CHSAA Bylaw Changes For 2023-24 Have Gone Into Effect

The 2023-24 bylaws for the Colorado High School Activities Association went into effect as of July 1.
 
The major bylaw changes for this upcoming year include:

The Winter and Spring sports academic regain dates have been altered:

• Students who have not met the academic requirements at the close of a semester may regain academic eligibility per the table listed on Page 51 of the bylaw book for the first semester.

The Transfer Rule has been modified to say that a student must now wait 365 days from “date of last participation at previous school” rather than their “date of enrollment at their new school”:

• A student who establishes his/her/their high school eligibility at any high school and subsequently transfers, will be ineligible for varsity competition for 365 days from the date of non-participation, in the sports that they participated in a practice, contest, scrimmage or foundation game during the last 365 days. (Page 65)

The Athletic Transfer Bylaw was updated so that any student who transfers to a high school where their club/previous coach is coaching will no longer be sub varsity eligible only for ALL sports they seek to participate in – just the specific sport that their club/previous coach coaches at the high school.

• If a student transfers to a school where his/her/their previous coach is a coach of the current school team, that move will be deemed motivated by athletic consideration. Under provision of this rule, the coach may be a former school coach or a non-school coach. (Page 68)

A bylaw was created and passed that protects game officials:

• Any person who physically assaults, verbally threatens or exhibits any behavior that can be reasonably considered as threatening, on or towards a game official at any level of competition; shall be subject to consequences up to and including being permanently banned from any CHSAA or CHSAA member event. The determination and severity of the consequence(s) for these behaviors will be determined by the Commissioner and the School Administration working collaboratively. (Page 91)

The “No Sunday Contact” rule has been changed in that coaches can now contact players on Sundays OUTSIDE OF that particular competitive sports season:

• No high school interscholastic contests, practices for interscholastic contests, camps, nor association between participants and coaches/directors of any CHSAA sanctioned sport from the student’s school shall take place on Sundays during the competitive high school season (start of official practice through the state tournament). The Commissioner may, when deemed advisable, allow postponed state-level events to be played on Sunday. Teams playing on Monday in district, regional or in a state-culminating event will be exempt from this rule. (Page 99)

“The new Sunday Contact Bylaw was a huge shift for our Association and our 100+ year history,” Associate Commissioner Bethany Brookens said. “We have never allowed coaches to have contact with ther student-athletes on Sunday for competitive purposes. In January 2023, the CHSAA Legislative Council passed a chance to our Sunday Contact Bylaw which will now allow high school coaches to have contact with their student-participants on Sundays outside of the competitive sports season.”

Find all information on the constitution and bylaws in the 2023-24 CHSAA Bylaws book.