While you are a student-athlete at Anna Maria College, you are obligated to abide by NCAA, Great Northeast Athletic Conferencee (GNAC), Eastern Collegiate Football Conference (ECFC), Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference (MASCAC) and College rules.  In order to compete as a student-athlete at Anna Maria, you must do your part to stay within the NCAA guidelines.  Below are some frequently asked questions:

What are the ethical rules all NCAA student-athletes must abide by, in and out of season?

a)      Refusal to furnish information relevant to an investigation of a possible violation of an NCAA regulation when requested to do so by the NCAA or the individual’s institution;

b)      Knowing involvement in arranging for fraudulent academic credit or false transcripts for a prospective or an enrolled student-athlete;

c)      Knowing involvement in offering or providing a prospective or an enrolled student-athlete an improper inducement or extra benefit or improper financial aid;

d)     Knowingly furnishing the NCAA or the individual’s institution false or misleading information concerning the individual’s involvement in or knowledge of matters relevant to a possible violation of an NCAA regulation;

e)      Receipt of benefits by an institutional staff member for facilitating or arranging a meeting between a student-athlete and an agent, financial advisor or a representative of an agent or advisor (e.g., “runner”); or

f)       Knowing involvement in providing a banned substance or impermissible supplement to student-athletes, or knowingly providing medications to student-athletes contrary to medical licensure, commonly accepted standards of care in sports practice, or state or federal law.

A student-athlete who participates in any sports wagering activity, through the Internet, a bookmaker, or a parlay card, shall be ineligible for all regular-season and postseason competition for a minimum period of one year, this includes Fantasy Leagues.  Casino gambling is allowed as long as there is no betting on an NCAA sponsored sport and you are of legal age to gamble. 

Academic Elligibilty

Full-Time enrollment (12 credits minimum) is required to participate in NCAA athletics. An exception to the above rule is when an athlete is in his or her final semester of the baccalaureate program and the institution certifies that the student is carrying (for credit) the courses necessary to complete the degree requirements, as determined by the faculty of the institution

You have 10 semesters of full-time enrollment to participate in 4 seasons of a sport. Your 10 semester “clock” begins the first time you attend a class while enrolled full-time at ANY collegiate institution. If you are in danger of running out of semesters please contact your coach immediately. There may be an applicable waiver.

Season of Particpation

A season of intercollegiate participation shall be counted when a student-athlete participates (practices or competes) during or after the first contest in the traditional segment following the student-athlete’s initial participation of that academic year at that institution.

Exception: A season of participation shall not be counted: (a) During the traditional segment when a student-athlete participates in a preseason scrimmage or preseason exhibition conducted before the first contest following the student-athlete's initial participation of that academic year at that institution; (b) During the traditional segment when a student-athlete participates in an alumni contest conducted before the first regular-season contest following the student-athlete's initial participation of that academic year at that institution; (c) In baseball, field hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball and volleyball, when a student-athlete participates (practices or competes) during the nontraditional segment

Club Ice Hockey and JV Sports: Participation on club ice hockey or a JV team will use a season of intercollegiate participation if a student-athlete partricipates in practice or competes after the first intercollegiate contest.

Hardship Waiver: You may be granted an additional season of competition for reasons of hardship (incapacitating season-ending illness/injury). The injury/illness must occur (1) before the completion of the first half of the traditional playing season; (2) when the student-athlete has not participated in more than 3 contests or dates of competition or 1/3 of the institution’s completed contests or dates of competition (whichever number is greater).

a)      Have a physical each year your participate in athletics and be cleared to participate by the head athletic trainer;

b)      Carry or be registered for 12 credit hours (or more);

c)      Fill out all necessary NCAA-related paperwork provided by the compliance officer;

d)     If you are a late addition to the roster, the head coach must fill out a roster add form first and turn it in to the compliance officer.  The athlete then must complete the above requirements.

Can I misss class time for pratice
A student-athlete shall not miss class for the following:
(a) Practice activities; and
(b) Competition in the nontraditional segment.
Exceptions. A student-athlete may miss class for practice activities in the following circumstances:
(a) When a team is traveling to an away-from-home contest and the practice is in conjunction with the contest; and (b) Student-athletes representing the host institution shall be permitted to miss class time for practice activities scheduled in conjunction with an NCAA championship.

During the off-season, a student-athlete is NOT required to participate in ‘athletically related activities’.  It must be strictly voluntary.  According to the NCAA manual, in order for any athletically related activity to be considered “voluntary,” all of the following conditions must be met:

a)      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. In addition, 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;

b)      The activity must be initiated 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;

c)      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; and

d)     The student-athlete may not be subjected to penalty if he or she elects not to participate in the activity. In addition, 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.

The NCAA manual defines ‘athletically related activities’ as the following:

a)      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:

(1)   Field, floor or on-court activity;

(2)   Setting up offensive or defensive alignment;

(3)   Chalk talk;

(4)   Lecture on or discussion of strategy related to the sport;

(5)   Activities using equipment related to the sport;

(6)   Discussions or review of game films, motion pictures or videotapes related to the sport;

(7)   Any other athletically related activity.

b)      Competition;

c)      Required weight-training and conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member;

d)     Participation in a physical-fitness class (including a summer class) conducted by a member of the athletics staff not listed in the institution’s catalog and not open to all students. Such a class may not include practice activities conducted under the guise of physical education class work;

e)      Required participation in camps, clinics or workshops;

f)       Individual workouts required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff. A coach may design a voluntary general individual-workout program for a student-athlete (as opposed to a specific workout program for specific days) but cannot conduct the individual’s workout;

g)      On-court or on-field activities called by any member(s) of a team and confined primarily to members of that team that are considered requisite for participation in that sport (e.g., captain’s practices);

h)      Visiting the competition site in cross country, golf and skiing;

i)        Reservation or use of an institution’s athletics facilities when such activities are supervised by or held at the direction of any member of an institution’s coaching staff;

j)        Involvement of an institution’s strength and conditioning staff with enrolled student-athletes in required conditioning programs; and

k)      Observation by an institution’s coaching staff member of enrolled student-athletes in non-organized sport-specific activities (e.g., “pick-up games”). 

Exceptions: The following activities shall not be considered athletically related:  

1. Administrative and academic activities that are non-athletics in nature (e.g., academic meetings and compliance meetings);
2. Fundraising and community service activities not involving the use of athletics ability by student-athletes to obtain funds provided the activities receive approval from the institution’s chancellor or president (or his or her designee) prior to the activity
3. Observation of an officiating clinic related to playing rules that is conducted by video conference and does not require student-athletes to miss any class time to observe the clinic;
4. Observation of enrolled student-athletes in organized competition (e.g., summer league), provided institutional athletics personnel do not direct or supervise the organized activity; and
5. Voluntary individual workouts monitored for safety purposes by strength and conditioning personnel. If the strength and conditioning coach is also a coaching staff member for one of the institution’s intercollegiate teams, the monitoring may occur only if that staff member performs monitoring duties for all student-athletes using the facility at that time.

As an out of season student-athlete, you may work out on your own; get your team together and workout as a group, and work out with the Strength & Conditioning staff.  Your coach may give you workouts to do, but you are not required to do them or report back to the coach on what you or your teammates have or have not completed.  Coaches may not ask what you are running, how much you are lifting, etc. No coach can be present to watch, participate in, or monitor these off season practices. 

a)      Gifts or loans of clothing, stereo equipment, compact discs, food, beverages

b)      Transportation

c)      Use of an automobile

d)     Low interest or interest-free loans, telephone cards, credit cards, charge accounts, etc.

e)      Gifts of more than the allowable number of complimentary admissions

f)       Special discounts on products or services

g)   Special payment arrangements on personal purchases

h)   Material benefits that are not available to the general student body

May I ‘crowdfund’ to help cover my tuition and other expenses?

There are many different NCAA rules to crowdfunding.  Please ask before you set up a site.  You may not use your ‘athletics ability’ to crowdfund.  You may not use a picture of yourself playing your sport, dressed in a uniform, or anything like that to raise money.  You may crowdfund for a charity as long as your athletics ability is not used.

As a host for prospective students-athletes, what are you allowed to do?  Not allowed to do?

a)      You are responsible for keeping your prospect on time for all appointments.  You must attend all functions with your prospect unless excused by your coach.

b)      Individuals involved in the recruit’s visit will act in a responsible manner and are expected to abide by the law.  (Do not take an underage prospect to a bar or club which allows admittance only to those 21 years of age or older).

c)      The use of alcohol, drugs, sex or any illegal activity in recruiting will not be tolerated and will result in disciplinary action.

d)     NCAA rules must be abided by in all situations.

e)      Never leave a recruit alone with a non-team member. Do not set up dates for the recruit.

f)       Have a plan for entertaining the recruit and review with your head coach.  Advise the head coach in advance of any changes to the plan.

g)      If your prospect acts in a manner detrimental to Anna Maria College, report this to your head coach immediately.

If you have any questions about your responsibilities as a prospect host/hostess, please do not hesitate to contact your coach or the compliance officer.