There are 10 amendments to the Constitution, Bylaws and Rules of Eligibility for the membership to consider and vote on at the 2015 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Annual Meeting Wednesday, April 22 at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Stevens Point. 

Two of the amendments address language in relation to the Nonschool Participation During the Season section in Article VI of the Rules of Eligibility. 

The first proposed amendment to the Nonschool Participation language allows any individual student-athlete to participate in up to two nonschool contests during that respective school sport season in the same sport. The nonschool opportunity would require school approval on the basis that such participation will not jeopardize a student’s eligibility under the membership’s amateur status provisions or other membership rules.

This allowance does come at a price, however. The two nonschool competitions will count against the student-athlete’s individual maximum contests allowed. Therefore, if the school team schedules its maximum number of games permitted by membership rule, each athlete that receives the allowance will not be permitted to play in one or two school games because of the nonschool allowance.

The rationale for the proposed amendment is the number of member requests on befhalf of their student-athletes to participate in nonschool competitions during the school season. These requests typically turn to the perceived overly restrictive nature of the current rule and to request relaxing the interpretation of the exceptional athlete provision.

This amended rule would not alter the exceptional athlete waiver conditions, nor would a student-athlete be able to delay reporting for the school team beyond the school’s official first day of practice in order to continue nonschool participation­–except in the fall, which is currently permitted.

Proponents of the amendment believe it will reduce the pressure placed on school administrators by students and parents who request to participate in nonschool events and competitions during the school season. Ultimately, the request is often deferred to the WIAA executive office for denial.

In numerous cases, despite the rule, school personnel campaign for an exception to the rule or often cite the nonschool activity as an exceptional athlete opportunity, even though most events fall short of the membership’s criteria as an “exceptional athlete” opportunity. These continuous efforts to seek exceptions to the nonschool participation provisions attempt to diminish the exceptional athlete definition.

Opponents claim the rule is counter-intuitive to the philosophy of the membership. By providing nonschool opportunities for events not meeting the exceptional athlete threshold, it diminishes the rationale and reasoning for the nonschool restrictions, which is loyalty to the school team. Under this proposal, each member of a team can substitute up to two of its school competitions for up to two nonschool events at the expense of the team. In an extreme example for a team of 12 members, that could account for 24 occasions the team would not be “whole.”

Detractors of the amendment could also argue it erodes the stature and standing of high school participation as the most influential and beneficial athletic experience and opens the door of opportunity for nonschool program providers during the school season. Once that genie gets let out of the bottle, it may be difficult to know where it might lead.

The votes leading up to advancing the amendment to the Annual Meeting is interesting and worth extra consideration. The Sports Advisory Committee and Advisory Council were relatively split on whether to advance proposal to the membership; however, the Board of Control voted unanimously to bring the amendment forward.

More intriguing is how the committees voted in supporting or not supporting the adoption of the measure. The Sports Advisory voted 8-6 to not support the rule’s passage, and the Advisory Council voted unanimously (12-0) to defeat the amendment. However, in a turnabout, the Board of Control voted 10-1 in favor of adopting the proposal.

The other proposed amendment to the Nonschool Participation section would allow students, with school administration approval, to participate in skills contests during the season in the same sport. No school resources or coach involvement will be permitted in relation to participation in these events.

Skills contests refer to events that isolate separate sports skills outside the traditional competition setting that are restricted to individual participants. An acceptable skills contest prohibits physical contact with other competitors, and it contains no risks of serious injury or the extreme fatigue of an actual sport competition. Examples of an individual’s skills are shooting, kicking, passing, dunking, etc. One of the most popular skills competitions is the NFL’s Punt, Pass & Kick and the Drive, Chip & Putt championship associated with the USGA, PGA and The Masters.

The rationale for the proposal is to accommodate the number of requests to allow participation in skills contests that are different from and have no resemblance to traditional team competitions other than the skills it takes to participate in the sport.

The Sports Advisory, Advisory Council and Board of Control all recognize the acceptance of the perceived innocuousness of the amendment by voting unanimously to advance it and support its adoption into the Rules of Eligibility.