Fredonia University

Playing and practice seasons guidelines are outlined in Bylaw 17 of the NCAA Manual.

Please click here, as this chart summarizes the playing and practice seasons outlined in the NCAA Manual.

Athletically related activities are defined as:

1. Practice, which is defined as any meeting, activity or instruction involving sports-related information and having an athletics purpose, held for one or more student-athletes at the direction of, or supervised by, any member or members of an institution’s coaching staff. Practice is considered to have occurred if one or more coaches and one or more student-athletes engage in any of the following activities:
   • Field, floor or on-court activity;
   • Setting up offensive or defensive alignment;
   • Chalk talk;
   • Lecture on or discussion of strategy related to the sport;
   • Activities using equipment related to the sport;
   • Discussions or review of game films, motion pictures or video related to the sport; or
   • Any other athletically related activity.
2. Competition;
3. Required weight-training and conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member;
4. Required participation in camps, clinics or workshops;
5. Individual workouts required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff. An institutional staff member may design a voluntary individual-workout program for a student-athlete, but cannot conduct the individual’s workout outside the declared playing season.

 
NOT PERMISSIBLE:  Observation by an institution’s coaching staff member of enrolled student-athletes in non-organized sport-specific activities (ex: “pick-up games”) in the coaching staff member’s sport.
 
Permissible contact OUTSIDE of playing season:

• Administrative and academic activities that are nonathletic in nature (ex:  academic meetings and compliance meetings).
• One team meeting conducted for an athletics purpose outside the declared playing and practice season (may be mandatory).
• One individual meeting per student-athlete conducted for an athletics purpose outside the declared playing and practice season (may be mandatory).
• Fundraising activities.
• Limited leadership activities.

 
Voluntary athletically related activities

• For any athletically related activity to be considered truly voluntary:
  • No reporting
    • Student-athletes don’t have to report the activity to their coaches, and staff observing it cannot report back.
  • Student-initiated
    • Participation must be entirely initiated by the student-athlete; no one can require them to participate.
  • No recordkeeping
    • Attendance or participation cannot be tracked for reporting purposes.
  • No penalties or rewards
    • Students face no penalties for non-participation, and no incentives or awards may be offered for participating.
• Voluntary workouts cannot be posted to team social media accounts.  Once these are posted to an online social media outlet, it is no longer seen as voluntary with the NCAA and can result in a secondary violation.

 
Activities not considered athletically related

• Certain activities are excluded from being “athletically related”:
  • Meetings:
    • Non-athletics administrative or academic meetings.
    • One mandatory team meeting or one individual meeting per student-athlete outside the playing/practice season.
  • Fundraising:
    • Voluntary fundraising/community service without using athletic ability, with prior institutional approval.
    • Voluntary out-of-season events using athletic ability, open to all entrants, with prior institutional approval.
  • Observation:
    • Officiating clinics via video that don’t conflict with classes.
    • Organized competitions (ex: summer leagues) not supervised by institutional staff.
    • Observation by staff for safety/security in open facilities without providing instruction.
  • Strength & Conditioning:
    • Voluntary workouts with certified coaches for all athletes.
    • Individual voluntary workouts monitored for safety.
    • Access to student-athlete-only facilities for voluntary workouts; certified coaches may conduct or reserve space.
  • Leadership Programming:
    • Voluntary leadership sessions involving athletics-related general info for team leaders outside the playing season.
    • Must occur during the academic year, limited to 1 session/week, max 10 sessions outside season, lasting less than or equal to 90 minutes.
    • Program plan and materials must be documented with the athletics department.

 
Required day off:

• During the playing season, all athletically related activities shall be prohibited during one calendar day per defined week.
• It does not have to be the same calendar day each week.

 
It is at the discretion of each coach for each program to offer open tryouts in any given year.  If you have specific questions, please reach out to an individual coach directly.
 
In order to comply with the NCAA rules and regulations surrounding tryouts, the following process will be followed:

1. The head coach of the program must communicate any potential tryout dates and potential student-athletes to the person in charge of compliance and the ATS.
   1. Only currently enrolled students at Fredonia are eligible to tryout.
   2. Tryouts must be held within the declared playing and practice season for the intended sport.
2. Required information needed from the potential student-athlete BEFORE the tryout begins in Spry:
   1. Picture of their current health insurance card (both front and back)
   2. An up-to-date physical (within 6 months of coming to campus)
   3. Signed Assumption of Risk waiver
3. Once the ATS confirms that the above information has been turned in and verified, a two-day tryout can commence.
4. At the end of the two days, the head coach will notify the potential student-athlete, the person in charge of compliance, and the ATS as to the status of the tryout.
   1. If the potential student-athlete will not continue on with the team, nothing else is needed.
   2. If the potential student-athlete will be officially joining the team, they will need to complete all of the SWOL requirements, as well as the Spry requirements BEFORE they can officially begin practice with the team as a full member.

 
For any questions regarding these guidelines, please contact the person in charge of compliance.
 
Similar to academic requirements, coaches within the Fredonia State Department of Athletics & Recreation have the authority to establish team rules, regulations, parameters, and expectations above the minimum departmental standards as it pertains to athletic participation on an intercollegiate team.  These requirements must be presented to all team members at the start of the season.

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