The
amateur bylaws found in 4-10 were rewritten in 2003 and approved by the
membership for inclusion in the 2004-05 Handbook. Thus, what you find
currently in our 2012-13 Handbook is the same language that was in place
in the fall of 2004. I am not sure it is fruitful to focus on
something that happened six or seven years ago, so please forgive me if I
redirect your attention to the present. Our focus must be on providing
you with correct and timely information that will serve to protect the amateur status of current students.
Bylaw 4-10-2 c does not allow your students in cross country
to receive any expenses from a sponsor such as Nike for competitions in
this national event. Please see the text of the applicable bylaw below
in red:
4-10-2 An athlete forfeits amateur status if any of the following standards are violated…:
(c)
Receiving, from a sponsor, actual and necessary expenses or any form of
compensation to participate in athletics practice or competition while
not representing a member school. A “sponsor”
is a person or entity that undertakes certain responsibilities (such as
underwriting, promoting, endorsing or financing) in connection with an
athlete or event and who/which is neither (1) a nonprofessional organization or governing body of an amateur sport which is sponsoring the tournament or event, (2) a member school or organization
connected with the member school through duly recognized action of the
member school’s Board of Education (or similar governing body) or (3) any person who is not a “legal stranger”
to the athlete. A “legal stranger” is a person who is neither the
biological parent nor is the legal guardian or custodian of the athlete
nor one who has no legal obligation to support the athlete.
Any practice
for which reasonable and necessary expenses are received must be
conducted in a continuous time period preceding the competition except
for a practice session conducted by a national team, under the auspices
of a United States (USA) national Governing Body, which may be
interrupted for specific periods of time preceding the competition;
“Nike”
is not an NGB, is definitely not a nonprofessional organization or a
member school or a person related to any student who might be invited to
this event. So
while OHSAA rules permit the athletes to participate,
they may not receive any expenses or compensation for participation.
An exception is found in 4-10-3 c in which the student may accept an
award, equipment, etc from the sponsor (Nike) provided the value does
not exceed $200.
Also please note that there is no provision for a school coach to be involved in coaching students out of season at this event.