The Tantasqua Athletic Department Welcomes You!

Winter Athletics Informational Meeting

December 8, 2016

Winter Athletics NightThe purpose of this event is to help inform parents/guardians and student-athletes about important topics such as opioid abuse, hazing, the bona fide team member rule, chemical health violations, and other significant subjects. We also use this opportunity for coaches to have a meeting with parents/guardians to discuss expectations of the coaches, student-athletes, and communication guidelines.

For those who were unable to attend this event, we request that you read the rest of the document and sign the last page indicating that you understand the contents of this document.

A recap of our evening is below:

Worcester Country District Attorney Joseph D. Early addressed Tantasqua student-athletes and parents on December 8, 2016 in the Tantasqua Regional High School Auditorium. His talk centered on opioid abuse and other drug-related problems facing our youth today. Parents can review District Attorney Early’s website by visiting: http://worcesterda.com/

Jill Wooldridge, also from the District Attorney’s office, addressed parents and explained her display “Hidden in Plain Sight”.

Kristen Hargis, Director of Compliance at the University of Connecticut, spoke about college recruiting and gave many great insights to our parents and student-athletes.

Coaches ended the evening by introducing themselves and their sub varsity coaches to parents. They discussed the elements in this document and how communication is to be handled.

We request that you print out the last page of this document, sign it, and have your son or daughter return it to their head coach.

Kind regards,

Sean Mackin

Director of Athletics

MIAA ATHLETIC CODE OF CONDUCT

The community, school administrators, and the athletic staff feel strongly that high standards of conduct and citizenship are essential in maintaining a solid athletic program. The welfare of the student-athlete is the foremost priority of the school, while the foremost priority of the student-athlete is to uphold the traditions, responsibilities, and rules that go along with being involved with athletics. All athletes are to abide by all school rules as well as the rules set forth by MIAA.Listed below are the rules that are most commonly questioned.

Chemical Health

A. MIAA Rule 62.1 (Chemical Health). During the school year, a student shall not, regardless of the quantity, use or consume, possess, buy/sell or give away: any beverage containing alcohol; any tobacco product; marijuana; steroids; or any controlled substance.It is not a violation for a student to be in possession of a legally defined drug specifically prescribed for the student’s own use by his/her doctor.

1. First Violation: When the Principal confirms, following an opportunity for the student to be heard, that a violation occurred, the student shall lose eligibility for the next consecutive interscholastic contests totaling 25% of all interscholastic contests in that sport. No exception is permitted for a student who becomes a participant in a treatment program. It is recommended that the student be allowed to remain at practice for the purpose of rehabilitation. All decimal part of anevent will be truncated i.e. All fractional part of an event will be dropped when calculating the 25% of the season.

Bona Fide Team Member

MIAA Rule 92 (Bona Fide Team Member). Individual students in schools that have a team in a sport are not allowed to enter tournaments except as a bona fide member of that school team. A bona fide member of the school team is a student who is present for and actively participates in all team practices and competitions. Bona fide members of a school team are precluded from missing a high school practice or competition in order to practice or compete with an out of school team. The first violation of this rule results in a suspension for 25% of the season.Example 1: John participates on the tennis team and misses practice to play in a spring soccer practice/game. John’s infraction will fall under Rule 92 and he will be suspended for 25% of the season.Example 2: John makes the same mistake again. He will now be suspended for an additional 25% of the remaining games and be ineligible for tournament participation.A student-athlete under certain circumstances MAY be eligible for a waiver from the bona fide rule 92 for a special team such as an Olympic one. For details and the form, contact the highschool Principal or Athletic Director.

Concussions and Head Injury Guidelines

Graduated Return to Play

Tips for Protecting your Kids from Addiction

On March 14, 2016 Governor Charlie Baker signed legislation into law to address the deadly opioid epidemic plaguing the Commonwealth. The bill is titled An Act relative to substance use, treatment, education and prevention. This new law includes multiple provisions including a 7-day limit on every opiate prescription for minors (with certain exceptions), a mandate for a verbal screen for substance use disorders in students and a requirement that information on opiate-use and misuse be disseminated to all students participating in an extracurricular athletic activity prior to their athletic season. This information can be found at our sports concussion website (www.mass.gov/sportsconcussion ) athttp://www.mass.gov/eohhs/gov/departments/dph/programs/community-health/dvip/injury-prevention/substance-use-disorder.html .

Here you will find information on substance use and misuse, where to get help for your child, resources and a link to the Dept. of Public Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services. Please make sure prior to every sports season that this educational information is distributed to all student athletes and their parents participating in extracurricular sports. Also, trainings for school health personnel in screening for substance use are currently underway and your school health personnel are encouraged to attend one of these free programs provided by the Department of Public Health. Please see the schedule posted on www.neushi.org for more information related to these programs.

Hazing-is illegal and will not be tolerated in any form

HAZING LAWSMassachusetts General Laws Chapter 269, Sections 17-19and 603 CMR 33.00Hazing shall mean any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug or other substance, or any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.Whoever knows that another person is the victim of hazing as defined in section seventeen and is at the scene of such crime shall, to the extent that such person can do so without danger or peril to himself or others, report such crime to an appropriate law enforcement official as soon as reasonably practicable. Whoever fails to report such crime shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.

Role of the Parent/Guardian with Student-Athletes and

Coaches 1. Be positive during games. No student-athlete or coach will try to fail. As long asmaximum effort and sportsmanship are evident, parents should appreciate that their child and the coach are doing things the right way.2. Encourage your child to work hard. Some of the greatest successes are only learned afterfailure. Student-athletes, parents, coaches, and Tantasqua must never accept quitting.3. Remember that the “fun” part of athletics is not humor, but the journey a child takes witha team to reach goals. Sometimes the “fun” times are only noticeable upon reflection of apast season.

Tantasqua Student-Athletes Attendance

In order to participate in athletics, a student-athlete must attend scheduled classes on the day of a game. Students who arrive in school without attending two full classes are

ineligible to play. In rare cases (college visits, funeral etc.), the Principal may make an exception to this rule. Once again we must remember that student-athletes are students first

and should attend every class, every day.

Tantasqua Athletics Handbook

Please read our athletics handbook. It can be found under “Athletics Forms and Documents” on our webpage.

We look forward to a great season so please come out and support Tantasqua Athletics.

Winter Athletics Informational

Meeting Signoff Form

December 8, 2016

By signing this form, I am acknowledging my awareness

of the contents of the Winter Athletics Informational

Meeting document.

Student-athlete name: _______________________

Parent/Guardian name: ______________________

Parent/Guardian signature: ___________________