Please Read the following before continuing:
Athletic Program Guidelines
The following guidelines have been written to inform all Freshmen, Junior Varsity and Varsity team members about the standard rules, policies and procedures governing the EBHS Athletic Program. All Athletic Program Guidelines are superseded by established school policy contained within the EBHS Student Handbook.
These guidelines have been diligently considered by the coaching staff and found to be necessary and reasonable. These guidelines will be strictly enforced by the coaching staff and players. Your cooperation in abiding by these guidelines throughout the season will enhance your chances of achieving your individual goals and our chances of achieving our team goals.
A. Training Guidelines
It is the feeling of the coaching staff that any smoking, drinking, and late hours are very detrimental to your successful participation in our athletic program. They cut your efficiency and destroy team discipline. Anyone who is unwilling to make an all-out effort can have no hope for success in our athletic program. Further, the first three items on the list below are strictly enforced by the MIAA.
1. No Smoking
2. No drinking
3. No use of drugs
4. Good sleeping and eating habits
a. At least 8 hours of sleep per night
b. Reasonable curfews will be announced
5. Report all injuries to your coach and trainer immediately, however minor and harmless they may seem. (Note: improper and/or inadequate conditioning are major contributing factors in a large percentage of athletic injuries.
B. Equipment Guidelines
1. Any incidents of stealing or unauthorized borrowing involving members of the athletic program will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely. Items such as issued athletic equipment and personal belongings (watches, rings, wallets, etc.) should be kept secure at all times.
2. It is the responsibility of each player to secure and maintain his/her personal and issued athletic equipment. Stealing, exchanging, or unauthorized borrowing of equipment will not be tolerated. Each player will sign out for his/her issued equipment. All equipment will be returned personally no later than one week following the last game of the season. Records will be kept and all equipment not returned will be billed to you and mailed to your parents.
3. Individual discretion should be used in keeping uniforms and equipment clean and hygienic. Also, personal cleanliness should be maintained at all times.
4. Issued athletic equipment (i.e., jackets) should be worn only when participating in a scheduled team activity (i.e., practice or a game).
5. (No equipment from any other school may be worn at practice sessions or during competitive events).
C. Locker Room Guidelines
1. The locker room will be opened only by a coach no sooner than 2:15 PM.
2. Each player will be issued a locker for storage of his/her athletic equipment. Please print your name on white tape and place it on your locker.
3. Profanity and any off-colored language will not be tolerated.
4. Horse-play and/or “fooling around” in a locker room area, on busses, or on the field will not be tolerated. Your susceptibility to injury is much greater at these times and therefore cannot be condoned. “Your attitude will be reflected in your actions.”
5. You are expected to hang your gear in your locker and to keep your locker area clean. Each player must do his part in maintaining a tidy and sanitary locker room. All refuse should be placed in the proper receptacles located in the locker room area.
6. Any destruction of locker room area (writing on walls, damaging lockers, etc.) will result in disciplinary action and, if necessary, financial billing.
7. Spikes/cleats are not to be worn in the school building or locker room area. This is to prevent possible injury to yourself and damage to the floors.
8. Bare feet are not permitted in any area of the building outside the locker rooms.
9. The windows in the coaches’ office will be used to announce all athletic notices — check it daily. Also, all players are encouraged to post appropriate athletic pictures, quotes, etc. on the athletic bulletin board.
D. Practice and Game Guidelines
1. Regular practice is necessary if superb condition and successful performance are to be achieved. Maximum use of practice time in athletics is a prerequisite to a successful team. Injuries cheat you of this valuable time. We will have some injuries. Let us work together to enable the time of disability caused by these misfortunes to be at a minimum.
2. Attendance at daily practice is required. Attendance will be taken before or during each practice session. If, for any reason, you will be late for practice or will be forced to miss a practice session, one of the coaches must be notified and a justifiable reason given. Unexcused absences or tardiness will not be tolerated and will be dealt with severely. A player may be suspended for one game if he/she is inexcusably absent from practicing one time. A player may be suspended from the team no less than two games or possibly be dismissed from the team if he/she is inexcusably absent from an athletic competition.
3. If you are absent from school the day of a scheduled game or practice session, you will not be allowed to participate. To be allowed to participate in a scheduled game or practice session, you must be in attendance at school prior to 11 AM. Exceptions to this rule may be considered only when arrangements are made with the school administration.
4. Practice will be held throughout the week at times established by the coach and Athletic Director.
5. Never leave the practice area without permission or without consulting a coach.
6. Under the direction of the team’s captains and coaches, all underclassmen and managers will be required to assist in transporting and storing all equipment before and after practices and games.
7. Play participation in sports shall be in accord with the MIAA Rule #51/#97.2 — (Practice Game Limitations —inside and outside competition). See bulletin board.
8. A neat and presentable appearance is expected at all times, both on and off the field. When traveling as a team, each team member is requested to be properly attired and at his/her best behavior.
9. Report any type of injury to your coach however trivial it may seem. (Note: Follow up all accident-insurance reports and claims with your coach, trainer and faculty manager.)
10. The eating of food {other than the chewing of gum and the drinking of liquids (other than water)} will not be permitted on or in the team bench area before or during a scheduled game or practice session.
11. Bench jockeying will be governed by the rules established by the coaching staff at EBHS.
· “Whereas friendly banter between players is not to be prohibited, cursing, obscene language, malicious or personal remarks to opponents or spectators should not be tolerated at any time. Rather the players should spend their energies toward encouraging their teammates to better efforts.” Therefore, there will be no bench jockeying of opponents, only helpful advice and encouragement to your teammates.
12. After the first game of that sport in which a participant first elects to participate, he may not transfer to another sport unless mutually agreed upon by the player, coaches involved and the Athletic Director.
13. Team discipline and self-discipline are key factors to a successful season. Listed are six ways discipline can be evident during a game:
1. Being on time
2. A neat and presentable appearance throughout the game
3. Carrying out coaches’ orders whether the squad agrees with them or not
4. Maintaining emotional stability in the face of failure or hostile spectators
5. Accepting officials and their decisions as part of the game
6. Once the game is played, refraining from passing derogatory remarks concerning the opponent
14. Un-sportsmanlike conduct will not be tolerated. The Coach, Athletic Director and Principal will meet to discuss game suspension or possible dismissal from the team on any case involving such conduct.
E. Academic Guidelines
1. An academic record will be kept on each player throughout the season, and if necessary appropriate measures will be taken to assist anyone who may be having difficulty.
a. Remember: You are in school to learn and to prepare yourself — be a student/athlete, not an athlete/student. If you become ineligible you are cheating yourself, your parents, and your teammates.
b. Only students in good standing are eligible to participate in the Athletic Program.
c. An academically ineligible player will not be allowed to participate in scheduled games and practice sessions until proper notice has been given by the school administration.
2. Players should avoid any type of disciplinary detention so that practice will not be delayed. Repeated violators will be dealt with in an appropriate manner to encourage them to avoid such disciplinary action. Continued violations may result in suspension or dismissal from the team.
3. Keep all grades at a satisfactory level. If you are having difficulty, inform your co-captain or one of the coaches.
4. Be respectful to teachers and administrators at all times.
5. If you have any problems or questions — academic, athletic, personal, etc. — please do not hesitate to consult one of the coaches at your earliest convenience.
Massachusetts General Laws
Chapter 269
Crimes against Public Peace
Whoever is a principal organizer or participant in the crime of hazing, as defined herein, shall be punished by a fine of not more than three thousand dollars or by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than one year, or both such fine and imprisonment.
The term “hazing” as used in this section and in sections eighteen and nineteen, shall mean any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating, branding. forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug or other substance, or any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary, consent shall not be available as a defense to any prosecution under this action. Added by St. 1985, c 536; amended by St. 1987, c. 665.
Whoever knows that another person is the victim of hazing as defined in section seventeen and is at the scene of such crime shall, to the extent that such person can do so without danger or peril to himself or others, report such crime to an appropriate law enforcement official as soon as reasonably practicable. Whoever fails to report such crime shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars. Added by St. 1985, c. 536; amended by St. 1987, c. 665.
Each institution of secondary education and each public and private institution of post secondary education shall issue to every student group, student team or student organization which is part of such institution or is recognized by the institution or permitted by the institution to use its name or facilities or is known by the institution to exist as an unaffiliated student group, student team or student organization, a copy of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen; provided, however, that an institution’s compliance with this section’s requirements that an institution issue copies of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen to unaffiliated student groups, teams or organizations shall not constitute evidence of the institution’s recognition or endorsement of said unaffiliated student groups, teams or organizations.
Each such group, team or organization shall distribute a copy of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen to each of its members, plebes, pledges or applicants for membership. It shall be the duty of each such group, team or organization, acting through its designated officer, to deliver annually to the institution, an attested acknowledgment stating that such group, team or organization has received a copy of this section and said sections seventeen and eighteen, that each of its members, plebes, pledges or applicants has received a copy of sections seventeen and eighteen, and that such group, team or organization understands and agrees to comply with the provisions of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen.
Each institution of secondary education and each public or private institution of post secondary education shall, at least annually, before or at the start of enrollment, deliver to each person who enrolls as a full time student in such institution a copy of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen.
Each institution of secondary education and each public or private institution of post secondary education shall file, at least annually, a report with the regents of higher education and in the case of secondary schools, the board of education, certifying that such institution has complied with its responsibility to inform student groups, teams or organizations and to notify each full time student enrolled by it of the provisions of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen and also certifying that said institution has adopted a disciplinary policy with regard to the organizers and participants of hazing, and that such policy has been set forth with appropriate emphasis in the student handbook or similar means of communicating the institution’s policies to its students. The board of regents and, in the case of secondary institutions, the board of education shall promulgate regulations governing the content and frequency of such reports, and shall forthwith report to the attorney general any such institution which fails to make such report. Added by St. 1985, c. 536.
EAST BRIDGEWATER HIGH SCHOOL
Department of Athletics
To: All candidates for Interscholastic Athletic Games and their parents
Success in athletics is dependent upon discipline. The responsibility for sound discipline falls on both the coach and each team member. The coach must use his experience and leadership to promote team discipline to have a well-organized team which East Bridgewater can proudly send as our representative to play other schools.
The individual team member is responsible for the self-discipline of an athlete. The attitude of the entire team is dependent on the attitude of each (individual) member, and self-discipline for an athlete may require effort than is needed in much of every day life, but this effort is totally necessary for the successful athlete and team.
All successful teams have the same goal and are built with the same winning attitude. A uniform code of basic rules should help all of us, as players and coaches, find and stay on the winning path.
The basic general rules which an athlete must be willing to accept for proper self-discipline are listed below. More specific guidelines which apply to specific sports will be provided by the Athletic Director and the coach.
Regulations students must understand to protect their eligibility:
1. Scholarship - Credit requirements are established by the school and MIAA. Passing grades in four (4) major courses or the equivalent (20 credits) are required. Eligibility is determined at the termination of each marking period with the review of the report card. If a student is declared ineligible, he or she may not participate interscholastically until evidence of good academic standing is established after the review of the next report card.
2. User Fees - A student may not participate in athletic or music extracurricular activities in a given school year until a one-time $200.00 fee obligation is met. Payments must be made by check or money order; cash will not be accepted. Checks/money orders, payable to Town of East Bridgewater, will not be cashed until the day of the team’s/group’s first contest/performance. After the team/group takes part in its first contest/performance, the money will not be refunded for any reason. Waiver forms can be obtained in the principal’s office. NOTE: Payment of the User Fee does not ensure playing time.
3. Chemical Health/Alcohol/Drugs/Tobacco - During the entire academic year (the first allowable day of fall practice, through the end of the academic year or final athletic competition of the year, whichever is later), a student shall not, regardless of the quantity, use, consume, possess, buy/sell, or give away any beverage containing alcohol; any tobacco product; marijuana; steroids; or any controlled substance. This policy includes products such as “NA or near beer”. It is not a violation for a student to be in possession of a legally defined drug specifically prescribed for the student’s own use by his/her doctor. This rule represents only a minimum standard upon which schools may develop more stringent requirements.
If a student in violation of this rule is unable to participate in interscholastic
sports due to injury or academics, the penalty will not take effect until that student is able to participate again.Minimum PENALTIES:
FIRST VIOLATION:
First violation: When the Principal confirms, following an opportunity for the student to be heard, that a violation occurred, the student shall lose eligibility for the next consecutive interscholastic contests totaling 25% of all interscholastic contests in that sport. No exception is permitted for a student who becomes a participant in a treatment program. It is recommended that the student be allowed to remain at practice for the purpose of rehabilitation. All decimal part of an event
will be truncated i.e. All fractional part of an event will be dropped when calculating the 25% of the seasonSECOND & SUBSEQUENT VIOLATIONS:
Second and subsequent violations: When the Principal confirms, following an opportunity for the student to be heard, that a violation occurred, the student shall lose eligibility for the next consecutive interscholastic contests totaling 60% of all interscholastic contests in that sport. All decimal part of an event will be truncated i.e. All fractional part of an event will be dropped when calculating the 60% of the season.
If after the second or subsequent violations the student of his/her own volition becomes a participant in an approved chemical dependency program or treatment program, the student may be certified for reinstatement in MIAA activities after a minimum of 40% of events. The director or a counselor of a chemical dependency treatment center must issue such certification. All decimal part of an event will be truncated i.e. All fractional part of an event will be dropped when calculating the
40% of the season.Penalties shall be cumulative each academic year. If the penalty period is not completed during the season of violation, the penalty shall carry over to the student’s next season of actual participation, which may affect the eligibility status of the student during the next academic year.
5. Physical Examination - Each year prior to practice every student must have a physical examination by the school or family physician.
6. Attendance - On school days a student must be in attendance in order to participate in a practice or game scheduled for that day. An athlete will incur a temporary or permanent dismissal from the team for inadequate attendance, as established in the Athletic Guidelines. A student who is tardy or dismissed must have been present for one-half of the school day to participate in an extra-curricular activity. To be eligible for weekend activities, a student must be present in school on the final day of the week. A student who is not present on the final day of the week leading into an extended vacation shall become eligible again after two days of inactivity. Ex. A student who misses the Friday before February Vacation is eligible to play a game on Monday.
7. Equipment - A student is responsible for all equipment and clothing that is issued to him/her by the school. Losses of any of these articles will be paid for by the athlete based on the present replacement costs. The athlete further agrees neither to loan this equipment to others, nor to use it for gym classes, non-school activities, or street wear. All equipment must be returned or paid for in order to participate in another sport.
8. Travel - Athletes must travel to and from contests in transportation provided by the school. Failure to do so will incur suspension for the season. In emergency situations, and with written parental permission and permission from the Athletic Director, other types of transportation will be allowed.
9. Suspension - A student must not be under Suspension as defined in the student/parent guide (page 45).
10. Guidelines - The athletic director and coach may add training and other guidelines regarding practice, curfews, sportsmanship, and behavior as it pertains to their sport which will incur a temporary or permanent suspension.
11. State Rules - All athletes must abide by state level rules MIAA established for the conduct of interscholastic athletics.
By clicking "I Agree" below, I am attaching my electronic signature agreeing to the rules and guidelines stated above. I understand that if I do not agree to these terms, I should click, "I Disagree" stating that you don't agree with the rules and regulations stated above..
Approved by East Bridgewater School Committee - June, 2003