CIF modifies policy on outside team practices

The CIF San Diego Section has a prohibition on outside team practices during a sport's CIF season, although the difference between practice and a lesson or training led to a modification in the bylaw addressing outside team practices during the May 25 CIF Board of Managers meeting.

"We are defining what an outside team practice is," said CIF commissioner Jerry Schniepp.

An outside team is defined as a non-CIF team with at least half the number of players used for a CIF contest. Three-on-three basketball and slow pitch softball are considered outside teams while two-person volleyball, five-on-five indoor soccer, and over-the-line are not. Two-hand touch or flag football is considered a separate sport than tackle football.

The bylaw changes include adding a stipulation that an athlete may not practice with an outside team or in any group setting in the same sport nor can an athlete attend a showcase for any club, organization, or outside team in the same sport. Practice was previously defined as an organized, systematic exercise to become proficient in a sport, and the new bylaw states that such activity is considered practice only when more than one student-athlete is involved while specifically stating that lessons involving one instructor and one student are permissible during the season of sport. Practice includes drills and scrimmages as well as any other instruction directed or supervised by a representative of an outside team or organization.