One of the longest standing bylaws in the history of the Colorado High School Activities Association saw a drastic change.
At the first of two Legislative Council meetings for this year, a proposal to change the Sunday non-contact rule passed which now allows for practices for out-of-season sports to take place.
The change in the bylaw does not allow for CHSAA sanctioned competition on Sunday or for teams that are in-season to start practicing on Sundays. But high school coaches can now coach in the club world and have practices or competition on Sundays in that environment.
The amended bylaw no states, “No high school interscholastic contests, practices for interscholastic contests, camps, nor association between participants and coaches/directors of any CHSAA sanctioned sport from the student’s school shall take place on Sundays during the competitive high school season (start of official practice through the state tournament).”
Among the reasons cited for changing the Sunday non-contact rule is the struggle to bring coaches into high school teams. They have a tendency to navigate toward club programs so this change allows for coaches to navigate both worlds without causing violations by practicing on Sunday with their club teams.
“It gives us the ability to hire and retain quality coaches,” Poudre district athletic director Brandon Carlucci said. “Coaches that are doing other coaching in the club world, in particular. They don’t have to make that tough decision to coach a club team or a high school team and that’s good for our kids.”
The change in the bylaw does not affect competition in any way. Competition on Sunday is still not allowed unless it is approved by the CHSAA for a state-level event that is postponed by weather or some other factor.
This is not the first time that there has been an attempt to change the Sunday no-contact rule, but this is the first time the vote has passed through the Legislative Council. Sixty percent of the council issued a “yes” vote and the motion needed a simple majority for the change.
The amended bylaw goes into effect on July 1.
“The important thing to note here is that CHSAA is a membership driven organization,” CHSAA commissioner Mike Krueger said. “This is something that came from the membership, was brought forward by the membership, was debated and discussed by the membership. This wasn’t the first time it has come up so it wasn’t a new discussion on the table.”
The change of the Sunday contact rule was the most impactful change of an otherwise benign Legislative Council meeting. The LC will convene for its second meeting in April.
Other notable changes
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- The approval of the CLOC report adds an additional classification to boys and girls golf, eSports and boys volleyball. An amendment was proposed to allow a second classification of girls wrestling. That also passed. These classifications will be added for the 2024-26 cycle.
- The approval of the soccer committee report means that regular season overtime for soccer games, boys and girls, will be eliminated.
- The pay increase plan for high school sports officials was approved. Over a three-year span, the goal is to make Colorado the leader in pay for officials when factoring in neighboring states.
- The postseason brackets for Class 5A-3A baseball have been altered so that each game on the winner’s bracket will count as opposed to the undefeated team having a “throwaway” game in the second weekend.
