Coaches now allowed to work with high school athletes on a year-round basis

For the first time in 32 years the CIF-Southern Section will eliminate outofseason restrictions on coaches working with their student-athletes.

In a 41-37 vote of the CIF-SS Council, Rule 313 of the CIF-SS Constitution and ByLaws, otherwise known as the Bluebook, will be eliminated from the bylaws beginning July 1.

Rule 313, otherwise referred to as the Association Rule, had previously read:

"During the school year, prior to the established date for authorized before- and after-school practice in a particular sport and following an individual's or team's last authorized competition, a student may receive athletic instruction in a CIFSS approved sport only during one regularly scheduled physical education period in which the student is enrolled and earning credit for that particular sport."

Before and afterschool practice is authorized in all sports from May 12 until the close of school, maximum 15 days.

The rule, in effect, eliminated any type of contact between an individual sports coach and a student-athlete in that sport during the school year and outside of the season of sport except for one hour.

The responsibility will now rest with individual schools on how much contact a coach and student-athlete can have during the school year.

In other CIFSS Council matters, a proposal that would have separated public and private schools in championship playoffs in all sports was withdrawn by the league (Century League, Orange County) that had proposed it with the understanding that it could be presented as a first-read item again in October.