Summary of DIII Regs
Process to Become Eligible - in order to become eligible to practice and compete, you must:
a) Have a physical and be cleared to participate by the head athletic trainer;
b) Carry or be registered for 12 credit hours (or more);
c) Fill out all necessary NCAA-related paperwork provided by the compliance officer;
d) Be in good academic standing as defined by LVC.
Injured/Medical Hardship - Division III does not have or grant 'Red Shirt' years. You can get a season back if granted a medical hardship waiver. A student-athlete may apply for a hardship waiver and thereby be granted an additional year of eligibility if the student-athlete had an injury or illness in the first half of the traditional season and competed in less than one-third of the team's schedule. If the student-athlete returns to competition after the first half of the traditional season and is re-injured in the second half of the traditional season, the student-athlete is not eligible for a hardship waiver. To apply for a hardship waiver, see the Head Athletic Trainer to start the process.
NCAA Drug Testing Manual
NCAA Drug Policies
NCAA Banned Substances
Amateurism Checklist
Name/Image/Likeness
Benefits - The NCAA does not allow Division III student-athletes to receive "extra benefits" because they happen to participate on an athletic team. What is a non-permissible "extra benefit"?
An extra benefit includes any special arrangement by a Lebanon Valley College employee or booster to provide student-athletes, their relatives or friends, a benefit not expressly authorized by the NCAA. Examples of impermissible extra benefits include, but are not limited to:
a) Gifts or loans of clothing, stereo equipment, food, beverages, etc.
b) Transportation
c) Use of an automobile
d) Low interest or interest-free loans, credit cards, charge accounts, etc.
e) Gifts of more than the allowable number of complimentary admissions
f) Special discounts on products or services
g) Special payment arrangements on personal purchases
h) Material benefits that are not available to the general student body
Crowdfunding - There are many different NCAA rules to crowdfunding.
Please ask before you set up a site. You may not use your 'athletics ability' to crowdfund. You may not use a picture of yourself playing your sport, dressed in a uniform, or anything like that to raise money. You may crowdfund for a charity as long as your athletics ability is not used.
Transfer – To look into transferring to another DIII school, fill out the
NCAA self-release form;
Once this form has been completed and you have sent it to the other school(s), you are free to contact the coach at the new school(s). This release is good for 30 days. During this 30-day period, your LVC coach will not know about your possible transfer unless you tell them. After the 30-day period, the school(s) you have sent a release to can contact LVC regarding your transfer status. You can sign a second release to extend the time for an additional 30 days if needed. You are highly encouraged to talk to your coach about a possible transfer.
If you are looking to transfer (and play) at a Division I or II school, you must contact the Lebanon Valley College compliance officer to send a release to the school(s) you are interested in transferring to.
Out of Season Activity - During the off-season, a student-athlete is
NOT required to participate in 'athletically related activities'. It must be strictly voluntary. According to the NCAA manual, in order for any athletically related activity to be considered "voluntary,"
all of the following conditions must be met:
a) The student-athlete must not be required to report back to a coach or other athletics department staff member (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) any information related to the activity. In addition, no athletics department staff member who observes the activity (e.g., strength coach, trainer, manager) may report back to the student-athlete's coach any information related to the activity;
b) The activity must be initiated solely by the student-athlete. Neither the institution nor any athletics department staff member may require the student-athlete to participate in the activity at any time;
c) The student-athlete's attendance and participation in the activity (or lack thereof) may not be recorded for the purposes of reporting such information to coaching staff members or other student-athletes; and
d) The student-athlete may not be subjected to penalty if he or she elects not to participate in the activity. In addition, neither the institution nor any athletics department staff member may provide recognition or incentives (e.g., awards) to a student-athlete based on his or her attendance or performance in the activity.
The NCAA manual defines 'athletically related activities' as the following:
a) Practice, which is defined as any meeting, activity or instruction involving sports-related information and having an athletics purpose, held for one or more student-athletes at the direction of, or supervised by, any member or members of an institution's coaching staff. Practice is considered to have occurred if one or more coaches and one or more student-athletes engage in any of the following activities:
(1) Field, floor, or on-court activity;
(2) Setting up offensive or defensive alignment;
(3) Chalk talk;
(4) Lecture on or discussion of strategy related to the sport;
(5) Activities using equipment related to the sport;
(6) Discussions or review of game films, motion pictures or videotapes related to the sport;
(7) Any other athletically related activity.
b) Competition;
c) Required weight-training and conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member;
d) Participation in a physical fitness class (including a summer class) conducted by a member of the athletics staff not listed in the institution's catalog and not open to all students. Such a class may not include practice activities conducted under the guise of physical education classwork;
e) Required participation in camps, clinics, or workshops;
f) Individual workouts required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff. A coach may design a voluntary individual-workout program for a student-athlete but cannot conduct the individual's workout;
g) On-court or on-field activities called by any member(s) of a team and confined primarily to members of that team that are considered requisite for participation in that sport (e.g., captain's practices);
h) Visiting the competition site in cross country, golf, and skiing;
i) Reservation or use of an institution's athletics facilities when such activities are supervised by or held at the direction of any member of an institution's coaching staff;
j) Involvement of an institution's strength and conditioning staff with enrolled student-athletes in required conditioning programs; and
k) Observation by an institution's coaching staff member of enrolled student-athletes in non-organized sport-specific activities (e.g., "pick-up games").
Exceptions: found in
17.02.1.1.1 in the NCAA Manual
So, after reading all of this, what does it mean I can do?
As an out-of-season student-athlete, you may work out on your own; get your team together and workout as a group, and work out with the Strength & Conditioning staff. Your coach may give you workouts to do, but you are not required to do them or report back to the coach on what you or your teammates have or have not completed. Coaches may not ask what you are running, how much you are lifting, etc. No coach can be present to watch, participate in, or monitor these off-season practices.
