2005 UPA High School and Youth Club Eligibility Rules

The UPA recognizes that the Youth Division is a young and emerging division. We recognize that eligibility rules for participation in interscholastic athletic activities vary between schools and states. The UPA rules are intended to support and help the division to grow as well as maintain a level playing field for competition between high school teams. These rules may change in subsequent years to respond to the exciting growth in the division.

In 2005 the UPA has split the High School Championships into HS Easterns and HS Westerns and added the Youth Club Championships.

For the 2005 HS Eastern and Western Championships, the Club Player eligibility rules (section II) only apply to the Girls Division. The Open Division Team Guidelines require that a team consist entirely of High School Players (as defined in section I) for the High School Eastern and Western Championships. Eligibility for the Youth Club Championships is covered exclusively under item II, "Club Players."

I. High School Players – To be considered a High School Player students must meet the following requirements:

a. Students must be regular members of the school they represent in order to participate in an interscholastic athletic activity.

i. Students are a "regular member" of a school if they are enrolled half time or more, exclusive of interscholastic athletic activities.

b. Students will be under 20 on June 1^st of the current school year.

c. Students must not have graduated or received a GED before January 1^st of the current school year.

d. Students who are home schooled will be considered a “High School Player” for the public high school that they would normally attend.

II. Club Players – All players who are under 19 on June 1^st of or following the current school year and do not meet the requirements of “High School Players” will be considered “Club” Youth Players, provided they have not either competed previously in the UPA College Division or been listed on a UPA College Series roster in the Spring season in which they wish to compete in the High School/Youth Division. This includes, but is not limited to:

a. Players who have graduated early or received a GED.

b. Players who are home schooled and playing on a team that is not the public high school that they would normally attend.

c. Players who have dropped out of high school.

III. Violations of these rules may result in disqualification from the current UPA Youth or High School Championships and/or disqualification from any or all UPA sanctioned events for up to one year. This penalty is applicable to any and all players on the violating team at the discretion of the UPA, and may include UPA events after the graduation of violating players.

IV. Clarifications – These rules are designed to be as fair as possible for all of the wide range of players participating in the UPA High School Championships. Experience has shown that there can be cases where these rules do not determine absolutely the eligibility of a particular player. The following procedure is available for players/teams for whom the rules are not clear:

a. The coach, team representative, or the player in question may submit an inquiry to the Youth Eligibility Committee via its online form on the Youth Championships web site.

b. The inquiry form must be filled out completely, and submitted by the date on the form. Late requests will not be accepted.

c. The inquiry will be reviewed by the Eligibility Committee, and responses sent by e-mail.

d. Email upa_njd@upa.org if the form is not available or for any other questions.