The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association (TSSAA) is the governing body for athletic programs in more than 400 high schools across the state. If you are the parent or guardian of a high school student-athlete in Tennessee, or of a student who looks forward to becoming one someday, you know how important it is to your student to be able to compete alongside their friends and against their peers.
You've probably played a very important role in your student-athlete's academic and sporting life, whether by getting them to practices and games or by helping them with homework and test preparation. You understand how hard they work to do their best both on the field (or court, or track) and in the classroom, and you're keenly aware of how important sports are to their lives.
One additional way you can help your student-athlete is to make sure you have a good understanding of the TSSAA's eligibility requirements so that your student-athlete can focus on competing on the field and excelling in the classroom. The TSSAA Handbook runs for more than 60 pages and can be a lot to digest, so what follows is a summary of the main eligibility issues that many student-athletes need to keep in mind. If you have questions about your student-athlete's eligibility, or if their eligibility is threatened or has been suspended, contact student-athlete attorney-advisor Joseph D. Lento for help. He and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team have advised student-athletes all over the country about eligibility issues, and he can help you protect your student's eligibility.
Age-Limit and Semester-Limit Restrictions and Waiver Requests
Assuming they meet the other eligibility requirements, student-athletes can continue to compete in high school sports in Tennessee until they turn 19. If they turn 19 on or before August 1 of any year, they are no longer eligible to compete. If they turn 19 on August 2 or any day after that, they will be age-eligible for the remainder of the school year.
Beginning with the first semester of 9th grade, student-athletes have eight semesters of athletic eligibility. Students who attend 40 school days during any semester will have that semester count towards the eight-semester limit. Students who attend less than 40 school days during any semester will not have that semester count unless they participate in athletics (practice or compete) during that time period. In that case, the semester will count towards their eight-semester limit.
Hardship waivers are not available for age-limit or semester-limit eligibility determinations. This makes it particularly important to pay attention to how many days your student-athlete is in school and whether they are participating in any interscholastic sports during that time if there is any chance that they may not be finishing a complete semester for any reason.
Academic Eligibility Waiver Requests and Appeals
In Tennessee, academic eligibility is determined at the beginning of each semester. If a student-athlete is academically eligible at the beginning of a semester, they remain academically eligible for the entire semester.
Except for students beginning the first semester of 9th grade, student-athletes must earn five credits during the preceding year (or five courses the preceding semester) where their school requires less than 24 credits to graduate, and six credits or courses where the school requires 24 or more credits to graduate. Credits for the previous year must be earned before the first day of the next school year, and summer school courses can contribute to the student-athlete's credit totals for the previous school year.
If a student-athlete is academically ineligible at the beginning of a new school year, they can regain eligibility for the second semester by passing the required number of courses during the first semester.
Student-athletes who fail to enroll for a semester or who withdraw as a result of illness or an accident can “request a ruling in regard to the student's eligibility,” but only if they were otherwise eligible to compete at the time they withdrew or failed to enroll. In appropriate cases, they may be allowed to compete when they return to school, but the semester they missed or withdrew from will count towards their eight-semester limit.
Schools may also petition the TSSAA Executive Director on behalf of a student-athlete for a hardship exemption to the academic eligibility rule. Hardship waiver requests may be granted where the reasons the student-athlete failed to meet the eligibility requirements were “unforeseen and unavoidable” and where applying the rule to the student would cause “an undue hardship” given those reasons. In addition, the TSSAA must determine that applying the usual eligibility rule to the student in that situation “would not accomplish the purpose for which” the rule was intended.
The school making the application on behalf of the student has the burden of proving these points to the satisfaction of the TSSAA Executive Director. If the Executive Director rejects the waiver request, the school may appeal to the TSSAA's Board of Control. In that case, an administrator from the school must attend the Board of Control meeting where the appeal is being considered.
In cases where waiver requests are permitted by TSSAA bylaws, it can make all the difference to the waiver request and any follow-up appeal for the student-athlete to have help and advice from an experienced student-athlete attorney-advisor. Joseph D. Lento's team has years of experience advising student-athletes and their families on eligibility waiver requests and appeals. Even though a hardship waiver request must be filed by the school, Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team can help gather the information necessary to help craft an effective and compelling request. Where an appeal is necessary, they can also help school administrators prepare and submit the appeal.
Busy school administrators frequently don't have a lot of extra time to spend on waiver requests or appeals, and aren't necessarily trained in how to present a request or an appeal in a compelling and comprehensive way. Joseph D. Lento's team can both save them time and help them put together a request or an appeal that will have the best chance of success.
School Disciplinary Defense
High school student-athletes typically spend a lot more time in school than they do practicing or competing. As a result, they are more likely to face discipline for in-school issues than they are for issues that arise during practices or games.
All schools have comprehensive codes of conduct that typically give school administrators a lot of discretion when it comes to disciplining students. While these codes may include detailed investigation and hearing procedures, how those procedures are administered can vary tremendously. Busy administrators aren't always able to investigate misconduct claims thoroughly, and hearings may not always be run in a way that is fair to the students involved.
And when it comes to consequences, while suspension from school is the one many of us think about when it comes to student-athlete eligibility – because a student who is suspended can't compete in athletics – schools also may keep the student in class but suspend them from extracurricular activities, including from sports.
Joseph D. Lento's team has extensive experience advising student-athletes and their families involved in high school disciplinary proceedings all over the country. He understands how the investigation and discipline process works at that level, and how unfair it can be to the rights of the student if there is not someone there to speak up for them during the process. If your student is facing serious disciplinary proceedings at school that could affect their eligibility to compete in high school sports, contact Joseph D. Lento and the Lento Law Firm Student Defense Team for help.
Discipline Defense for Behavior During Competition
Student-athletes who are ejected from competition because of unsportsmanlike behavior can expect to be suspended for anywhere from one to two games, depending on their sport. If they are ejected a second time, the TSSAA bylaws state that “a more severe punishment shall be imposed,” but do not go into detail about what the punishment will be. In addition, the TSSAA Executive Director may impose “[o]ther non-monetary penalties” that are “based on all the facts.”
If student-athletes leave the bench area during a game in response to an incident on the field, the Executive Director can take “non-monetary disciplinary action,” which can include “probation and/or restrictive probation” for the team. Probation will result in a fine against the school, while restrictive probation will result in the school being removed from the tournament series for that season.
Ejections can be appealed, but must be submitted in writing by a school administrator and must state “which playing rule was misapplied.”
If your student-athlete has been ejected from a competition under circumstances that you believe were unfair, particularly where a playing rule may have been misapplied, contact Joseph D. Lento's team for help. It's not unusual for chaotic situations to arise during heated games where student-athletes are misidentified by overwhelmed officials and mistakenly punished for the misbehavior of others. Joseph D. Lento's team can help you, your student-athlete, and the school administration prepare an effective and compelling appeal to an ejection where the facts support reversal.
School Transfer Issues
Student-athletes who transfer from one high school to another may face a tricky path to immediate eligibility at their new school. There are some easy situations where a transferring student-athlete will be immediately eligible at their new school:
- Where they did not compete in any sport during the previous twelve months
- Where their family has made a “bona fide change of residence” from the first school's territory to the second school's territory
- Where they are reassigned to a new school by their local school system
There are some other, more complicated situations as well. Student-athletes whose parents have divorced or are separated and are in the process of divorcing will be immediately eligible at the new school if they make a transfer from one parent to the other, provided the move is consistent with a court-ordered change of custody. They can only make that move once, however; if they move back to live with the other parent, then they are not immediately eligible at the next school.
Other school transfers may result in the student-athlete being ineligible for 12 months from the last date the student participated in a particular sport at the old school. These include the situation where the student transfers schools, but the family has not moved, or where the move is not a “bona fide” move. Students who are suspended from their old school and are not allowed to compete as a result may not escape the consequences of that by transferring to a new school; they will be ineligible for 12 months or for the remaining length of the suspension, whichever is less.
Student-athletes who have an “athletic coaching link” at their new school may also be ineligible to compete for 12 months from the date of their last competition at their old school. A number of situations can support a “link,” including having attended a camp where the new school's coach worked; playing on a non-school team coached by the new coach; transferring to a school that has hired the student-athlete's former coach; or transferring to a school where the student-athlete's “former or current personal trainer or strength and conditioning coach” works.
Transfer eligibility determinations can be appealed on hardship grounds. The standards are the same as described above, plus the student-athlete's school needs to establish that the transfer is “for reasons unrelated to participation in athletics.”
Joseph D. Lento Can Help Keep Your Student-Athlete Competing
If you have questions about your student-athlete's continued eligibility, whether because of grading issues, disciplinary matters, school transfer rules, or any other reason, contact Joseph D. Lento's Student Defense Team for help. Joseph D. Lento's team has worked with student-athletes and their families faced with difficult and complicated disciplinary and eligibility situations in high schools all over the United States. They have the experience, perspective, and skill that you and your student-athlete need to give them the best chance at remaining – or regaining – their eligibility. Call Joseph D. Lento's Student Defense Team today at 888.535.3686 or reach out through the Lento Law Firm's online contact form.
