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‘Tis (out of) the Season
April 2, 2015
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
Those who live in close proximity to high schools throughout Michigan don’t even need a calendar to know what time of year it is when a new sports season begins.
Whistles piercing through the hum of their air conditioners on the first Monday morning in August mark the start of fall from nearby football facilities. The ping of aluminum as sidewalks and grass re-appear from winter’s grip signifies the start of spring.
Office supply stores could see calendar sales soar in those households – or occupants might at least do a double-take when checking smartphone calendars – in the near future if MHSAA out-of-season coaching regulations are modified. The familiar sounds of the seasons could resonate in non-traditional months as well.
A major topic of the recent MHSAA Update Meetings and AD In-Services in the fall was the possibility of revamping the regulations regarding out-of-season contact for school coaches with school teams during the school year. The Summer Dead Period would remain in place and has been largely supported by membership since it was implemented for the 2007-08 school year.
It should be noted that out-of-season revision is not a certainty, but simply in the exploratory stage at this point.
Yet, the time was ripe to initiate discussion on this topic in the fall. The growth of non-school athletic programs and demands placed upon students by such entities in recent years was one factor. The difficulty the MHSAA has enforcing – and schools have interpreting – current out-of-season coaching regulations is another factor.
“The fundamental question is how to allow more contact between coaches and students out of season without encouraging single-sport participation,” MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts said.
Can this be done? Can trends toward specialization and away from multi-sport participation be reversed through greater contact periods for each sport within the school year?
Proponents of this school of thought believe that time otherwise spent with non-school coaches would be best served with education-based coaches who, in theory, would be on the same page with peers at their school, all encouraging multi-sport participation.
“Part of the explosion of AAU and club involvement has been the perpetuation of the notion that without additional training and competition, students will not reach their potential nor maximize their chances of being recruited by colleges,” said Scott Robertson, athletic director at Grand Haven. “When our high school coaches have the ability to provide a similar experience, but with an education-first mindset regulated by athletic directors, the expectations of student-athletes by coaches can be tempered.”
It is a lively debate that will be picking up momentum for the remainder of this school year and into the next.
Following are some of the concepts and comments from the fall, with key points from a statewide survey to be published later this week. The MHSAA's Representative Council discussed these results at its March meeting, and action is possible during its final meeting of the school year in May.
Let's begin
Perhaps the most criticized, misinterpreted, ignored, and/or difficult to enforce rule in the MHSAA Handbook resides in Regulation II, Section 11 (H): the three- and four-player rule for coaches out of season during the school year. (See bottom of this page.)
Debate has long spiraled in dizzying circles around definitions such as “open gyms,” “under one roof,” “conditioning,” “drills,” and other components.
“One of the problems is the MHSAA finds this specific rule difficult to enforce and interpret,” MHSAA Associate Director Tom Rashid said. “Another perceived problem is that there might be a disconnect between school coaches and students out of season, which might be driving students toward non-school programs.”
It’s simple to recognize lightning rods, but quite another to construct a device for harvesting the sparks in a productive manner. To that end, Rashid prepared an outline for discussion on the topic as he hit the trails around Michigan this fall for Update Meetings and AD In-Services.
“We felt we needed to see if we could do better,” Rashid said. “Rather than say to 600 ADs, ‘What do you think about out-of-season coaching rules?’ we asked about a new concept. We created a starting point for discussion.”
The basic premise brought forward to the masses was this: a voluntary contact period of one month to six weeks with a limit of 10 or 15 days of contact in that period – and perhaps three in any one week – between a coach and his/her athletes out of season with any number of students, grade 7-12. Due to large participation numbers in football, some consideration was given to limiting the number of players in any one out-of-season session to 11, thus not creating “spring football.”
A straw poll from the gatherings in the fall indicated nearly 70 percent of attendees in favor of “contact periods” versus the current rule, prompting a detailed survey to all member schools sent in October to further measure the climate and hone in on specifics for desired changes.
“It was a very open process with great discussion,” Rashid said. “All size schools, all demographics, and all corners of the state weighed in.”
As always, the devil is in the detail, and the October survey yielded plenty of detail.
Numbers favor no numbers
As mentioned earlier, nearly 70 percent of attendees at MHSAA fall gatherings indicated that they might prefer a rule that specified coaching contact periods outside their sport during the school year, as opposed to limiting the number of student-athletes per session.
The ensuing survey sent to member schools in late October reflects that sentiment in schools of all sizes, and in all zones of the state. On the topic of counting contact days out of season with no limit on the number of students involved, more than 72 percent of 514 responding schools favored the plan. Class A schools led the way with nearly 76 percent in support. Class D schools chimed in at 69 percent in favor. Support was strong across the zones of the state as well, led by the Detroit metro area (Zone 3) at 76.5. The middle of the state (Zone 5) was the low, but still found close to 60 percent in favor of such a revision.
The survey revealed consistencies across the board relative to the amount of three- and four-player sessions currently utilized by schools of different sizes, and the support and opposition to questions regarding revised regulations on the topic. For instance, nearly 50 percent of Class A schools indicate that their coaches work with students under the current rule most every week during the offseason, while 40 percent of Class D schools report that most of their coaches never utilize the three- or four-player rule at all out of season. Not surprisingly then, in questions posed where three-and four-player stipulations might still exist, the larger schools favored such changes at a higher rate than the smaller schools.
Survey data also reveals a reason for such opposition at lower-enrollment schools: a simple numbers game. In Class C and D, the majority of schools report that 60-80 percent of their student-athletes participate in more than one sport. So, with more students busier year-round than at their larger school counterparts, there are fewer people to attend out-of-season sessions.
Similarly, the concept of extending the current preseason down time for all sports was supported more in Class C and D schools than Class A and B.
“It is always a challenge for individual schools to see things from the other schools’ perspectives,” Rashid said. “It’s hard for people to say, ‘It might be different for us, but for the greater good, we might have to change our culture here.’”
But, that line of thinking is certainly understood at Chelsea High School, a Class B school of more than 800 students. Athletic director and football coach Brad Bush is an advocate of multi-sport participation, regardless of school size.
“The current three- or four-player rule benefits kids by developing skills, but does not force kids to feel pressure to be at a full practice,” Bush said. “Changing this rule could reduce the number of multiple-sport athletes. Our staff and league is united in believing that changing this rule could be a big mistake.”
Outside influence
Part of the balancing act in attempting to revise out-of-season rules is to encourage greater participation on school teams, while not promoting specialization.
Interestingly, a number of schools in the survey reported that they have policies in place limiting in-season athletes from attending sports-specific training from out-of-season coaches. The percentages ranged from 27.6 percent in Class D to 41 percent in Class B.
Most schools allow weightlifting during the season, followed in decreasing order by three- or four- player workouts, conditioning and open gyms. However, more than 40 percent of responding schools have in place a policy prohibiting non-school competition for in-season athletes. The message seems to be that if activity is taking place, the preference is for it to be under supervision, and for that supervision to come from school coaches.
“If a coach is going to hold three workouts per week out of season, a student may leave another sport to play in the offseason of their preferred sport,” Rashid said. “As such, many ADs identified that it would be the role of each school to regulate out-of-season coaching. Right now, the ADs have to keep a handle on out-of-season activities and if the rules change, depending on their demographic, they might need to be involved even more.”
With advance planning, an environment can be created in which all of a school’s sports can exist in harmony and encourage multi-sport membership.
“Athletic directors can guide all coaches on their staffs to work together to create 12-month calendars that focus on the needs of kids and respect the desire of many to participate in multiple sports,” Robertson said. “In doing so, coaches can work to avoid overlaps in important opportunities where kids may be put in win-lose situations. With careful planning student-athletes will be afforded more opportunities to train and develop with their classmate peers and within their own communities.”
Chris Ervin, athletic director at St. Johns High School, is one of many in the camp that believes the current system accomplishes a school’s missions when properly supervised.
“Our coaches have ample opportunities to coach in the three- or four-player setting, and our athletes have plenty of opportunities to improve their skill sets through open gyms which are not coach-directed,” Ervin said.
Others agree that any change might introduce unwanted consequences. One source, an administrator in a strong football community, speculates in that town and others like it, football programs could smother other sport programs by scheduling full workouts on top of other in-season sports. Voluntary or not, it is opined that kids would gravitate toward the out-of-season football workouts if that’s the signature sport in town.
Ervin can see the same point. “I don't see this affecting my role too much, but I do believe this could lead to even more specialization. For example, if football coaches are able to work with their players 11 at a time in the offseason, I believe athletes will feel more pressure to be part of that football workout while they are in-season with another sport.”
Under another scenario, school coaches might someday be allowed to coach non-school teams during the school year. The rationale is that if students are participating outside the school campus anyway, wouldn’t it be better that they are coached by school personnel so that the educational message is delivered appropriately?
Add to this the fact that 100 percent of surveyed schools reported conducting open gyms in basketball and 66 percent in volleyball – the two most high-profile AAU sports – would it benefit schools to have trained personnel in those non-school leadership roles?
“This would connect our coaches to school kids but also could have the unintended consequence of specialization,” Rashid said. “However, the coaches in place would be our coaches, whereas currently we don’t have a say in the AAU coaches of our students.”
Not yet. This topic on the survey was favored by roughly 60 percent overall, but an equal 20.4 percent were at opposite ends of the spectrum strongly in favor and strongly against, with the highest percentage falling just above lukewarm.
By Class, the C and D schools were slightly more opposed to this idea than Class A and B. Why? Very often, in the smaller communities, there are no non-school opportunities; school sports are the only option.
Robertson believes that incorporating a revised out-of-season coaching plan could assist families financially in the long run.
“By having the ability to include larger numbers of kids in development activities and allowing for a limited number of competitions, there is a strong likelihood that students and their families will choose the out-of-season activities offered by their schools over the AAU/club activities that exist,” Robertson said. “In doing so, there will be no rental of outside gyms, no mandatory club fees, and reduced costs to families.”
Not all ideas have elicited opposing views. One item on the docket that schools uniformly opposed was the possibility of scrimmages within the out-of-season contact period. Most schools indicate a preference for these periods to be instructional only.
Just a tweak
Perhaps the current rule just needs a splint and not a full cast. Maybe it’s not broken after all.
The most popular proposal to emerge from the survey was simply the removal of three little words in the current regulation: “under one roof.”
More than 80 percent of schools favored removing the phrase “under one roof” from Regulation II, Section 11(H) 2. a., which means as long as only three or four students are receiving coaching, then others may be in the facility working on conditioning, or in groups on their own.
Receiving close to 70 percent support from schools is the prospect of removing the portion of Handbook Interpretation 237 which currently prohibits schools from setting up rotations. This would allow a coach to work with dozens of players, three and four at a time.
And, Robertson says, in less time than coaches are currently expending.
“Most high school coaches already commit an enormous amount of time to the offseason development of student-athletes,” he said. “By removing the limit on number of athletes they can have contact with at one time and by placing a limit on the number of dates they can actually have this direct instructional contact, the net gain will be fewer dates, but with a greater impact.”
Rashid forecasts slight modifications of current rules rather than wholesale changes, at least in the near future.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if a few changes come sooner than later,” Rashid said. “One, allow rotations in the three- or four-player rule. Two, allow more than three kids under one roof as long as only three kids are receiving coaching. These two are a broader interpretations of our current rules.”
Simpler could be the answer. Perhaps over the course of time, in trying to be everything to all schools, the rule became more difficult for schools to follow, and for the MHSAA to oversee. Outside influences that could not have been predicted a generation ago have crept into the picture as well.
“These rules are very old, and that doesn’t mean not good,” Rashid said. “They were written at a time when the majority of students played multiple sports; before students began playing in 3rd and 4th grades, and before the non-school sports explosion.”
Even with the current trends and abundance of choices for some athletes, there are strong feelings from various leaders to leave things status quo.
“Our staff and league believes there needs to be a greater emphasis on the current rules with stronger punishments,” Bush said. “The answer is to enforce to current rules that we have, and not change the rules.”
There is a certain irony to this topic in front of athletic administrators and coaches, who spend so many hours in the here and now; in-season, in practices, in games.
“Who would think that what you do out of season could be the most critical piece of school sports discussion that we’ve had?” Rashid ponders. “It’s not what happens during the season, but in the offseason, that might be at the core of encouraging and maintaining school sports participation.”
Current Out-of-Season Rule (Three- or Four-Player Rule)
From MHSAA Handbook, Regulation II, Section 11(H):
2. These limitations out of season apply to coaches:
a. Outside the school season during the school year (from Monday the week of Aug. 15 through the Sunday after Memorial Day observed), school coaches are prohibited from providing coaching at any one time under one roof, facility or campus to more than three (or four) students in grades 7-12 of the district or cooperative program for which they coach (four students if the coaching does not involve practice or competition with students or others not enrolled in that school district). This applies only to the specific sport(s) coached by the coach, but it applies to all levels, junior high/middle school and high school, and both genders, whether the coach is paid or volunteer (e.g., a volunteer JV boys soccer coach may not work with more than three girls in grades 7-12 outside the girls soccer season during the school year).
![Traverse City LEAP](/sites/default/files/2022-03/220318_coaches_2H.jpg)
Traverse City Athletes Taking LEAP into Coaching, Officiating
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
March 18, 2022
Set. Spike. Jump – rather maybe leap?
Nothing new to many female high school student-athletes.
But this spring, Abigail Hicks, Keira Castle, Madeline Bildeaux and Honorae Shore made THE LEAP — as in Learning, Enrichment and Athletic Programs (LEAP). They actually leaped into coaching and officiating roles.
Hicks, Castle and Shore stepped into LEAP as coaches for Willow Hill Elementary School’s volleyball team. Bildeaux became a referee for LEAP’s 4th and 5th grade volleyball program.
All four girls are part of the North Shore traveling volleyball club. And, all four are a part of Future Coaches, its 4-year-old program preparing athletes to become effective coaches through LEAP, which is operated through Traverse City Area Public Schools.
Bildeaux and Castle played their first high school volleyball seasons last fall at Traverse City West. Hicks did the same at Traverse City St. Francis. Shore attends Greenspire, a Grand Valley State University-sponsored charter school located in Traverse City.
Parents, grandparents and school administrators love having the high school girls on the sidelines. The girls may love it even more though.
“The most rewarding aspect of teaching young girls is seeing the excitement they get when they get the hang of playing or when they win a game,” noted Castle, who started with the coaching program as an eighth grader. “I also love knowing that I've helped some of these girls fall in love with a sport.”
There may not be anyone more thrilled with the girls taking the leap than David Payne, elementary sports manager for LEAP. The student coaches help LEAP meet its vision of providing preschool through 12th-grade students with increased opportunities for engagement beyond the school day with activities to improve learning, health and wellness.
“The high school girls have a love and knowledge of the game that they share with the elementary kids,” Payne said. “Parents that were not comfortable or able to coach are finding the excitement and interaction between the high school girls and the elementary kids is very positive.
“At times the high school coaches look like cheerleaders on the sidelines,” he continued. “They keep the energy level high while supporting their team.”
The four ninth graders are the latest to make the “leap.” Jordan Bates, founder of the Future Coaches program, first connected the players as coaches with LEAP as COVD-19 shortened the 2020 season. The very first high school volleyball player to make the leap was Phoebe Humphrey, now a Traverse City Central sophomore. Humphrey coached Cherry Knoll as an eighth grader during the 2020 brief season. She is now coaching Eastern Elementary.
The pandemic also resulted in the cancellation of the 2021 elementary season. This season will conclude next week.
“The opportunities for these athletes to coach their own teams is extraordinary,” Bates said. “It would not have happened without David Payne.
“His support, scheduling acumen, and love of sports has made this program pretty amazing.”
Veronika Caughran, who plays for Traverse City Central, is helping Cherry Knoll Elementary in Traverse City. Anissa Wille, Suttons Bay High School; Jenna Flick, TC West; and TC Central’s Natalie Bourdo and Lily Briggs have coached North Shore travel teams. Briggs, Bourdo and Humphrey have been coaching in North Shore’s beach program for the past three years.
Hicks, who recalls Gladiators varsity players helping coach her in volleyball as a fifth grader, said the girls can’t go it alone. She’s found the Willow Hill school community to be extremely supportive.
“We have received lots of positive feedback from parents, our coaches, our team, and other LEAP coaches,” she said. “All the parents have been very kind and grateful and always willing to support the team by bringing in snacks for after the game — not only for our players but for the opposing team — along with being willing to help line judge and run the scoreboard.”
The high school players-turning-coaches have been attending classes with Bates and guest coaches mostly from the North Shore club. Topics covered include coaching philosophy, how to be a great referee, practice planning, tournament preparation and health and wellness.
Bates said the program benefits go beyond the participants.
“Perhaps the biggest struggle is for athletes and parents to realize how valuable coaching is to an athlete,” he said. “It not only helps them with communication, structure, planning, and strategizing, but also it makes them better athletes earlier in their journey.”
Adding fun too is important, Hicks noted.
“I hope I help make practices a fun environment and for them not to worry about making mistakes and helping them know that not everything is their fault,” she said. “And … how to learn from their mistakes.”
Castle, who started playing volleyball as a fourth grader at Willow Hill, agreed. She recalls fondly the difference past coaches have made in her life, including Bates.
“While I've been coaching I've also noticed how (Willow Hill players) interact with each other and cheer each other on, and it's been such a great experience,” she said.
“I remember the feeling I felt when a coach made me love volleyball, and from coaching these girls I'm starting to see what that's like from a coaching point of view.”
Bates created the program with interscholastic competition and the student-athlete in mind.
“There is also the coaching shortage, so creating opportunities for these athletes to coach, and ref, just made sense,” Bates said.
Castle is preparing to meet the growing needs.
“I plan to continue coaching volleyball until the end of high school,” Castle said. “In a year or two, I want to start coaching middle school volleyball.
“When I get to college I plan to either continue coaching or find a job as a ref.”
Hicks indicated her experience has increased her love for the game of volleyball and respect for coaches.
“I learned that coaching is a little more complex than it looks, and you have to plan practice and be prepared for them to have a bad attitude or unfocused after a long day of school,” she said. “You, as the coach, have to have a good attitude, have lots of patience, be ready to problem solve and get them back on track.”
Teamwork, sportsmanship and the value of hard work are among the strengths Castle and the other future coaches bring to the table.
“We had our girls practice sportsmanship by saying ‘good game’ and waving to the other team,” Castle said. “In practice, we have taught them to work as a team and to always give it your all.”
Hicks recommends coaching to all high school athletes.
“I’ve learned a lot,” she said, “and this has been a positive, fun experience that I definitely recommend.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) From left, Honorae Shore, Abigail Hicks and Kiera Castle coach their Willow Hill elementary volleyball team this season. (Middle) Madeline Bildeaux, far left, also has joined Castle, Hicks and Shore as part of the LEAP coaching and officiating program. (Top photo by Tom Spencer, middle photo courtesy of Allie Walters.)