Question for my PA people

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Sep 21, 2017
230
43
PA
Pennsylvanians - do any of you know the rule about the 10 day period before Spring high school/middle school tryouts starts that players are not allowed to play in travel tournaments?

I've been trying to look it up, but not having much luck.

Thanks in advance!

tf
 
Jul 16, 2013
4,659
113
Pennsylvania
Never heard of it. Not saying it doesn't exist, just that I have never heard of it personally. Our travel team typically practiced throughout the winter while high schools were having their "optional" open gyms. Then when the first official day of practice started (in 2018, this was March 5), we went dark. Sort of... We no longer had official travel team practices, but our coaching staff was available for indoor hitting a couple times per week for any players that were interested and allowed to join us. For years, we would play some dome tournaments in Wilkes Barre in either January or early February, but we were typically done at least two weeks before the first official high school practice.

It's my understanding that schools have different structures for tryouts. For example, DD's school didn't have tryouts. They had a complete roster of 15 players that handled both V and JV. Yes, a few V players had to play JV just so they could field a team. The local schools that do utilize tryouts have various dates for them. Some had them almost right on top of the first official practice. After all, they are able to see all their players during those "optional" open gyms. And since the regular season started on March 26, teams really only had 3 weeks of official practices to get ready.

Also, in our region, junior high softball is a fall sport. So they follow a completely different timeline.

PIAA 2018 SOFTBALL SCHEDULE
First Practice Date........................................................................................................ Monday, March 5
First Inter-School/Scrimmage Date .......................................................................... Saturday, March 10
First Regular Season Play Date ....................................................................................Friday, March 23
Last Regular Season Contest Date and
District Championship Deadline.................................................................................... Saturday, June 2
PIAA Softball Championships:
First Round ................................................................................................................... Monday, June 4
Quarterfinals ............................................................................................................... Thursday, June 7
Semi-Finals................................................................................................................. Monday, June 11
PIAA Softball Championship Finals
Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park, Penn State Univ……Thursday, June 14 and Friday, June 15
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
Pennsylvanians - do any of you know the rule about the 10 day period before Spring high school/middle school tryouts starts that players are not allowed to play in travel tournaments?

I've been trying to look it up, but not having much luck.

Thanks in advance!

tf

There is no way this rules exists.
 
Sep 21, 2017
230
43
PA
The more I look into it, I guess the rule is currently being discussed. I have an email out to the PIAA rules interpreter, I'll post when I hear back.
 
Nov 29, 2009
2,975
83
The more I look into it, I guess the rule is currently being discussed. I have an email out to the PIAA rules interpreter, I'll post when I hear back.

There is no way they can dictate what activities an athlete participates in prior to the official start of the season. My guess.... It's a HS coach who is trying to over-reach their authority.
 
Jun 27, 2018
291
28
Is there any restriction on the “open gym”, other than a coach can’t run it? I’m talking about when they can start them.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Oct 11, 2010
8,337
113
Chicago, IL
I think an open gym is OK regardless if coach runs it or not if it is open to everyone.

For example my DD is not on the Team but is welcome to participate.
 
Sep 21, 2017
230
43
PA
There is no way they can dictate what activities an athlete participates in prior to the official start of the season. My guess.... It's a HS coach who is trying to over-reach their authority.

I (HS coach) was having this conversation last night, with my friend who is a travel ball coach. That's where we basically landed, as well.
 

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