Section I

INTERSCHOLASTIC RULES AND REGULATIONS

I. Purpose:  To provide rules and regulations governing the KPASS interscholastic activities that will achieve recognized educational objectives, promote best the traditions of sportsmanship, and provide an enjoyable interscholastic program for all participants, spectators, and supporters.

II. Applicability:  Applicable to all member high schools and other schools invited to participate in KPASS Invitational Tournaments, contests and festivals.

III. Scope:  The activities in which organized interscholastic competition takes place are as herein listed.

IV. KPASS Sportsmanship Goals:  The Code drafted and approved by Student Council is as follows:

“All persons connected with athletics realize that to play for fun or for the love of the game does not in any sense of the word imply a soft, indifferent, casual approach either on the field or in the stands.  The game is played to be won, but for every winner there must be a loser.  To live clean, play hard, win without boasting, lose without excuse, and never quit, are characteristics that distinguish the excellent individual from the mediocre.  The ability to lose with dignity, self-respect, and courage is possibly the greatest lesson to be learned from any sport.  When all contests have ended, only two ideas will prevail and be worthy of lasting respect: magnanimity in victory and dignity in defeat.”

“Sportsmanship for Team-Members” includes:

1. Accepting all decisions of the officials without question; 

2. Seeking to win by fair and lawful means according to the rules;

3. Encouraging good sportsmanship and character by actions and examples during the games and practices;

4. Recognizing that the purpose of the activity is to promote the physical, mental, moral, social, and emotional well-being of all participants;

5. Winning without boasting, losing without excuses, and never quitting;

6. Going to opponents, win or lose, and congratulating them;

7. Accepting and abiding by the standards and experience of the coach;

8. Maintaining poise and self-control at all times and;

9. Always remembering that the players represent what will be interpreted as the character of the coach, the parents of the player, and the standards of the school.

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It is the responsibility of all school members to ensure that interschool activities, sporting and non-sporting, are held in a manner which upholds the ideals of the paragraph above.

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“Sportsmanship for Coaches” includes:

1. Valuing self-restraint, fair play, and sportsmanlike conduct, while in no way lessening the importance of winning the game;

2. Expecting a high degree of proficiency and skill from the team, and demanding proper attitudes and self-control;

3. Displaying self-control and emotional maturity in all contacts with officials, and confining disagreements with interpretations of rulings to the privacy of the officials’ dressing room after the game has ended if at all possible;

4. Fostering the best of relationships with the opponents and behaving appropriately at all times;

5. Encouraging the players to shake hands with their opponents and behave with courtesy at all times;

6. To “ask no quarter nor give none” in striving for victory on the field, and to try to inculcate the same drive in all players, trying to encourage them to do all in their power to win, but always to win with honor;

7. Teaching that to play to the utmost of one’s ability and to lose is no disgrace, but that disgrace comes from winning by unfair or unsportsmanlike means;

8. Dealing firmly and effectively with trouble-makers on the team, but doing so in a manner that is free from anger and temper, and in a manner that does not cost the player his self-respect nor the opportunity to prove that he is capable of overcoming his weakness and becoming a better person for having done so; and,

9. Remembering that, because of his specialized knowledge, the coach is the most important example of good or poor sportsmanship, and that the tone of conduct for team and spectators will be largely determined by the coach’s actions.

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V. Participation in all Inter-Scholastic Activities:  A student shall be eligible to represent a member school in interscholastic activities if he/she:

1. Is adjudged fit to represent the member school by the principal of that school;

2. Is a regularly enrolled student in the member school;

3. Has not been graduated from a secondary school;

4. Has not reached his/her 19th birthday prior to 1 Sep of the year in which the school year concerned begins.  (Any student turning 19 throughout the school year (after Sep. 1st) may play.  Waivers may be requested to the KPASS President in writing.)

5. The following rule was eliminated due to Constitutional Amendment vote at May 17, 95 meeting (See item 95.21), however, due to a stipulation that follows, the rule is still listed here:

   • All KPASS schools must recognize that they must comply with DODDS rules (of which this is one) when playing in DODDS-sponsored tournaments.  The following 8-semester rule therefore applies in DODDS-sponsored tournaments, but not necessarily in KPASS sponsored tournaments:  

   • Has not been enrolled more than 8 consecutive semesters starting with ninth grade unless the activity is non-competitive. *A waiver to the 8 semester rule will be considered by the Principals for any one of the following reasons: illness, transfer problems, and the inability of a school to field a team.  The request for a waiver must be submitted in writing to the league president by the School Principal for consideration at the next regular meeting. (Nov. 91., p.2)

6. They must pass a physical examination.

7. A student of any member school may not represent that school until he has been officially enrolled in the school for at least ten (10) calendar days.  A student whose parent’s address in Japan changes, causing a change of school, becomes eligible immediately at the new school if he was eligible in the school from which he moved.

8. A student is ineligible if:​​
   (a) Amateur Rule; He has lost his amateur standing, i.e., has accepted remuneration, gift, or donation directly or indirectly for participating in and athletic contest or he has participated under an assumed name or he has competed on a team, some player of which was paid for his participation, or he has entered into a playing contract with a professional club or agent.  Reference to a “gift or donation” is not intended to preclude the acceptance of a medal or pin of small intrinsic value which is customarily used for track and similar activities and is presented by the sponsoring organization.
   
   (b) Independent Team Participation Rule:  He has, during the current school year, taken part in an independent contest.  The four criteria for distinguishing a game from a scrimmage are:
      1. If the competition was advertised or announced.
      2. If admission was charged.
      3. If the score was formally kept and/or time was kept.
      4. If regular officials were engaged for the game.
   
   (c) Recruiting Rule:  He has transferred from one school to another for athletic purposes because of undue influence by anyone connected with another school or team.
   
   (d) Award Rule:  He accepts from any source a sweater, jersey, or any other award exceeding twenty-five (25) dollars in value per sport other than those usually given by the school, such as medals, trophies, fobs, letters, and other athletic insignia.

   1. Group action in the raising of funds by such means as dances, show, donations, entertainment pictures, etc., to be used to purchase personal items shall be regarded as a violation of this rule.

   2. A sweater, jacket, or jersey accepted by a student for participation prior to enrollment in a KPASS school is not a violation of this rule.
      
      

9. Grade Rule: An eighth grader may participate in KPASS athletic events if his age would make him ineligible as a 12 grader; otherwise, he may not participate if he has not been promoted to grade 9.

10. Principals are to be vigilant in reviewing materials used by their schools: (Added Sep., 2000)
    
    “Principals, AD’s and individual school Fine Arts and Athletic coaches should be vigilant in reviewing music used during warm-up sessions before or during games.  The language used in Fine Arts events such as Speech, Debate and Drama should be reviewed by coaches/teachers, and especially principals, to insure that language and actions are not offensive, obscene, sexually explicit or suggestive and not containing profanity or words and gestures that would be offensive and in bad taste considering the audience and students participating in or being spectators at any such events.

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Last updated August 2016.