Three women’s tennis student-athletes at Ocean State University (OSU) have qualified for the NCAA Championships. After arriving in the locale of the championship, the OSU coaches aranged for their student-athletes to practice with student-athletes at another institution. Will this joint practice session count as a date of competition?
No. NCAA Staff Interptation- 10/26/94- Participation in Joint Practices at NCAA Championships- states that in individual sports (e.g., tennis), it is permissible for an institution’s team or individual student-athlete who is participating in an NCAA championship to engage in practice sessions during the championship with another institution’s team or individual student-athlete who also is participating in the championship without using a date of competition.
[References: 17.02.6 (date of competition, countable, institutional) and 17.02.7 (date of competition, countable, individual student-athlete), and IC 02/22/90, Item No. 1]
NCAA Bylaw 17.02.8 states that intercollegiate competition is considered to have occurred when a student-athlete in either a two-year or a four-year collegiate institution does any of the following: (Revised: 1/10/95)
(a) Represents the institution in any contest against outside competition, regardless of how the competition is classified (e.g., scrimmage, exhibition or joint practice session with another institution’s team) or whether the student is enrolled in a minimum full-time program of studies; (Revised: 1/10/91)
(b) Competes in the uniform of the institution, or, during the academic year, uses any apparel (excluding apparel no longer used by the institution) received from the institution that includes institutional identification; or (Revised: 1/16/93, 1/11/94, 1/9/06)
(c) Competes and receives expenses (e.g., transportation, meals, room or entry fees) from the institution for the competition.
Daily Compliance Item 