By Dana Hess
For the S.D. NewsMedia Association
PIERRE — The board of directors of the South Dakota High School Activities Association spent some time during Wednesday’s meeting clarifying the ejection policy for students, coaches and spectators.
The current policy says that a coach or student ejected from a contest will “be ineligible for the next regularly scheduled contest at that level of competition and all other contests in the interim at any level of competition.” A second violation in the same sports season carries a mandatory four-contest period of ineligibility/suspension. A third ejection in the same season results in the student or coach being suspended for the rest of the season.
The policy for student suspensions was clarified to note how the suspension takes effect if the next contest is a multi-day event like a state tournament. In team sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer, football, softball and competitive cheer and dance the athlete would miss the first scheduled contest within the tournament and all other contests that day.
If the first post suspension event is a tournament in an individual sport like track and field, cross-country, tennis, golf, wrestling or gymnastics, the athlete would miss the first scheduled event of the tournament as well as all other contests on that day.
In the sport of wrestling, that means missing the entire event as a suspended wrestler would not be able to weigh in on the first day.
SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said the clarification was needed because missing the next contest means different things in different sports. He used the example of basketball and tennis. Missing the next event in basketball means missing the next game. In tennis, there may be another match the same day and the policy needed to be clear that the ejection was for the entire day.
In the sport of football, if a player is ejected in the first half of a game on an “illegal personal contact” penalty, he will miss the second half of the game. An ejection for that penalty in the second half of the game would result in missing the first half of the next game.
The rules for suspended students would be applied in the same manner for coaches who have been ejected from a game prior to a tournament. A suspended coach is not allowed to travel with the team or be at the venue during any contests while under suspension. A school that allows an ineligible coach or student to participate will face a mandatory forfeit of the contest.
A spectator who is ejected, either by a game official or a school administrator, will not be allowed to attend any contests for the remainder of the day and will be barred from attending the next contest at that level of competition. A second violation carries a mandatory four-game suspension. A third ejection during a single sports season results in suspension from attendance for the rest of that season.
Swartos said the policy was clarified to note that a spectator’s ejection was valid whether it came from a game official or a school administrator.
For a spectator, if the next contest after a suspension is a multi-day tournament, the suspension shall hold for the first day of that event. It was noted that the SDHSAA ejection standards are the minimum requirement for schools to follow. Schools may have harsher fan ejection policies as well as stiffer penalties for coach and player ejections.
In order to return after an ejection, students, coaches and spectators must watch the NFHS Sportsmanship Course on the NFHSLearn website and show proof of completion to the SDHSAA office.
