Bylaws

ARTICLE I - UNITS OF COMPETITION

Section 1. Divisions. As far as practicable, this Association will be divided for purposes of competition into the following male and female divisions: (a) Elementary; (b) Middle School; (c) Senior High; and (d) Adult.

Section 2. Minimum Teams to Form a Division. There must be at least four teams for a sport activity before the Association will consider forming a division in that sport.

ARTICLE II - ELIGIBILITY

Section 1. Divisional Age Limits. The divisional age limits will be as follows:

(a) Elementary - to 11 years of age and 5th grade;

(b) Middle School - to 15 years of age and 8th grade;

Section 2. Cut-Off Dates and School Attendance. The age limits stated in Section 1 of this Article cannot be attained before September 1 of the particular activity year. For basketball, a participant must be a full-time elementary or secondary school student. (According to the Kanawha County Board of Education, there are no part-time day students and co-op work programs are considered school time.)

Section 3. Playing in Higher Divisions. A participant may be placed in a higher age classification, but may not be moved downward to his or her correct age group once he or she has participated in an older age group.

Section 4. Regular Church Attendance Required. In order to participate in one of the sponsored activities of this Association, a participant must have a record of regular attendance at the church for which he plays.

Section 5. Regular Attendance Defined. The meaning of "regular attendance," as used in Section 4 of this Article, is attendance at a regularly scheduled service at least two (2) days per month. This attendance will be at bona fide church religious activities; i.e., Sunday morning worship, Sunday morning Church School, Congregational Prayer Meetings, etc. It will not be a "convenience" service contrived just to establish eligibility, such as social events, dances, casual youth group meetings, athletic practice sessions, etc. Any question of whether or not a service is acceptable will be resolved by the Executive Council upon request. This request may be made either in the form of a protest or in the form of a request for clarification by a member church.

Section 6. Period of Regular Attendance. A participant may be eligible to represent a church in one of the sponsored activities of the Association ONLY if he has been in regular attendance at that church 90 days prior to his participation in the first league game. Such attendance is to be certified by the church's clergy who must sign all rosters. For softball activities, this attendance requirement does not apply to students returning from out-of-town schools for the summer.

Section 7. Newcomer Exception to Regular Attendance Requirement. The attendance requirement as stated in Section 6 of this Article does not apply to new persons coming into a church from out of town. A newcomer is defined as a person that has been a resident of the Charleston area for less than six months.

Section 8. Establishing Eligibility to Play for a Different Church.

(a) A player may switch eligibility from one member church to another under the following conditions:

1. He or she will not be eligible to play for the new church for a 12-month period which will begin on the date of the final church league game of the season in which he or she last participated for the old church.

2. If a church decides not to sponsor a team in a given sport, participants of that former church team may transfer to another church team for that sport without sitting out the Section 8(a)(1) 12-month period provided (a) that all other eligibility requirements are met; and (b) that the Executive Council gives its approval.

(b) If a player participated for another church in an activity which his home church did not sponsor and wishes to return to his home church the following year to participate in the same activity which the home church now sponsors, his or her eligibility will be determined by the Executive Council. The member institution will furnish the names of its players in writing for the approval to the Executive Council before the season begins.

Section 9. Additional Requirements for Basketball and Volleyball Eligibility. In addition to the requirements listed in Sections 1-8, the following additional requirements apply to basketball and volleyball eligibility:

(a) A player may not participate in a sport sponsored by this Association if he or she has played in a varsity, junior varsity, freshman, "B" team, 6th, 7th or 8th grade for a middle school, senior high or college game during the Association's current season, unless such scholastic team does not participate in interschool competition.

(b) Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 9(a) of this Article, participants in a varsity, junior varsity, freshman, “B” team, 6th, 7th or 8th grade for a middle school, senior high or college volleyball game will be eligible to play in an Association sponsored volleyball league following conclusion of the scholastic season.

(c) A participant is eligible to participate in sponsored activities of this Association if he or she plays intramural competition at schools or industrial plants.

(d) A participant will not be eligible to play in a sponsored activity of this Association during a particular season if during that season he plays on another independent team or is a member of a team in another league in the same activity, unless that participant has requested and obtained an “established member” waiver from the Executive Council along with the submission of his or her name on the first roster for that Association activity. Application for such a waiver will be done using a form provided by the Association. That form will require that the individual seeking a waiver demonstrate that he or she (1) is an established church member in the eyes of that church for which he or she wishes to play; (2) has attended the church in question for a period of not less than 12 months immediately prior to the waiver request; and (3) has shown a consistent pattern of attendance (averaging at least one regularly scheduled service per month) at that church for the same 12-month period. (Amended 9/9/1997 to include waiver provisions.) (See attached Task Force report and sample Waiver.)

(e) A player who tries out for a school team may participate in pre-season interschool practice games with the school team without losing his or her church league eligibility. Such games must be pre-season games and must take place before the school varsity team plays its first regular game. A player will be deemed to have participated if his or her name appears in the official score book.

(f) A team must have a minimum of eight players on its roster to enter or it must combine with another church.

(g) Two or more churches may combine players for the purpose of developing a basketball or a volleyball team; however, no one church may have more than seven players on a combined team, and the total number of players may not exceed 15. Consolidations must be approved by the League Director and the Executive Committee.

(h) Churches that combine to sponsor a team will be responsible for making the necessary arrangements with the League Director for paying fees, submitting rosters and fulfilling all other league requirements.

(i) An Association team may participate in any non-Association tournament as long as such participation does not interfere directly or indirectly with Association activities.

Section 10. Eligibility Exceptions. The Executive Council may make exceptions to individual eligibility rules. Requests for exceptions must be made in writing at least two weeks prior to the first game of the season. Exceptions require approval of two-thirds of the members of the Executive Council.

ARTICLE III - FEES, AWARDS AND PENALTIES

Section 1. Awards. Awards for each activity of the Association will be established by the Executive Council with the approval of the Association. Trophies will be awarded to the first and second place teams in each division.

Section 2. Penalty for Late Entry or Withdrawal. If any church wishes to enter a team in one of the activities of the Association after the deadline for that activity has passed, or, if the church wishes to withdraw a team after the schedule for that activity has been established, said church must pay a penalty fee of $50.00 for each team so entered or withdrawn.

Section 3. Penalty for Withdrawal After Commencement of League Play. If a church wishes to withdraw a team after the first season game has been played in its division of an activity, said church must pay half of the entry fee for that division. If said team withdraws during the second half of the season, the sponsoring church must pay the full entry fee.

Section 4. Penalty for Forfeiture. Any team which forfeits a game because it lacks enough eligible players or an adult supervisor at the time scheduled to play will be fined a forfeiture penalty of $10.00. The forfeiture penalty will be paid to the league treasury.

Section 5. Sport Activity Fees. Team fees for each sport activity will be determined by the Executive Council according to need and will be approved by the Association.

Section 6. Submission Date for Activity Fees. All activity fees must be paid in full by the end of the activity's first half schedule.

ARTICLE IV - TEAM ROSTERS

Section 1. Submission Date for Team Rosters. Rosters of each team must be submitted to the person authorized by this Association to receive them one week prior to the opening game of the season in that activity.

Section 2. Submission Dates for Monthly Rosters. A monthly roster must be submitted within seven days of the first day of every month the activity is scheduled. If the roster is not submitted timely, all games played prior to submission will be forfeited and a penalty fee will be assessed.

Section 3. Forfeiture for Untimely Roster Submission. If a team has not submitted its roster in accordance with Sections 1 and 2 of this Article, it will forfeit every game played until such time as the roster is submitted to the person authorized by the Association to receive it.

Section 4. Adding Players to Rosters. Players may be added to the team roster prior to the opening of the first game of the second half of each scheduled activity.

Section 5. Limitation on Adding Players to Rosters. A new player must be placed on the team roster 48 hours in advance of the new player's participation in his or her first league game. The additions must be submitted on an official league roster form, correctly signed by the church.

ARTICLE V - TEAM SUPERVISION

Section 1. Adult Supervisors Required. Each church will provide an adult supervisor for each team sponsored by that church, and he or she must be in attendance with the team throughout the game. The adult supervisor must sit with the team and will be responsible for the conduct of the players at all times; i.e., before, during and after the game (including the locker room). The adult supervisor may be the team coach, or the adult supervisor may delegate coaching duties to others.

Section 2. Age Requirements for Adult Supervisors. With the exception of high school boys teams, the adult supervisor must be a person 18 years of age or older. The adult supervisor of a high school boys team must be at least 21 years old.

Section 3. Providing Timers and Scorekeepers. The two team supervisors will be responsible for providing a TIMER and a SCOREKEEPER for each basketball game. Neither the TIMER nor the SCOREKEEPER may be changed during a game unless such change is required by the officials, and then only for extraordinary reasons.

Section 4. Failure to Provide Timer or Scorekeeper. If a team supervisor fails to supply a TIMER or SCOREKEEPER, the referee will appoint such person, who will act in that capacity for the entire game.

ARTICLE VI - PLAY-OFFS

Section 1. Arrangements. All arrangements for play-off games, including facilities, scheduling, and officials, will be made by the officers of the league. Such arrangements will not be governed by the participating teams. Every effort will be made to make the arrangements as convenient as possible for all teams involved.

ARTICLE VII - PROTESTS, POSTPONEMENTS AND FORFEITS

Section 1. Eligibility Investigations. Questions concerning eligibility of players will be investigated and resolved by the officers upon verbal request.

Section 2. Lodging of Protests to Rules Interpretations. A protest based on interpretation of the rules must be lodged at the time of its occurrence, and before the game continues, with the game officials. It must then be submitted in writing within 72 hours of its occurrence to the officers of the Association who will resolve the protest and notify all parties of the resolution.

Section 3. Protests During Play-Off Games. Play-off game protests must be settled by the officials before the game may continue.

Section 4. Appeals. If a team does not agree with the officers' resolution of a protest or eligibility inquiry, it may appeal that resolution to the full Executive Council. Such appeal must be filed in writing within 72 hours of receiving notification of the officers' resolution.

Section 5. Postponement.

(a) Approval of League Director. No postponements will be allowed except with the approval of the League Director in charge of that activity or the President. Religious activities constitute an acceptable reason for postponement.

(b) Inclement Weather. Any time public schools are closed for an entire day or students are dismissed early because of inclement weather, all church league activities will be canceled for that evening. Decisions regarding the cancellation of weekend games because of inclement weather will be left up to the League Director or the President.

(c) Unusual Circumstances. In any unusual circumstances (such as a natural gas shortage), a ruling will be made by the Executive Council on whether or not games will be played.

Section 6. Forfeits.

(a) Grace Period. There will be a ten minute grace period for the first game scheduled at a given site only. All other games will start as scheduled or will result in a forfeit.

(b) Use of Ineligible Players. Any team which plays an ineligible player shall automatically forfeit any and all games in which said player participated while ineligible.

ARTICLE VIII - ASSOCIATION-PLAYER RELATIONSHIP

Section 1. Association not Liable for Injuries. Persons who participate in the activities sponsored by this Association do so on a voluntary basis, and must recognize that the Association will not assume responsibility for anyone who is injured while playing in a particular scheduled game or a practice game. Participants must also recognize that injured persons have no claim against a church which allows the Association to use its facilities for competitive play.