Defining the Seasons (carryover from "AAA")

[clifford20]

It is good to be back!

 

Official Practice can start this week. It is Volleyball season.

 

Brentwood

Brentwood and Brentwood....all have a chance.

 

As well as the usual suspects from last years tournament...which was very young.

 

G-town & Siegel will be good again.

 

Franklin has "the middle" that can dominate. But who will set?

[TheGreatLineJudge]

Official Practice can start this week.  It is Volleyball season.

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I won't argue with you too much, but I didn't think "official" practice wasn't kosher til the beginning of August.

[clifford20]

I won't argue with you too much, but I didn't think "official" practice wasn't kosher til the beginning of August.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but you can practice, have try outs etc, but you cannot scrimmage any teams. I am not sure why they mark the official practice start in AUg.

 

Also, does anyone know why Volleyball does not get a "fall" practice. Football, basketball, baseball etc. all get to coach their kids in the off season.

 

Baseball coaches can coach them all summer

Football gets spring practice

i am not sure exactly on basketball but I am pretty sure they can.

[Cowboys Up]

Correct me if I am wrong, but you can practice, have try outs etc, but you cannot scrimmage any teams.  I am not sure why they mark the official practice start in AUg.

 

Also,  does anyone know why Volleyball does not get a "fall" practice.  Football, basketball, baseball etc. all get to coach their kids in the off season.

 

Baseball coaches can coach them all summer

Football gets spring practice

i am not sure exactly on basketball but I am pretty sure they can.

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Hi clifford20 - nice to be talking about vb again!

 

Rules say that no practices can happen until Aug. 1. Try-outs are ok, but practices are a no-no.

 

I don't understand why vb is different than basketball or fb either. I'll ask our AD next time I see her.

[bd4vols]

I'm pretty sure "open facilities" are ok as long as they are open to all students in your school. And you do get 10 days of school against school competition in the the summer.

 

Girls Volleyball -- The first practice date is Monday of the week of August 1; the date of the first

contest is Monday of the last full week of August; the maximum number of matches is 45; the

maximum number of tournaments is four with each tournament counting as five matches; no off-season

practice is permitted; in the summer there is a maximum of 10 days of school-against-school

competition (exception -- there is a two-week dead period the week preceding the Fourth

of July and the week of the Fourth of July).

[Cowboys Up]

I'm pretty sure "open facilities" are ok as long as they are open to all students in your school.  And you do get 10 days of school against school competition in the the summer.

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Hi bd...

Thanks for clearing that up. I didn't have the rule book with me.

[TheGreatLineJudge]

I'm pretty sure "open facilities" are ok as long as they are open to all students in your school.  And you do get 10 days of school against school competition in the the summer.

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Correct. As long as the coach isn't there, you can basically do whatever.

 

It is not logical that virtually all other sports can have off-season whatever, with volleyball being squeezed and restricted. This isn't a sport that you just pick up and play. Ugh.

 

 

P.S. To my friend who emailed me, I had trouble replying to you. Please write me from another address and I'll try replying again. You know who you are. Thanks!!

Edited June 5, 2005 by TheGreatLineJudge

[bd4vols]

Coach can be there for Open Facilities, just can't do anything. Only supervise. You can have offseason conditioning.

[memphisvbcoach]

Ok. Let's talk about practices during the summer.

 

First let's define the terms in-season, off-season, and summer. All carry different rules and regulations as governed by the TSSAA. These aren't necessarily defined in the TSSAA constitution, but through interpretation of the main TSSAA officers. Questions can be referred to Brother Bob Baldridge or Trina Melton in the TSSAA office. Trina is especially good at getting back to inquiries in a rapid manner. The following is a compilation of the various seasons as interpreted by the TSSAA over the past ten years of my being a coach and athletic director in Tennessee.

 

In-Season refers to the time from the Monday in the week containing Aug. 1 through the end of the State tournament. There are no practice limitations in time or scope, practice can be mandatory, teams can scrimmage after a certain number of practices, and then play after the date set by the TSSAA calendar.

 

Off-season refers to the time immediately following the elimination of a team from competition until the end of school. Coaches can design and implement a NON-MANDATORY lifting and conditioning program for their athletes AND can open up their gyms for NON-MANDATORY, self regulated open gyms. The coaches cannot give any skill specific instruction, nor can they set up a schedule of drills to complete. In essence, coaches may open a gym, turn on lights, set up a net, and watch. There cannot be any tryouts during the Off-season.

 

Summer refers to the time immediately after the last final exam/class offered by a school until the Monday in the week containing Aug. 1. The following rules apply during the whole of the summer period with the exception of the dead weeks. During summer time, coaches can have tryouts, compete in scrimmages, attend camps, and conduct full-blown practices. These practices can contain skill directed instruction. These practices can be designed and implemented by a coach. The key is that practices cannot be in any way shape or form mandatory. You cannot require athletes to attend practice. You cannot require athletes to attend camps. You cannot provide any sort of punishment or consequence for missing practice or camp.

 

It is vital that we all have an understanding of the various seasons, and the limitations inherent within each. It truly helps avoid the finger pointing and accusations that occur when people have varying interpretations of the rules. Questions? Comments? Rude remarks?

[ComPassion]

..but like Memphis implied, call tomorrow, get someone else on the phone and no matter what your question is your odds are good you'll get the default TSSAA answer ...NO.

 

Maybe the future will be different, but I have seen WAY too many times where TSSAA officials get off on saying NO ..just because they can ..no matter what they said to someone else, or said last year, or like they printed in a past interpretation. Like they don't get to exist (or feel important) unless they get to say NO to people. Why would an organization not publish their "interpretations" clearly?? Why leave open to interpretation something as basic as, "Can we have practice in the summer?" Do you know how many coaches/AD's don't know that answer?! Do you know how many are scared to ask simple questions even when the answer has been given or written in the past just because they have seen TSSAA contradict themselves in opposition to common sense and in favor of getting to impose NO. I suggest TSSAA does know and I suggest they like it exactly that way.

 

Often I have seen TSSAA interpretations reflect self-promulgated beauracracy above all else, seemingly oblivious that decisions of a governing body over youth athletics maybe should be made based on what is good for the YOUTH ...not the beauracrats' desire to be in a position to say NO as often as possible.

 

Someone from TSSAA please deny this ..and watch this string explode with example after example from all the people who have pulled their hair out due to TSSAA's power-centered and arbitrary expression of "I have POWER and I am going to over-impose it in any gray area I possibly can ..and THAT proves that I have power and makes me feel important!" approach to "governing" in youth athletics.

 

Sorry to express a negative view ..I'll be the first to retract it when their decisions over time show a concern for kids over a concern for transparent clickish adults perpetuating their pitiful petty power needs. We thank the TSSAA personnel who are kid-focused in their applications.

[TheGreatLineJudge]

Ok.  Let's talk about practices during the summer. 

 

First let's define the terms in-season, off-season, and summer.  All carry different rules and regulations as governed by the TSSAA.  These aren't necessarily defined in the TSSAA constitution, but through interpretation of the main TSSAA officers.  Questions can be referred to Brother Bob Baldridge or Trina Melton in the TSSAA office.  Trina is especially good at getting back to inquiries in a rapid manner.  The following is a compilation of the various seasons as interpreted by the TSSAA over the past ten years of my being a coach and athletic director in Tennessee.

 

In-Season refers to the time from the Monday in the week containing Aug. 1 through the end of the State tournament.  There are no practice limitations in time or scope, practice can be mandatory, teams can scrimmage after a certain number of practices, and then play after the date set by the TSSAA calendar. 

 

Off-season refers to the time immediately following the elimination of a team from competition until the end of school.  Coaches can design and implement a NON-MANDATORY lifting and conditioning program for their athletes AND can open up their gyms for NON-MANDATORY, self regulated open gyms.  The coaches cannot give any skill specific instruction, nor can they set up a schedule of drills to complete.  In essence, coaches may open a gym, turn on lights, set up a net, and watch.  There cannot be any tryouts during the Off-season.

 

Summer refers to the time immediately after the last final exam/class offered by a school until the Monday in the week containing Aug. 1.  The following rules apply during the whole of the summer period with the exception of the dead weeks.  During summer time, coaches can have tryouts, compete in scrimmages, attend camps, and conduct full-blown practices.  These practices can contain skill directed instruction.  These practices can be designed and implemented by a coach.  The key is that practices cannot be in any way shape or form mandatory.  You cannot require athletes to attend practice.  You cannot require athletes to attend camps.  You cannot provide any sort of punishment or consequence for missing practice or camp.

 

It is vital that we all have an understanding of the various seasons, and the limitations inherent within each.  It truly helps avoid the finger pointing and accusations that occur when people have varying interpretations of the rules.  Questions?  Comments?  Rude remarks?

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BRILLIANT post, my west TN friend. I'd love to see something so concise come from the state office. We need to be given one set of uniform rules for ALL sports. The "major" sports like basketball and football are given carte blanche- why can't volleyball?

 

FYI, coach, "Brother Bob" is no longer over volleyball. Trina is now top dog. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. It's from a 100% solid source.

Edited June 7, 2005 by TheGreatLineJudge

[memphisvbcoach]

Judge,

 

I hate to contradict, but regarding basketball and football... It is true that these two sports have an "advantage" over the remaining team sports (volleyball included) in that they are allowed to have ten days of official practice within a fifteen day time span during the off season (see earlier post for definition.) I used to have righteous anger fits about why my sport didn't have this and why the TSSAA didn't have any better answer than "that's just the way it is." I no longer feel this. Watching the coaches of two sports wrangle their hands and dance around the spring sports schedules is actually quite funny. They never have full practices with all their players, nor do they ever feel totally at ease with how things progressed due to the craziness of the weather. Not to mention that besides taking the edge off of our coaching withdrawls, in the grand scheme of things, there is no correlation between having two weeks of practice in the spring and post season success in October. The true end-of-season factors are the number of our girls who are playing some form of club ball and the genetic randomness that causes kids to grow. Oh yeah, and the unmitigated genius of the various coaches!

 

Other than those two weeks (and a much longer season of course,) basketball and football are governed by exactly the same rules as we. The really weird rule variances are in some of the individual sports (tennis, wrestling, golf, cross country) where there is no limitations of athlete-coach interaction.

 

-Memphis