The Alaska School Activities Association, in its winter meeting held on December 7th, addressed a number of motions, revisions and changes to the ASAA Bylaws and activities calendar for 2020-21.
Taking effect immediately with the start of Nordic Skiing, the suspension of Article 7, Section 7 of the Practice Bylaw, changing the required number of pre-competition practices from 10 to seven and the number of overlapping practice days by two days.
Suspension of the Article 7 Section 7 Practice Bylaw:
“To for the remainder of the 2020-2021 school year to suspend the Article 7 Section 7 bylaw and to replace it as follows:
A. All players must have seven (7) separate days of physical practice in the same sport activity
prior to the 1st day of competition. For the purpose of this bylaw, a “practice” is defined as a
regularly scheduled team physical activity designed for the preparation of athletes for the sports
season and conducted under the supervision of a certified school coach during the season
established by the Board of Directors. In order to qualify as practice the student must participate
in at least an hour of physical activity.
B. When a student is participating in an ASAA sport that overlaps the beginning of another ASAA
sport, up to two (2) practices may be waived. In addition, when a student is participating in a
nationally recognized activity (or the Arctic Winter Games) that overlaps the beginning of an
ASAA sport season, the Executive Director may waive up to two (2) practices. For purposes of
this section, a “nationally recognized activity” is a non-school athletic competition and/or practice,
in a sanctioned ASAA sport, conducted under the auspices of a national sports governing body
as part of an Olympic Development Program. This activity will usually be conducted outside of the
state of Alaska.
The ASAA Board also addressed the guidelines on Dual Participation, adopting a revised policy for 2020-21.
Dual Participation Policy: motion “to adopt the following Dual Participation policy:
While participating in any ASAA activity, all participants must notify their “school of
eligibility” if they are also involved in a non-school program in an activity offered by
ASAA. Participants failing to do so will be ruled as ineligible for a period of time not to
exceed one month. The Executive Director will make the determination on the length of
ineligibility.”
The Dual Participation policy may affect hockey athletes who play for club or travel teams during the high school season or swimmers/wrestlers competing in club or USA events during the high school season.
Tabled Items from the December meeting, to be addressed in January and February included:
• Football Classification Change (January 2021)
• World Language Event Date (January 2021)
• 5A Basketball Classification (January 2021)
• 2A/3A/4A Basketball Conferences and Berths (January 2021)
• Wrestling At-Large Berths and Seeding (January 2021)
• State Tournament COVID Modifications (January 2021)
• Hate Speech and Harassment Policy (February 2021)
• DI Hockey Berth (February 2021)
• Adaptive Sports (February 2021)
• State Tennis Tournament Format (February 2021)
