when the coach didn’t want to lose points in a weight class after his intended entrant was injured after the tournament entry deadline. Numerous other coaches recognized that the wrestler wasn’t the individual listed in the brackets.

(4)  The representation rule – i.e., the minimum number of contests required for an athlete to compete in sectionals – likely will be mentioned. However, the part that ADs might miss is that injury waivers can only be granted by the section’s executive director. Aquinas, with a loaded team in 2014, only ran a waiver request for its star quarterback past the Section 5 football chairman. That abruptly ended a potential state championship season.

Maybe the best bit of advice that the ADs will hear is to pick up the phone if they have concerns about how to handle a question. Each section has an executive director with an extensive background in high school sports. Zayas traditionally takes it a step further by giving out his own office and cell phone numbers with an invitation for the ADs to use it.