DA / High School player rules

[Unregistered]

If no high school practices or games are missed for DA and the club knows they are playing high school. Live with it and stop whining. Call Seacoast to complain because the NHIAA and the HS don't care. No rules are being broken according to them.

Why'd you quote my comment for your reply?

[Unregistered]

Being considered a "GOOD" player is always going to be relative. Yes, SUSC DA is going to struggle against areas with a greater population - just math alone has a big say in that. But let's be honest - even if you're in the bottom 1/3 talent-wise on a SUSC DA team, you will equate to an above average player at almost every NHIAA high school. If you were selected at an SUSC tryout (for the best of 3 or 4 levels or play) and continue to be included in the DA program, you clearly have ability. You might not make varsity as a freshman at a top D1 school like Central, Londonderry, Exeter, Bedford but most other schools you will be a stud, probably as an underclassman, definitely as an upperclassman. So for that player, it's potentially a tough choice. Remember, the Londonderry HS/DA player scored 2 goals to send them into the Championship. Tell me she isn't glad she finagled a year playing for her high school...

[Unregistered]

Clearly it's ok to do both.
Last season a player from Londonderry HS did exactly that.
And it wasn't exactly quietly under the radar.
She scored 2 goals in the semi-final to send them into the state final.
If the NHIAA or the school had an official policy against it, there's no way this could happen.
Their opponent would have objected to an illegal player.

Incorrect- here is the rule from the NHIAA website:

Sect. 7: Non-School Competition
A. A member of a school team is a student athlete who is regularly present for, and actively participates in, team tryouts, practices and competitions. Bona fide members, as of the first date to practice in that sport as listed in By-Law Article XXXVIII of the NHIAA Handbook, of a school team are prevented from missing a high school practice or competition to compete with an out-of-school team, practice or competition to include tournaments, showcases, combines or other athletic events.
Whenever a conflict arises between the high school team practice/competition and an out-of-school practice/competition on the same day, the high school team practice/competition must be honored by the student athlete. Priority must be given at all times to the high school team, its practices, and its contests unless a waiver has been granted by the principal and athletic director. It is expressly understood that waivers shall not be granted on a regular basis and shall only be granted in extraordinary circumstances. (1.2015 CM)
Penalties: Any student athlete who violates this rule, unless a waiver has been granted as stated above, for the first time shall be declared ineligible for the next four (4) consecutive interscholastic events or three (3) weeks of a season in which the student athlete is a participant, whichever is greater. This Penalty is effective from the date of his or her last participation in a high school sport. Any student athlete who violates this rule a second time or subsequent time shall be declared ineligible for participation in any high school sport for the balance of the school year.

[Unregistered]

Clearly it's ok to do both.
Last season a player from Londonderry HS did exactly that.
And it wasn't exactly quietly under the radar.
She scored 2 goals in the semi-final to send them into the state final.
If the NHIAA or the school had an official policy against it, there's no way this could happen.
Their opponent would have objected to an illegal player.

And Trinity HS

[Unregistered]

Summary for those who can’t read

The “you can’t play both HS and DA” rule comes from DA - not the NHIAA. DA tells certain girls last year they can’t do both but DA allows two different girls one from Londonderry (not a Patrice school) and one from Trinity (a private school but they compete in NHIAA public school sports) to play both. The primary issue is with SUSC and DA.

The NHIAA will allow outside play AS LONG as the player fulfills their commitment to the HS team as the priority - making all games and practices without interference from the outside sport without penalty.

As long as the girls from Londonderry and trinity made HS their priory this has nothing to do with the NHIAA and everything to do with SUSC girls DA.

[Unregistered]

The “you can’t play both HS and DA” rule comes from DA - not the NHIAA. DA tells certain girls last year they can’t do both but DA allows two different girls one from Londonderry (not a Patrice school) and one from Trinity (a private school but they compete in NHIAA public school sports) to play both. The primary issue is with SUSC and DA.

The NHIAA will allow outside play AS LONG as the player fulfills their commitment to the HS team as the priority - making all games and practices without interference from the outside sport without penalty.

As long as the girls from Londonderry and trinity made HS their priory this has nothing to do with the NHIAA and everything to do with SUSC girls DA.

I know for a fact that one of them missed some high school practices.

[Unregistered]

I know for a fact that one of them missed some high school practices.

Then that falls on the schools AD and coach to enforce the NHIAA rule. The NHIAA is self policing / self enforcement of NHIAA rules. So if she missed practices, the school looked the other way.

Unfortunately- there is very little to nothing that an opposing school can do other than have their AD contact the violating schools AD and figure it out. But proving she missed practices from an opposing school is virtually impossible.

Lastly, the only real way to enforce a player missing HS practices for outside competition is to have another player or parent of the team blow the whistle to administration. This is tough because schools usually have an excused absence policy for things like Dr. visits. So parents abuse the policy and say “she’s at a Dr. appointment “ when she really had DA practice.

With one school (Trinity) having their girls head coach listed as the head of the soccer coaches association- and letting a player do both - shows there is a serious lack of integrity there. Trinity is a “private” school but they don’t play in the Private school league like Proctor, Phillips Exeter, or Brewster. They play NH public schools so the “waiver” excuse is relatively weak IMO.

[Unregistered]

^ above is correct. Many state HS rules allow dual HS and club play as long as their rules are followed. Usually that means your HS team has to be your priority*. I know from family in CT you cannot play club at all and a HS team forfeits games if a player is caught. I don't know if other states have that restrictive a rule but most may have the priority rule. Other than DA this isn't usually a problem because league play basically shuts down for the HS season.

* and DA is also supposed to be your priority if you play other HS sports. While some manage to be multisport athletes, it is grueling to do DA 5 days a week and HS 5-6 days a week. Families who try to have their kids do HS soccer and DA are not only breaking the rules but i can't help but question their motivation. Can't miss out on Suzy being thev"star" or getting coverage in the paper? What message are you sending to your kid - the rules don't apply to us?

[Unregistered]

Then that falls on the schools AD and coach to enforce the NHIAA rule. The NHIAA is self policing / self enforcement of NHIAA rules. So if she missed practices, the school looked the other way.

Unfortunately- there is very little to nothing that an opposing school can do other than have their AD contact the violating schools AD and figure it out. But proving she missed practices from an opposing school is virtually impossible.

Lastly, the only real way to enforce a player missing HS practices for outside competition is to have another player or parent of the team blow the whistle to administration. This is tough because schools usually have an excused absence policy for things like Dr. visits. So parents abuse the policy and say “she’s at a Dr. appointment “ when she really had DA practice.

With one school (Trinity) having their girls head coach listed as the head of the soccer coaches association- and letting a player do both - shows there is a serious lack of integrity there. Trinity is a “private” school but they don’t play in the Private school league like Proctor, Phillips Exeter, or Brewster. They play NH public schools so the “waiver” excuse is relatively weak IMO.

Some HS coaches are hard azzes and won't allow anything to be missed. But most will look the other way if they need the athlete. Legit waivers are issued to by USSF and the need to play has to be proven - that either playing sports is a school requirement or the athlete is getting financial consideration for soccer. Then there's the practice of just not putting HS players on a DA roster until HS is done. Sleazy but still allowed. If you're with a club that allows players to break the rules, why are you there? If you want your own kid to break the rules, why? Man up and tell your kid life has tough choices sometimes. If everyone including USSF thinks HS soccer is trash why go to such lengths to do it?

[Unregistered]

It's all about choices.
There's no generic term that accurately describes all the programs within any soccer category.
Some HS programs may well be trash - but the better ones are well coached and put out a pretty good product. I'd argue the Exeter varsity teams from the recent past would beat a Seacoast DA team - admittedly, they had a ton of Seacoast players in the program. Plenty of players go on to play in college without playing DA, some even without playing any club soccer at all.

[Unregistered]

Official DA Rules

For anyone interested in the 2019/2020 DA Rule book, here is a link. But, below is the info on participating in non-DA competitions. http://www.ussoccerda.com/doclib/2019-20%20DEVELOPMENT%20ACADEMY%20RULES%20AND%20REGULAT IONS.pdf


F. Player Participation in Outside Competitions
1. Academy Players must meet all attendance and participation requirements under the Development Academy Requirements and for the individual club requirements as well, for training and games for their DA team during the Academy Season. Failure to meet those requirements should result in removal from the DA team.
2. DA Clubs may not permit any full-time Academy Player to participate on a non-DA team during the Academy Season. The only permissible soccer related reasons to miss Development Academy activities is National Team duty and YNT Identification Center participation.
3. DA Clubs will be held accountable for the actions of their players.
4. Academy Players currently registered with a DA Club have committed to forgo participating in both the Academy and high school or middle school soccer.
a) Players who participate in high/middle school soccer are ineligible to participate in Academy practice and competition during that same season.
b) Only players who have been granted a waiver by the League Office will be allowed to remain on their club’s Academy roster during the high school soccer season (waivers are not available for middle school). This waiver must be received by the DA office before September 9, 2019, to be considered for the roster exemption. The waiver eligibility guidelines are as follows:
(1) Players who receive consideration or financial aid to attend a private high school based on their participation with the soccer team are eligible
(2) Although clubs are not limited to a specific number of waivers, the number is naturally self-limiting to field a full team throughout the Academy season.
(3) Full-time players registered with a DA Club will not be allowed to re-enter the program during the same season after participating in the high school season with their current or a different DA Club.

[Unregistered]

The loophole being exploited and not mentioned above is that you can add players up until the Spring Showcase in April.

[Unregistered]

For anyone interested in the 2019/2020 DA Rule book, here is a link. But, below is the info on participating in non-DA competitions. http://www.ussoccerda.com/doclib/2019-20%20DEVELOPMENT%20ACADEMY%20RULES%20AND%20REGULAT IONS.pdf


F. Player Participation in Outside Competitions
1. Academy Players must meet all attendance and participation requirements under the Development Academy Requirements and for the individual club requirements as well, for training and games for their DA team during the Academy Season. Failure to meet those requirements should result in removal from the DA team.
2. DA Clubs may not permit any full-time Academy Player to participate on a non-DA team during the Academy Season. The only permissible soccer related reasons to miss Development Academy activities is National Team duty and YNT Identification Center participation.
3. DA Clubs will be held accountable for the actions of their players.
4. Academy Players currently registered with a DA Club have committed to forgo participating in both the Academy and high school or middle school soccer.
a) Players who participate in high/middle school soccer are ineligible to participate in Academy practice and competition during that same season.
b) Only players who have been granted a waiver by the League Office will be allowed to remain on their club’s Academy roster during the high school soccer season (waivers are not available for middle school). This waiver must be received by the DA office before September 9, 2019, to be considered for the roster exemption. The waiver eligibility guidelines are as follows:
(1) Players who receive consideration or financial aid to attend a private high school based on their participation with the soccer team are eligible
(2) Although clubs are not limited to a specific number of waivers, the number is naturally self-limiting to field a full team throughout the Academy season.
(3) Full-time players registered with a DA Club will not be allowed to re-enter the program during the same season after participating in the high school season with their current or a different DA Club.

So - as posted before SU DA full on cheated, looked the other way, and allowed 2 HS players to play both despite USA Soccer being pretty clear about participating in both. So like the other poster said - this falls on the lack of integrity for the rules and game by SUSC and the GDA program.

[Unregistered]

So - as posted before SU DA full on cheated, looked the other way, and allowed 2 HS players to play both despite USA Soccer being pretty clear about participating in both. So like the other poster said - this falls on the lack of integrity for the rules and game by SUSC and the GDA program.

If you have a player on the team, why don't you bring it up with the club?

[Unregistered]

If you have a player on the team, why don't you bring it up with the club?

Complaining to clubs gets you nowhere, possibly even blackballed. Vote with your feet.