MSHSAA Regulations
The Missouri State High School Activities Association has created a new mandatory rule that requires every school to have a designated "Dead Period" where no activities may occur. Each school gets to choose their nine consecutive days to have their dead period. Administration has chosen to designate July 31 st through August 8 th as our dead period. The board has approved this and I have entered it on the MSHSAA website as our dates. Please read the paragraphs below that I have copied verbatim from the MSHSAA handbook. This may affect you even if you are not a coach. Thank you for your time and thank you for your attention and cooperation with this issue.
Bi-Law 108--- The dead period shall be nine consecutive days in length, and must begin on a Saturday and end of a Sunday. Each school is responsible for setting its own dead period. The earliest possible dead period may be set no earlier than the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend or the Saturday following the school's last day of classes, whichever is later. The latest possible dead period would end on the Sunday prior to the first allowable high school fall practice.
Definition of a dead period : A period of defined length in which no contact takes place between school coaches/directors of MSHSAA sponsored activities and students enrolled in the member school, or who will be enrolled in the member school during the next school year. Further, during the dead period school facilities are not utilized by enrolled students in connection with any sport or activity governed by MSHSAA. The dead period is a "no school activities time." No open gyms, competitions, practices, conditioning, weight training; no activity-related functions or fundraisers, camps or clinics at school facilities or sponsored elsewhere by the school; no coaches/directors or students may have planned contact other than casual, normal community, non-activity contact. The school dead period must be the same for all sports and activities. While there may be sports activities during this time, they must not involve the school coach, the school or school facilities.
Our middle school and high school coaches, directors, and athletes are affected by this dead period.
Bi-Law 237.1
Definition of Contact Day- A day of contact is defined as any date on which any coach or instruction in the skills and techniques of any sport takes place, regardless of whether activity-specific equipment is used. Any of the following would count as a day of contact- competition, practice, review or chalkboard sessions, open-facility, camp/clinic, group lessons, private lessons. Conditioning/Strength activities will not count as a contact day as long as coaching/instruction of sport specifics are not being discussed. Simply being at a school facility will not count as a day of contact unless both coach and student are there and the sport is taking place.
Bi-Law 237.2
Limits on Contact High School only- For High Schools only, a limit of 25 contact days are allowed per sport, per gender during the summer. Sports contact as defined above between any coach for a particular sport and gender and any student enrolled at the school or who will be in and attending the school that fall will count as one day of contact toward the limit of 25 days for that school. Summer contact days shall be documented and available upon request to other schools and/or the MSHSAA office.