It is the responsibility of member schools to abide by the rules of the Conference and to educate students, coaches, parents and others regarding the provisions of membership and Rules of Eligibility.

I. COACHES AND COACHING CONTACT

A. CONTACT WITH ATHLETES
Coaches may not have coaching contact with any athletes during the off-season more than once a week. Further, coaches may not:

1. Mandate athletes participate in non-school competition, or determine who may or may not participate in non-school activity.
2. Require involvement in out-of-season activities as part of the requirements for making a school team, earning a school letter award, etc.
3. Provide incentives such as T-shirts, etc., for participation in the off-season. A school coach must always be present when an athlete is participating in interscholastic competition.

B. CODE OF CONDUCT
All coaches, paid or volunteer, are expected to follow a Code of Conduct. This includes:

1. Following Conference Bylaws

2. Following WLF and/or Wisconsin Interscholastic Lacrosse Association guidelines

3. Behaving in a professional and sportsmanlike manner, which includes:

a. No taunting or harassing opposing coach
b. No taunting or harassing opposing players
c. No taunting or harassing referees
d. No taunting or harassing opposing team parents
4. Disciplining own players who exhibit continuous unsportsmanlike conduct
5. Refraining from shouting profanities and/or using obscene gestures Failure to follow Code of Conduct will result in a review before the Bay-Valley rules and regulations committee.

C. REFEREES
As a new sport, the Conference will make every effort to recruit and train new referees. Neutral referees will be used for all contests. If, however, a neutral referee is unable to oversee a game, and all neutral referee options are exhausted, and as a last resort the home coach schedules a coach to referee the following must occur:

1. The home coach must contact the visiting coach for approval;
2. The referee cannot be a coach (head or assistant, varsity or JV, paid or unpaid) of the home or visiting team;
3. The referee cannot be a coach in contention for a playoff spot against one of the competing teams.

II. SCHOOLS AND SCHOOL TEAMS

A. COMPETITION AND PRACTICE
Schools may conduct sport competition and practice only during the defined respective sport season as specified by the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation and once a week during the off-season, unless the off-season team is a recreational program.

B. SCRIMMAGES/SEASON
Conference rules limit the number of interscholastic (another high school, tech school, college, etc.) scrimmages/practices teams may have. Teams may practice/scrimmage with or against non-school groups (alumni, city team, etc.) at their discretion. Allowable minimums/maximums

• Scrimmages - 0 minimum, 2 maximum
• Games – Teams play every conference team once during the season, and teams in their division (Green Bay/Fox Valley) twice. Teams must play at least one non-conference game.
• Season Start - March 1st, or the first weekday after.
• First Game - April 9th or after as determined by the WLF
• Season End – Third Saturday in May. The week before Memorial Day weekend will be reserved for make-up games and initial round of playoffs.

C. MAKE-UP GAMES/FORFEITURES
Any game canceled due to weather may be made up within regular season play. A forfeiture of a game will result in a loss for the team making the forfeiture. Forfeits will not be made up at a later date.

D. CONFERENCE PLAYOFFS
First round of Conference playoffs will occur the weeks before and after Memorial Day. The team ranked #1 in the Conference based on Conference record will be named Conference Champion. Playoffs will occur the first Tuesday after the regular season between teams ranked #1 v #8, #2 v #7, #3 v #6, #4 v #5. Second tier playoffs will be the Thursday after the end of the regular season, with winners of team #1 v #8 and winner of #4 v #5 match-up, and winners of #2 v #7 and #3 v #6 match-up bracketed against each other. The Saturday at the end of the week, the winners of these two games will compete for the right to go to state playoffs.

E. WHO MAY PARTICIPATE INTERSCHOLASTICALLY
A school may use on its interscholastic teams only its full-time students enrolled in grades 9-12.
Note: No eligibility will be granted for a student whose residence within a school's attendance boundaries, with or without parents, or whose attendance at a school has been the result of undue influence (special consideration due to athletic ability or potential) on the part of any person, whether or not connected with the school.
The only exception is for combined teams. A student who attends a school with an existing lacrosse program cannot play on an outside combined team.
A full roster is to be issued to the WLF area representative by April 1. The roster is to contain, name, grade, age, birthdate, jersey number, and school of each player. Coaches are responsible for providing an updated roster to area representative if players are added or deleted.
The administration of the school is responsible for the eligibility of all its athletes. A student must meet school and WIAA definition of a full-time student (as identified by school policy), be carried on a school's attendance roles and be meeting the minimum academic requirement in credits accepted by the school in order to be eligible to participate in any interscholastic competition. Schools apply their own academic standards to transfer students.

1. Students that are academically ineligible, ineligible due to code of conduct violations, or those required to miss the next competitive event due to being ejected from their last competitive event, may participate in scrimmages against other schools according to local school policy. Students ineligible for other reasons may not participate in scrimmages against other schools.
2. For varsity eligibility, public school students are eligible to participate in the district in which their parents reside in their primary residence. A transfer of guardianship, or reaching 18 years of age, does not set aside this rule. Parents may not establish a secondary residence, in a second district, and gain athletic eligibility. Nonpublic school students, with the exception of boarding schools, must reside full-time with parents in their primary residence. Note: For the purpose of this rule, attendance at one day of class and/or attendance at one athletic practice shall determine "beginning of school year."
3. State open enrollment students are eligible starting with the fall season, from a residence standpoint. If this student transfers back to the school of residence or to a nonpublic school, after attending one day of school or one athletic practice, he/she is ineligible for varsity competition for the remainder of that school year.
4. Board of Education approved full-time student(s), paying their own tuition and residing full-time with parents in their primary residence shall be afforded eligibility.
5. All transfer students should initially be treated as ineligible athletes until the athletic director at the receiving school has had the opportunity to completely check all aspects of athletic eligibility. A student who transfers after attending one day of school or one athletic practice at the previous school, without an accompanying change of parents' residence, is ineligible for varsity competition for the remainder of that school year.
6. Foreign exchange students may be granted one year of varsity eligibility if they come to a school through a CSIET approved exchange program with full listing status. Foreign exchange students who transfer from one school to another should be regarded as ineligible for varsity competition, the same as any other transfer student.

F. NEW TEAMS
New teams will play four (4) scrimmages and a limited Conference schedule not to exceed six (6) games. New teams are on probationary status and will not be eligible for playoffs in their first year. Games with new teams will not count in conference status. After a team's first year, they will start their second season as a regular Conference team and will adhere to regular season guidelines. If an intra-district team splits, they will not be considered a new team. Students in their last year of eligibility for the intra-district team may opt to play for their original team.

G. CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF COMPETITION/PRACTICE
A team must take one day off, from all physical activity, after six consecutive days of practice/competition.

H. PROTESTS
A protest is possible relative to a game official's misapplication of a rule, inappropriate conduct of a team, coach or player, a violation of bylaws, or other issues surrounding a game. Such protests are not allowed in Wisconsin tournament competition. During the regular season, a protest will not result in replaying or repeating any game, or any portion of any game. It is not possible to recreate the game situation that existed.

A school may appeal a ruling of forfeiture based on an ineligible student's contribution to victory, in a team sport, with the understanding the school must satisfy to a clear and convincing standard the student in question did not contribute in any way to the victory. All protests will be filed with the appointed Bay-Valley Conference Rules and Regulations Committee.

I. CODE OF CONDUCT
All schools have a code of conduct, which they enforce on a year-round basis. WIAA rules do not indicate specific penalties, other than stating in-season violations involving use of alcohol, tobacco products and/or the use, possession, buying or selling of controlled substances must result in at least a one-game (not scrimmage) suspension.

Any suspension, which results in a student missing a WIAA tournament contest, results in that athlete being ineligible for the remainder of the WIAA tournament series in that sport. A student that transfers from one school to another, with a suspension due to athletic code violation(s) from the previous school, must serve that mandated suspension at the new school. If a student appeals a suspension, according to the school's appeal procedure, the student is ineligible during the appeal process.

A student ejected from a contest is suspended for the rest of that competition and the next scheduled competition. If it happens the next competition is a multi-school meet, which counts as one meet on the schedule, the student misses the entire competition.

J. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION
It is necessary the school or coach have a current physical examination on file for every athlete before the athlete is allowed to start practice. This physical examination must bear the signature or signature stamp of a physician, or the stamp of the clinic the physician is associated with or the signature of an Advanced Practice Nurse Prescriber (APNP). A physical examination taken April 1 and thereafter is valid for the following two school years; a physical examination taken before April 1 is valid only for remainder of that school year and following school year.

III. STUDENTS

A. AGE REQUIREMENT
A student shall be ineligible for interscholastic competition if he/she reaches his/her 19th birthday before August 1 of any given school year.
B. CONSECUTIVE SEMESTER RULE
A student has eight consecutive semesters of potential athletic eligibility, starting with the first semester of his/her 9th grade year. A fifth year senior is not eligible to participate, unless a waiver is granted by the Conference.
C. AMATEUR STATUS
A student may not accept any cash or merchandise awards for achievement in athletics. This means athletes may not accept items such as shoes, jackets, gift certificates, etc., for athletic accomplishments, such as being on a winning team, being selected for the school varsity team, or being a place winner in an individual tournament, etc. They may receive an award which is symbolic in nature, such as trophies, medals, ribbons, event T-shirts, event hats, game balls or other items of no intrinsic value. Rules further prevent athletes from receiving compensation or benefit, directly or indirectly, for the use of name, picture and/or personal appearance as an athlete. A student may not be identified as an athlete, provide endorsement as an athlete, or appear as an athlete in the promotion of a commercial/advertisement and/or profit-making event, item, plan or service. Also, an athlete violates this rule if he/she plays in any contest (school or non-school) under a name other than his/her own.

D. EXPENSES - TRAINING AND COMPETING

1. There is a distinction between training and competing. Students must pay their own expenses, including transportation, to any non-school (out-of-season) camps, clinics, or specialized training. Schools may pay expenses and provide transportation to similar in-season activities in that sport.
2. A student may be reimbursed actual and necessary costs associated with competing. This may include transportation, food, lodging and entry fees.
3. A school may not become involved financially, through transportation or any other way in a student's non-school participation outside the sport.

E. FALSIFICATION OF INFORMATION

If a student or a student's parents or guardian falsify any information submitted to a school, and a student participates resulting in an order of forfeiture, the student becomes ineligible in all sports for one calendar year from the date of the last game or meet in which the student participated.

IV. PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS

It should be noted most rules do not have a specific penalty associated with them. The Bay-Valley Rules & Regulations Committee will have the authority to vote, however, to impose the following penalties relative to rules violations:

A. Suspension of membership for not more than one year.
B. Probation for not more than one year.
C. Denial of participation in Conference tournament program.
D. Denial of any area of Conference services and benefits.
E. Monetary fine equal to Conference expense incurred in any investigation and actual reimbursement of costs resulting from the violation.
F. Forfeiture (team sports) of contests won by school or (individual sports) of points/places won by individuals.
G. Loss of conference affiliation.
H. Loss of eligibility for athletes involved.
Bylaws will be reviewed annually by Conference coaches.