Education Session on Playing and Practice Season Time Limitations

1. Education Session on Playing and Practice Season Time Limitations *NCAA Division I rules effective August 1, 2003.

2. Overview • Hour limitations: • In-season hour limitations. • Out-of-season hour limitations. • Preseason and academic year vacation period hour limitations. • Multisport student-athlete hour limitations. • Permissible activities during the playing season: • General information. • Countable athletically related activities. • Permissible activities outside the playing season: • Skill instruction • Conditioning activities • Definition of voluntary. • Permissible activities during the summer: • General information. • Football summer conditioning. • Safety exception. • Individual sport skill instruction.

3. Review of Daily and Weekly Hour Limitations In Season (20 Hours)

4. In-Season Hour Limitations • Countable athletically related activities may occur not more than 20 hours per week, with a maximum of four hours per day. • Golf practice rounds. • A practice round of golf may exceed the four hours per day limitation, but the weekly limit of 20 hours shall remain in effect. • A practice round played on the day prior to the start of a collegiate golf tournament at the tournament site shall count as three hours, regardless of the actual duration of the round.

5. In-Season Hour Limitations • A “week” is defined as any seven consecutive days (determined at the institution’s discretion). • Once the institution determines the seven-day period that shall constitute its week, it shall not change that designation for the remainder of the segment.

6. In-Season Hour Limitations • All competition and any associated athletically related activities on the day of competition shall count as three hours regardless of the actual duration of these activities. • Practice may not be conducted after competition at any time (including vacation periods). • Exceptions: between contests, rounds or events during a multiday or multievent competition (e.g., doubleheaders in softball or baseball, rounds of golf in a multiday tournament).

7. In-Season Hour Limitations • All countable athletically related activities are prohibited during one calendar day per week. • Exceptions: • During participation in one conference and postseason championship • During participation in postseason certified bowl games or National Invitational Tournaments • During participation in NCAA championships. • Exception: During preseason practice before the first contest or first day of classes and during vacation periods.

8. Review of Daily and Weekly Hour Limitations Out of Season (Eight Hours)

9. Out-of-Season Hour Limitations During the Academic Year • In sports other than Division I-A and I-AA football, only a student-athlete’s participation in required weight-training, conditioning and individual skill instruction requested by the student-athlete is permitted. • A maximum of eight hours per week, of which not more than two hours per week may be spent on individual skill workouts. • In Divisions I-A and I-AA football, activities outside the playing season shall be conducted pursuant to Bylaw 17.11.6.

10. Review of Daily and Weekly Hour Limitations Preseason and Academic Year Vacation Periods

11. Preseason and Academic Year Vacation Periods • Daily and weekly hour limitations do not apply to countable athletically related activities occurring during preseason practice prior to the first day of classes or the first scheduled contest, whichever is earlier.

12. Preseason and Academic Year Vacation Periods • A student-athlete may not participate in any countable athletically related activities outside the playing season during any institutional vacation period and/or summer. • Strength and conditioning coaches who are not countable coaches and who perform such duties on a department-wide basis may design and conduct specific workout programs for student-athletes, provided such workouts are: • Voluntary. • Conducted at the request of the student-athlete.

13. Review of Daily and Weekly Hour Limitations Multisport Student-Athletes

14. Multisport Student-Athletes • Current Rule: The daily and weekly hour limitations apply separately to each sport in which the student-athlete is a participant.

15. Multisport Student-Athletes - NCAA Proposal No. 2003-16: • Intent: To specify that a multisport student-athlete’s participation in countable athletically related activities shall not exceed a total of 20 hours per week and four hours per day. • Scheduled for second consideration by the NCAA Division I Management Council and Board of Directors in April 2004.

16. Permissible Activities During the Playing Season (In Season) Period

17. General Information • Declaration of the institution’s playing season in each sport shall be on file in writing in the department of athletics prior to the beginning of the institution’s playing season for that sport. • Changes in declaration for a particular sport are permissible and also shall be filed in writing.

18. General Information • For all sports other than football and basketball, each member institution may divide the playing season into not more than two distinct segments: championship and nonchampionship. • An institution may not declare the summer vacation period as its nonchampionship segment.

19. Changes in the 2003-04 NCAA Division I Manual Regarding Bylaw 17.02.1 • The laundry list of permissible items was removed from the Manual (see Proposal 2002-28). • The intent behind removing the list was to simplify the definition. • The application of the rule has not been changed by the deletion of the laundry list. • Administrative meetings, activities incidental to participation (e.g., taping, rehabilitation) and voluntary activities continue to be excluded from the weekly and daily time limitations.

20. Countable and Noncountable Activities: • Student-athletes may not miss class to attend practice. • Exception: when a team is traveling to an away-from-home contest, and the practice is in conjunction with the contest. • Practice may not be conducted at any time (including vacation periods) following competition. • Exception: between contests, rounds or events during a multiday or multievent competition (e.g., doubleheaders in softball and baseball, rounds of golf in a multiday tournament).

21. Permissible Activities Outside the Playing Season during the Academic Year (Out of Season)

22. Permissible activities outside the playing season during the academic year (out of season). • Individual skill instruction (sports other than football). • Participation by student-athletes in individual skill-related instruction in sports other than football is permitted, provided not more than four student-athletes from the same team are involved in skill-related instruction with their coach(es) at any one time in any facility and the student-athletes request the instruction.

23. Permissible activities outside the playing season during the academic year (out of season). • Conditioning activities. • Conditioning drills that simulate game activities are permissible, provided no offensive or defensive alignments are set up and no equipment related to the sport is used. • In ice hockey, a student-athlete may be involved in on-ice conditioning activities, provided no equipment other than skates is used.

24. Permissible activities outside the playing season during the academic year (out of season). • An ergometer (i.e., a rowing machine) is not considered equipment related to the sport of rowing. Therefore, in the sport of rowing, any use of an ergometer during the required conditioning activities that may occur during the academic year outside the playing season is not limited to the two hours of permissible skill-instruction activities. [Reference: 10/15/00 official interpretation, Item No. 9-b-(2)-(a)]

25. What is “at any one time in any facility?” • Example: A coach may not work with four student-athletes in Gym A while at the same time another coach is working with a different group of four student-athletes in Gym B, even if Gym B is in a different building.

26. Definition of Voluntary: • In order for any athletically related activity to be considered “voluntary,” all the following conditions must be met: • The student-athlete must not be required to report back to a coach or other athletics department staff member (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) any information related to the activity. • No athletics department staff member who observes the activity (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) may report back to the student-athlete’s coach any information related to the activity. [Note: Coaches may not observe voluntary activities. However, coaching staff members may be present during permissible skill-related instruction requested by the student-athlete pursuant to Bylaw 17.1.5.2.2.]

27. Definition of Voluntary: • The activity must be initiated and requested solely by the student-athlete. Neither the institution nor any athletics department staff member may require the student-athlete to participate in the activity at any time. • Athletics department staff members may provide information to student-athletes related to opportunities for participating in voluntary activities (e.g., time when the strength and conditioning coach will be on duty in the weight room or on the track). • For students who have initiated a request to engage in voluntary activities, the institution or an athletics department staff member may assign specific times for student-athletes to use institutional facilities and inform the student-athletes of the time in advance.

28. Definition of Voluntary: • The student-athlete’s attendance and participation in the activity (or lack thereof) may not be recorded for the purposes of reporting such information to coaching staff members or other student-athletes. • The student-athlete may not be subject to penalty if he or she elects not to participate in the activity. • Neither the institution nor any athletics department staff member may provide recognition or incentives (e.g., awards) to a student-athlete based on his or her attendance or performance in the activity.

29. Permissible Activities During the Summer

30. General Information • A student-athlete may not participate in any countable athletically related activities outside the playing season during any institutional vacation period and/or summer. • Strength and conditioning coaches who are not countable coaches and who perform such duties on a department-wide basis may design and conduct specific workout programs for student-athletes, provided such workouts are voluntary and conducted at the request of the student-athlete.

31. Football Summer Conditioning Period – Divisions I-A and I-AA • In Divisions I-A and I-AA football, between the start of the summer conditioning and the start of preseason practice period, an institution shall conduct its out-of-season conditioning period as follows: • Institutions shall count back nine weeks from the first permissible reporting date for preseason practice. During this nine-week period, institutions shall designate one week as student-athlete discretionary time.

32. Football Summer Conditioning Period – Divisions I-A and I-AA • During the remaining eight weeks of the summer conditioning period: • Nonmandatory weight training and conditioning activities may occur. • Prospects who have signed a National Letter of Intent or, for those institutions not using the National Letter of Intent, a prospect who has signed an institution’s written offer for admission and/or financial aid may participate. • No more than eight hours per week. • Clean apparel permissible.

33. Football Summer Conditioning Period – Divisions I-A and I-AA • Prior to participation in any summer weight-training or conditioning workouts, those prospects who have signed the National Letter of Intent and student-athletes who will be beginning their initial season of eligibility for football practice at the institution in the fall shall be required to undergo a preparticipation medical examination administered and supervised by a physician.

34. Safety Exception • In certain sports, a coach may be present during voluntary individual workouts in the institution’s regular practice facility (without the workouts being considered as countable athletically related activities) when the student-athlete uses equipment in that sport. The coach may provide safety or skill instruction but cannot conduct the individual’s workout.

35. The Safety Exception is Applicable to the Following Sports:

36. Individual Sport Skill Instruction • In individual sports (except equestrian), a coach may participate in individual workout sessions with student-athletes from the coach’s team during the summer, provided the student-athlete initiates the request for such assistance. • It is not permissible for the institution to pay fees for the use of a facility. • Individual sports are listed in Bylaw 17.02.12.2.