virginia high school league building better citizens 1

Virginia High School LeagueBuilding Better Citizens

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Virginia High School LeagueBuilding Better Citizens

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Purpose

Review important VHSL policies and information

Explain this year’s rule changes

Answer any questions you might have

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Clinic Attendance

Each school must be represented by one girls soccer coach & one boys soccer coach

Officials must attend each year to be eligible for varsity and post-season consideration

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Penalties for Non-Attendance

Coach Letter to principal

$50 fine

Head coach must take NFHS soccer rules exam

Official 1 year – cannot work varsity soccer

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Clinic Make-up

Coaches or officials who are unable, due to extreme

or unusual circumstances, to attend one of the VHSL

Rules Clinics, MAY be given an opportunity to meet the

clinic requirement by viewing the PowerPoint

presentation online.

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Clinic Make-up Request Procedure

The request for an official must come from a VHSL Principal or his/her designee.

The request for a coach must come from his/her Principal/AD.

Requests must be in writing (email is OK).

Past clinic attendance and present circumstances along with any additional pertinent information will be considered in the decision to grant or deny the request.

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Rules Clinic Make-up Requirements

If the request is granted

The coach/official must pay a $25 administrative fee to VHSL in order to receive credit for attendance.

The requesting school/association must verify that the official/coach did in fact view the presentation.

The coach must take the online exam.

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On the Web 10-11 NFHS soccer rule changes &

interpretations AR/CR signal charts

Soccer rules comparison

Soccer field diagram

Soccer headgear and ASTM performance

Rule change proposal form

10-11 VHSL Rules Clinic PowerPoint

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Important Dates

First Practice Date

First Contest Date

District Deadline

Regional Deadline

State QF

Feb. 21*

Mar. 14*

May 28

June 4

June 7

* Local restrictions may apply

VHSL ChampionshipsGroups A & AA

June 10-11, 2011 – VHSL Spring Jubilee

Hosted by Radford University

VHSL ChampionshipsGroup AAA

June 10-11, 2011 – VHSL Spring Jubilee

Hosted by Westfield High School and the Northern

Region

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Contest Limitations

Regular season contests . . . . 16* No player may exceed 16

No team may exceed 16

*Local restrictions may apply

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Pre-Season Conditioning

Must be open to entire student body

May include weight training and/or running

Cannot be sport-specific – no soccer equip.

Cannot be required

There can be no instruction

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EXAM REQUIREMENT

All soccer officials must take and pass the exam to be eligible to work VHSL matches.

Minimum score of 70 for regular season eligibility

Minimum score of 80 for post season eligibility

Soccer coaches who miss the rules clinic must take the exam

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ONLINE EXAM

Exam will be taken online -- exams.nfhs.org VHSL will provide a link to the NFHS site from

the Soccer landing page of the VHSL web site.

NO PAPER COPIES OF THE EXAM WILL BE ISSUED.

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TESTING DATES Exam opens on Monday, Feb. 7, 2011

Exams completed by Mar. 6, 2011 – no fee

Officials have 4 weeks to complete the exam requirement

This provides our staff with time to process results from the NFHS and send information to commissioners in time to make any necessary adjustments to assignments

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LATE FEES March 7-13 … $50.00 fee will be applied to

exams taken during this time period. $50.00 check must be received by VHSL before credit will be given.

March 14-20 … $75.00 fee will be applied to exams taken during this time period. $75.00 check must be received by VHSL before credit will be given.

March 21-April 30 … $100.00 – Must be received before credit will be given.

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EXAM CLOSES

All exams will close on April 30, 2011

Officials may NOT be assigned to VHSL contests until they have completed the exam requirement.

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Testing Deadlines

Do not mistake “Days remaining” on the NFHS testing website with VHSL deadlines.

The number of “days remaining” refers only to how long the exam will remain available, and has NOTHING to do with VHSL testing deadlines.

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VHSL Testing Deadlines (Review)

Feb. 7 – Mar. 6 … No fee

Mar.7 – Mar. 13 … $50.00

Mar. 14 – Mar. 20 … $75.00

Mar. 21 – Apr. 30 … $100.00

YOU MAY NOT OFFICIATE UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED THE EXAM REQUIREMENT

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ABOUT LATE FEES Prior to online testing, there was a SINGLE

test date

ALL officials had to go to a testing location at a specified time on that date.

Officials had 90 minutes to complete a closed-book exam.

With online testing, opportunities for completing the exam are significantly greater.

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ABOUT LATE FEES The exam is an annual requirement – officials know

this.

Officials have a responsibility to meet requirements within specified deadlines.

This is no different than paying your mortgage or any other bill on time – late payment results in penalties.

Every official who fails to complete the exam within the first 4 weeks creates additional work for commissioners and VHSL staff.

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VHSL ID REQUIRED Officials must have a VHSL ID to take the

exam

Officials should have only ONE VHSL ID, regardless of the number of sports you officiate.

If you do not have a VHSL ID, contact your association commissioner.

Registration fees must be paid prior to receiving a VHSL ID.

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EXAM WEBSITE

If you took ANY NFHS/VHSL exam online last year, you already have an exam website username and password.

Bring up exams.nfhs.org and sign in.

Soccer landing page on VHSL website will have a link to the exam site.

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NEW USERS

If you have never taken an NFHS/VHSL exam online, you will need to create a username and password.

There is an online PowerPoint presentation that describes how to do this.

PowerPoints and other similar information are listed as “Resources” in the lower right-hand part of each web page.

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EXAM INSTRUCTIONS

If you need help with the mechanics of registration or taking the exam, view the power point presentation “Instructions for Taking Online Exams” in the resource section on the soccer landing page of the VHSL website.

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EXAM LAYOUT

100 True/False questions

Order of the questions is random

NO TWO TESTS ARE ALIKE!!!

If you need to re-take the exam (because you failed on your first attempt), the questions will appear in a different order.

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RE-TESTING

Officials who score less than 80 may take the exam a second time

No additional attempts will be permitted

Do NOT attempt the exam until you are prepared to take it.

Officials who score 80 or higher on their first attempt are not permitted a second try.

VHSL PROGRAMS ARE

EDUCATION-BASED

SPORTSMANSHIP IS

THE #1 PRIORITY

OF EDUCATION-BASED

ATHLETICS

Sportsmanship

The sole purpose of VHSL and other “education-based” athletics and activities programs is to provide students with opportunities to learn skills through sport that will make them better people.

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Sportsmanship More and more VHSL schools are realizing that

sportsmanship is an issue that needs to be addressed

VHSL has established sportsmanship guidelines for championship events, and has encouraged schools to adopt the same or similar guidelines for regular season play.

VHSL Handbook 27-13-1 thru 27-13-14

We are about “Building better citizens!”

Good sportsmanship is simply having RESPECT for oneself, for others, and for the sport.

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Player Ejections

Total – 447

(363 last yr.)

185 Boys players

(increase of 34)

26 girls players

(decrease of 1)

All Player Ejections - 2009-10

3

26

10

100

185

43

3

1 29 114

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B. Basketball

G. Basketball

Baseball

Softball

B. Soccer

G. Soccer

B. Lax

G. Lax

Football

F. Hockey

Wrestling

Track

Causes for Ejections

Fighting Foul language directed at official

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Causes for Ejections

Intent to Injure Taunting

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Causes for Ejections

Penalties for fighting, foul/abusive language directed toward officials, intent to injure and taunting are cause for ejections in ALL sports. These are not unique to soccer.

140 of the 211 ejections in soccer (66%) were for one of those reasons.

Causes for Ejections

Those 140 ejections represent 31% of all players ejected across sports.

PLAYER BEHAVIOR MUST CHANGE!

Assistance from coaches is needed.

Kids want to play. If coaches were to bench a player who exhibited inappropriate behavior, most inappropriate behavior would end.

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Soccer Player Ejections

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Coach Ejections

Total # of coaches

ejected = 61

(38 last yr)

10 Boys Coaches ejected

(increase of 5)

5 girls coaches ejected

(increase of 4)

All 2009-10 Coach Ejections

11

3

4

19

10

125

1B. Basketball

G. Basketball

Baseball

Softball

B. Soccer

G. Soccer

Football

Volleyball

B. Lacrosse

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Our Goal Our goal is ZERO

We MUST do better

There is NEVER a good reason for a player or coach to be ejected

Excessive celebration is not “enthusiasm”

Coaches who “support their athletes” by being unsportsmanlike and/or ejected have done just the opposite

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Coaches are Teachers

Coaches, if you are more concerned with

wins and losses than with teaching your

athlete skills that will make him/her a better

person – GET OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL

COACHING! NOW!

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Behavior of Officials

Officials – you are the “protectors of the sport.”

NEVER engage a spectator – not before, not during, not after a meet

NEVER “bait” a coach or participant

ALWAYS behave in a professional manner

You are always an official, whether you are in the grocery store or a spectator at your child’s wrestling meet – behave like one.

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Behavior of Officials

ALWAYS show respect for players, coaches and administrators.

If you have “an attitude” about a coach or team, don’t do their matches.

If a question is asked in a respectful manner, it deserves an answer.

What you permit, you promote.

The match is about the student athletes, not you.

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Questions about Sportsmanship

All questions regarding VHSL regulations should be directed to VHSL office – not to contest officials

Soccer officials do not determine the number of matches a player or coach will miss if he/she is ejected.

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Reporting Sportsmanship Problems

ALL ejections must be reported to VHSL office

Sportsmanship “incidents” (things that happen external to the game itself) must be reported to the VHSL office

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It’s All About RESPECT

Good sportsmanship is nothing more than having and showing respect for competitors, coaches, officials, each other, and the sport itself!

Play with honor!

Player behavior mirrors that of his/her coach.