Swim & Dive Manual Regular Season

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Regular Season

Practice Regulations 

Practice Regulations.

Practice Regulations - When School is in Session - Individual Sports 

• Eight-Hour Practice Rule – School districts shall adopt policies limiting extracurricular activities from the beginning of the school week through the end of the school week (excluding holidays) by limiting practice outside the school day to a maximum of eight hours per school week per activity.

Practice Regulations - OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL YEAR - INDIVIDUAL SPORTS 

Practice regulations for sports that practice outside of the school year are as follows- 

• The maximum length of any single practice session is three hours. 
• Student-athletes shall not engage in more than five hours of practice activities on those days during which more than one practice is conducted. 
• Schools shall not schedule more than one practice on consecutive days and student-athletes shall not participate in multiple practices on consecutive days. Exception: Volleyball. 
• On days when more than one practice is conducted, there shall be, at a minimum, two hours of rest/recovery time between the end of one practice and the beginning of the next practice.
• What counts towards practice time? Actual on-court practice, sport specific skill instruction, mandatory conditioning, water breaks and rest breaks.
• What doesn’t count? Meetings, weight training*, film study, injury treatment and voluntary conditioning. *Cannot be done during the two-hour rest between the two practices.

Sundays. A League participant school shall not participate in any athletic contest or conduct any practice, or teach any plays, formations, or skills on Sunday.

• Violation. Any showing of films to, or meetings of athletes for the purpose of instructions or reviewing of plays, formations, or skills in any sport will be construed as a violation.
• Coaches Sunday Meetings. This does not prevent coaches from meeting on Sunday or from viewing films or planning an instructional program, provided that no athletes are involved in this meeting.

Contest Scheduling Rules

Contest Scheduling Rules.

The following section combines State Law, State Board of Education regulations, and UIL rules regarding scheduling and participation in a contest.    

• One contest per school week: According to State Board of Education mandates, students may only participate on one day per activity during the school week. School districts shall ensure no more than one contest or performance per activity is scheduled per student. 
• *Exception: Tournaments and post-season competition may be scheduled as an exception to the school week limit. As well, district varsity contests postponed by weather or public disaster, provided that they are rescheduled and played on the next available date, other than Sunday, on which another district match is not scheduled.  Junior varsity, freshman and junior high teams may not play postponed matches as an exception.
  • Junior varsity, freshman and junior high teams may not play postponed matches as an exception. 
  • District varsity games that are postponed by weather or public disaster, and not played on the next available date, shall be rescheduled and played on a date determined by the District Executive Committee, but may not be made up as an exception to the school week limitation.
• TEA and Participation: The Texas Education Agency defines participation as being involved with the activity, traveling with the team, or sitting on the bench. Example:  On a Tuesday night, the student’s name is on the scorebook but she remains on the bench and does not actually enter the game.  This counts as participation for TEA but not UIL, this student would not be able to participate again until after school on Friday, per TEA regulations.
• UIL and Participation: UIL defines participation if a student athlete actually entered the contest as a player. In the example above, the contest does not count as one of the allowable games as determined by UIL policy.

Definitions:

• Calendar week means 12:01 a.m. on Sunday through midnight on Saturday. 
• School week means the week beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the first instructional day of a calendar week and ends at the close of instruction on the last instructional day of the calendar week, excluding holidays. 
• Post-district play means competition in UIL playoff series or contests such as bi-district, area, regional, etc.

Swimming & Diving Regulations

An official starting date and final swimming and diving meet have not been set by the Legislative Council. A starting date should be set by school administration. 

• No student representing a participant school shall participate in more than eight meets during the school year, excluding one district meet, the regional meet and the state meet. Each meet a school team enters counts as one meet for each participating individual. 
• School week. A student or team representing a member school shall participate in no more than one scrimmage, contest, or meet per school week. School week is defined as beginning at 12:01 am on the first instructional day of a calendar week and ends at the close of instruction on the last instructional day of the calendar week, excluding holidays. 
• Meets, which are limited to three or fewer schools, do not count as a meet for teams or participants, provided there is no loss of school time.
• It is considered a school meet if a student is wearing or using school equipment, being transported by the school or is being directed in the meet by a school district coach. 

School Names & Hytek Codes

UIL School Names & Hytek Codes. Schools must use the correct school name and code for all meets. Each school has a unique code specific to the school assigned by the UIL. 

Rules

The swimming and diving rules are available in the current National Federation Swimming and Diving Rules Book and shall be enforced in all League meets. Rulebooks can be purchased from the National Federation, Box 361246, Indianapolis, IN 46236-5324; 1-800-776-3462 or www.nfhs.org.

Events for District, Regional and State

Boys and girls events for district, regional and state meets shall be as follows:

• 200 Yard Medley Relay
• 200 Yard Freestyle
• 200 Yard Individual Medley
• 50 Yard Freestyle
• 1 Meter Diving
• 100 Yard Butterfly
• 100 Yard Freestyle
• 500 Yard Freestyle
• 200 Yard Freestyle Relay
• 100 Yard Backstroke
• 100 Yard Breaststroke
• 400 Yard Freestyle Relay

Entry Limitations

A competitor shall be permitted to enter 2 individuals and/or 2 relay events; or 4 events, no more than 2 of which may be individual (3 relays and 1 individual is permissible). Only eligible students are allowed to compete at UIL member school hosted meets. 

• Exhibition heats and unattached athletes are not allowed at any UIL swimming and diving competition. 
• When more than one relay entry per school is allowed, A & B team members must remain the same for prelims and finals. A & B relays are not allowed to switch their membership from one relay to another.

Divisions & Classifications

Divisions. There shall be the following two divisions in the respective 4Aand Below, 5A and 6A conferences: a) boys; b) girls.

Classifications.

Districts Meets. District swimming and diving chairmen shall be responsible for organizing the district meets.

Regional and State Meets. There will be three classifications for regional and state meets.

• Conference 4A and below schools 
• Conference 5A 
• Conference 6A