Team and Player Participation Rules

To provide the best environment for Division II level of homeschool basketball competition, the following rules and requirements have been established. All teams must be aware of these rules and follow them in order to participate in the NDII events.

HOMESCHOOL REQUIREMENTS: 

“Homeschooled” means that at least 51% of the courses that are taken by a player during the school year of the tournament are:

a) courses that are taught in the home/studio of the player’s parent(s), grandparent(s), sibling (age 18 or older), legal guardian, or another homeschool parent or tutor, provided the instruction by a non-parent is done under the direction and supervision of the child's parent(s) or

b) courses that are taught at a central location (e.g. homeschool support group “co-op” classes, such as chemistry, speech, or calculus) by a parent or tutor, or

c) are correspondence/virtual/distance learning courses provided by a private kindergarten through grade 12 program or school.


With the exception of c) under the definition of “homeschooled” above, courses taught or otherwise provided by a public or private school, where the player is counted in that course’s enrollment, are not considered “homeschooled”.

Publicly funded correspondence/virtual/distant learning courses, college or vocational/technical school courses are permitted to be taken by a player, but are not considered “homeschooled”.

The percentage of courses considered to be homeschooled is determined by dividing the number of courses considered “homeschooled” by the total number (“homeschooled” + “not homeschooled”) courses taken.

Once a player has completed high-school coursework, or participated in high school graduation ceremonies, he or she is ineligible to participate in the NDIICHA tournament.

 

PARTICIPATION RULES: 

Each participating team shall have rules in place to ensure all participating athletes maintain at least a 2.0 (or "C") average during the active season.  Methods for academic monitoring shall be left to each participating team. 

 

The age limit for junior high teams will prohibit participation of any student who reaches his or her 15th birthday prior to August 1 of the basketball season in which they are participating.  The age limit for high school teams will prohibit participation of any student who reaches his or her 19th birthday prior to August 1 of the basketball season in which they are participating.  Exceptions to these rules can be granted at the discretion of event director(s), in consultation with the board of directors. 

 

Students playing on public or private school teams are ineligible for participation at the NDIICHA basketball tournament. (See exception on Mixed Teams)

 

GUIDELINES:

GAMES: Teams participating in the NDIICHA basketball tournament are limited to a total of 25 completed games, as defined by the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Associations), prior to the NDII basketball tournament. See definition of TEAMS below. 

 

PRACTICES: Each team (see “team” definition below) limits their practices to an average of two or less practices per week beginning November 1 of current season with a cap of 36 practices (This rule was instituted with the purpose of limiting practices during the basketball season to two per week.  The rule is silent on practice frequency or time prior to what was designated as the homeschool season for purposes of NDII participation.  During the discussions leading up to the finalization of the rule, it was the Boards intent to leave practice arrangements up to the individual homeschool organizations.  The rule allows organizations to determine when they will begin their practices for the season with limits after November 1.)

 

A practice shall be defined as any organized team basketball activity which includes either 50% of team members or three or more regular starting players in which a coach is providing direct or indirect instruction. Indirect instruction would include a pre-determined plan provided to players related to drills, plays or other basketball activities.  An “open gym” where students practice shooting on their own (without a pre-planned routine) or organize their own scrimmages would NOT be considered a practice if the coach is not present or only present in order to unlock a facility.

 

PLAYERS: A student may only play on one team per age division at the NDIICHA basketball tournament (ie one high school and one junior high team)

·         No co-ed teams will be allowed. Players may only compete on the category of team that matches their gender assigned at birth.

·         Players may not play on two teams from different organizations.

 

REGULAR STARTER: A “regular starter” is someone who has or is anticipated to start at least 50% of a team’s games.

 

MIXED TEAMS:

Some homeschool teams, particularly those in rural or sparsely populated areas, have allowed students from very small private schools to participate on their teams.  NDIICHA will make no rule against participating teams using such students in their own game schedule. But the use of such students in NDIICHA basketball tournament will be limited to 40% or less of private school students on the team.  Further, students from private schools will only be eligible to participate on such teams if their school does not field a basketball team.  The NDIICHA board may serve as a board of hearing for exceptions to this by-law from an organization. Those students shall also be held to the same academic and conduct standards of NDIICHA. 

 

TEAMS

LIMITS FOR GAMES PLAYED

The following level-specific rules will apply for determining games played per each entry.

 

High School Teams – Varsity and Junior Varsity

Junior Varsity competition is designed to provide game experience for players whose current ability level does not afford them extensive playing time in varsity games. Scheduling “Junior Varsity” games as a means to play a Varsity-level team more than the 25-game limit is expressly prohibited. At the same time, as programs vary in participation size, many programs do not have full, separate Varsity and Junior Varsity teams.

 

To ensure that the spirit of the 25-game limit is being lived out by our members, the following rules have been established for High School teams.

Junior Varsity games are defined as games in which not more than ONE (1) Regular Starter (see definition) from a program’s Varsity team participates. Games played with two or more Regular Starters from the varsity team will count towards the Varsity team’s 25-game limit.

 

Example A: Program A has a total of nine high school-aged players on a Varsity team that will play at NDII. Another program/school invites them to participate in Junior Varsity game facing the junior varsity team from that program/school. Program A may participate in that game as a Junior Varsity contest, provided they play only their four non-starting players, along with one starting player to make the minimum playing number of five. If allowed by the organization governing that particular game, a team may add Junior High-level players to their roster for depth. The game would NOT count against the 25-game limit for that program’s Varsity team. If Program A decides to enter a Varsity team and a Junior Varsity team at NDII, the game described above would count against the 25-game limit for the Junior Varsity team.

 

Example B: Program B has a total of eight high school-aged players on a Varsity team that will play at NDII. A program/school invites them to participate in a Junior Varsity game facing the junior varsity team from that program/school. Program B would be forced to play more than one starting player from its Varsity in that game in order to have five players available to play. For that reason, Program B may play that game, but it MUST be counted against the 25-game limit for its Varsity team entry. If Program B has Junior High-level players they can legally add to the roster for that game, then they could play the game without having it count against the 25-game Varsity team limit if and only if they play no more than ONE (1) varsity starting player in that game.

 

Junior High Teams

Junior High competition is designed to prepare younger players for opportunities to play at the high school level. Season dates vary from location to location, and finding opponents for games can be challenging. Many programs struggle to make robust schedules for B-level (or below) teams in their programs. And the definition of a “Junior High player” varies from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and even from league-to-league, meaning the makeup of a program’s team or teams may vary from game-to-game throughout a season. While the 25-game limit STILL APPLIES to every Junior High team entry, the NDII board understands the importance of providing JH games and has established slightly more lenient rules for JH play.

  1. When an NDII Junior High entry plays a game against an opponent of its same level (A-team vs. A-team or only team, B-team vs. B-team, etc.), that entry must count that game against its 25-game limit.
  2. In instances where the level of play is more ambiguous (A vs B, B vs C, mixed teams, etc.) an NDII Junior High entry may only exclude a game from its 25-game limit ONLY if a significant majority of the game was played by players from a lower level, or who don’t otherwise regularly play significant minutes at that particular level. If the program is registering more than one team in the junior high division, the game will count against the 25-game limit for the lower-level team.
  3. When Junior High players play on high school (Varsity or Junior Varsity) teams, the games count against the high school team’s 25-game limit, not the Junior High team’s limit, so long as the junior high players compose less than half of the playing time for that game.

 

Example A:  Program A has 14 players on its Junior High team. They plan to split into seven and seven for NDII and enter both and A and a B team, but they typically play all or most of their games as one team. They start their five best players, and use two subs regularly. The other seven play sparingly or not at all. They schedule a game with a program’s A-team. They build a big lead early, and end up playing the majority of the game with the seven guys who will make up the NDII B-team. That game STILL counts against the program’s 25-game A-team limit, because it was scheduled as an A-game between A-teams.

 

Example B: The same Program A in Example A schedules to play a pair of games, one each against another program’s A and B-teams. If their normal starters and regular subs in both games, then BOTH games must be counted against the team’s 25-game limit for their A-team, even though the opponents were and A and a B-team. If they play their normal rotation in the A game, then play all or a significant majority of the B game with the seven guys who play sparingly, then the A game will be counted against the A-team’s 25-game NDII limit, while the B game will be counted against the B-team’s 25-game limit.

 

Example C: Program B has an A-team and a B-team at the Junior High level. The A-team consists of 10 players who are eligible to play at the Junior High level at NDII. Due to the grade rules/agreement of a particular jurisdiction in which they have scheduled a game, five A-team players who normally play the majority of games are not eligible to play against an A-team opponent. Program B elevates B-team players to fill out the roster for that particular game, making a mixed-level team. If a significant majority of that game is played by the B-team and the players who’s play does not normally sum to the majority of the game, then the game will count against the B-team’s 25-game limit.

These examples do not cover every possible scenario. Every program must keep in mind the intention of the 25-game limit and abide by it. Scheduling extra games as a means to exceed the 25-game limit for any level of team is expressly prohibited. The NDII board has the final word on determining if a program’s scheduling is in violation of the rules. 

 

DISCIPLINE: 

Conduct that would deem such disciplinary action would include violating NDIICHA eligibility rules at NDIICHA events, displays of violence, vandalism, blatant disregard for safety, recruiting violations, spreading rumors or slander, vulgarity or humiliation of opposing teams or players (this can come from the players, coaches or fans).  Participating organizations are responsible for controlling everyone associated with their organizations. 

Disciplinary action may include any of the following: letter of reprimand and request for written apology or suspension from participation in NDIICHA activities for a designated period of time, not to exceed two (2) years (any suspension must be accompanied by details of action needed for reinstatement). When organizations or individuals are suspended from participation in NDIICHA activities, those individuals directly involved with any incidents must be named. Those players, coaches, administrators, or parents named as the offenders shall not be allowed to participate in NDIICHA activities as part of any other participating team until the period of discipline has ended.

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