New Legislation 2022-23
New Legislation for 2022-2023 Academic Year:
- Frequency of play and start dates
- Season of competition Professional
- Initial eligibility change
- New Progress rule exception
Frequency of Play: Start Dates and Contest Limits
Amended Bylaw Article I, Section G, Item 1
At the NAIA Convention in the spring of 2021, the membership voted to institute start dates for the first time in the NAIA. Along with this major change the contest limits for several sports were changed. This amendment goes into effect on August 1, 2022, but can be found in the handbook in Article I, Section G, Item 1. Baseball, Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Softball, Volleyball, and Wrestling all had their frequency of play limits reduced after a thorough review by an NAIA membership led task force. You can read the report here. With this change in frequency of play, the number of games an athlete can compete in before being charged a season of competition (20% rule) was reduced in the sport of baseball and softball from 12 to 11.
The biggest change is the institution of practice and competition start dates. Every sport will now have date on which activities meeting the practice definition can begin and a date on which competitions can begin. We’ve addressed what constitutes practice before but it does NOT include strength and conditioning. It should be noted that although all sports now have a start date, you will notice some sports practice and competition date is the same whereas others are different. The sports whose practice and competition start dates differ are due to the finding of the above mentioned study. Scrimmages and exhibitions are not subject to the start date for competitions and can occur after the practice start date. There is no requirement for NAIA schools to start practice on the specified date or compete on the first day of competitions. You should be aware Baseball, Softball, and Men’s Volleyball have different competition start dates for each term.
The continued creep of NAIA sports into both semesters causing additional strain on departments personnel and budgets led to this proposal. It is important to keep in mind the 24-week season bylaw is still in place and must be adhered to. Lastly, this amendment is only applicable from August 1 to May 15, which means teams can practice and even compete outside of that window. This amendment was proposed by the Athletic Directors Association, Conference Commissioners Association, Council for Student-Athletes, and Association of Student-Athletes.
Season of Competition
Amended Bylaw Article V, Section B, Item 18b
Beginning on May 1, 2022, the standard by which a student is charged a season of competition for non-intercollegiate competition will rise. The standard will go from “elite-level” to “professional-level.” This also marks the first time that the criteria will be written in the bylaws, see below.
Participation in any professional-level competition on or after the first day of the thirteenth month following high school graduation. A student will be charged a season of competition for participating in at least one professional-level event within a 12-month period. A team, league or event will be defined as professional-level competition and result in charging a student a season of competition if any one of the following is met:
i. Competition on a team or within a league (all sports) shall result in a season of competition if the team or league self-declares as professional.
ii. Competition on a team or within a league (all sports) shall result in a season of competition if both of the following are met:
1) The team or league self-declares as semi-professional; and
2) Team(s) within the league pay or reimburse participants beyond actual expenses of travel, meals and lodging.
iii. For individual sports, a student’s participation will be evaluated based on the student’s specific division, series or group/heat within the event. If that division, series or group/heat within the event is self-declared as professional or semi-professional, the student’s competition shall result in a season of competition charged.
We will continue to honor seasons of competition charged or not charged by previous athletic associations. This amendment was proposed by the Competitive Experience Committee with the intention of making the application easier to understand. The old criteria often relied upon statements from league and team officials who often would inflate the quality of their league. This would lead students to being charged seasons of competition for competing in a league that didn’t actually fit the criteria. The goal of this legislation is to be more transparent, provide consistency, and to also raise the standard.
This bylaw goes into effect on May 1, 2022, as applied to eligibility decisions for NAIA competition in August 2022 and beyond. This means that this criteria is not retroactive. If a student was charged for a league prior to May 1, 2022, that would not be chargeable under the new criteria they cannot have that competition reviewed again.
Any athlete, individual or team sports, will be charged a season of competition for competing in one professional level event. Prior to this change, individual sport athletes had to compete in 3 or more events in a 12-month period before they would be charged. Now competition in one professional level event will start their season of competition.
The eligibility center will continue to review the competitive history of all new NAIA athletes but for those athletes who do not need an eligibility center decision it will be the responsibility of the school to do a thorough competitive experience review with the student. The competitive experience form must be completed for any student that hasn’t been certified in every term since identification, transfer students from non-NAIA institutions that weren’t charged a season every year before coming to the NAIA, and students who’ve had a break in enrollment.
Initial Eligibility
Amended Bylaw Article V, Section C, Item 2
Beginning on May 1, 2022, entering freshman will have a new way to meet initial eligibility. Previously a student needed two of the following three to be eligible: GPA, class rank, and/or test score. If a student didn’t meet the two out of three then they would have to meet one of the exceptions or request an exception with the National Eligibility Committee. However, entering freshman beginning in the fall of 2022 will be able to meet initial eligibility requirements by only meeting the elevated GPA requirement of 2.300 on a 4.000 scale. This change is in light of the national trend of institutions of higher learning moving away from standardized tests and fewer high schools providing a class rank.
With this change also comes a change to early decision criteria as well. Now students can receive an early decision of eligible based solely on their high school GPA. A student who has a 3.300 or higher after their sixth semester of high school and a student with a 2.800 or higher after their seventh semester can receive early decisions of eligible. As with all early decisions it will be the schools responsibility to ensure a student receiving an early decision did in fact graduate from high school and has been accepted in good standing.
This bylaw change does not go into effect until 2022 because the Council of Presidents and National Eligibility Committee extended the entering freshman COVID exception for the 2021-2022 academic year. You can learn about all COVID exceptions by following this link.
Progress Rule – GPA Requirement
Amended Bylaw Article V, Section C, Item 9
Prior to this change athletes were not required to have a specific collegiate GPA until they were a junior academically or athletically. Now an athlete must have at least a 2.000 GPA before they compete in their second season of competition and from then on. The progress rule, where this GPA requirement is found, is sport specific and tied specifically to seasons of competition charged. If a student is going into their second season of competition in baseball but is competing in their first season in football they would need to meet the GPA for baseball and not football. This means a student could be eligible for one sport and not be eligible for a subsequent sport.
With this new change also comes a new exception. A student is exempt from meeting this GPA requirement for their second season of competition if their previous season that was charged was for non-intercollegiate competition. For example, an international student competed in a chargeable league prior to coming to the NAIA and was charged for that competition. This student would not be expected to have a 2.000 GPA to compete in their second season of competition. On the other hand if a student was charged a season at a junior college and came to the NAIA for her second season of competition, they would have to meet the 2.000 GPA.
This amendment was proposed by the Council of Faculty Athletic Representatives and will go into effect on May 1, 2022, as applied to eligibility decisions for competition in August 2022 and beyond.
