OHIO HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETIC ASSOCIATION Doug Ute, Executive Director

TO: OHSAA Student-Athletes
FROM: Doug Ute, OHSAA Executive Director

Welcome to the 2021-22 school year and congratulations on making it through a year unlike any other. Your hard work and ability to adapt to change are to be celebrated! We were so excited to crown a state champion in each of our 26 sanctioned sports last year and have every expectation to do the same again this year.

I wanted to send you a quick reminder that Bylaw 4-4 requires student-athletes to pass a certain number of credits/classes to be eligible for participation in sports. During the 2020-21 school year this rule was suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic*. However, starting with the second grading period of the 2021-22 school year each student will again be required to meet the requirements of these bylaw sections.

WHAT THIS MEANS:

High School Students- At the conclusion of the first grading period, you need to have passing grades in a minimum of five (5) one-credit courses, or the equivalent. Please check with your guidance counselor and/or athletic administrator to ensure you are scheduled for enough credits! Failure to schedule enough credits, or failing a class to fall below the standard, will make you ineligible beginning with the start of the fifth school day of the second grading period. This ineligibility will then extend all the way until the third grading period. Here is a link you can use to help understand credit equivalencies at the HS level: https://ohsaaweb.blob.core.windows.net/files/Eligibility/OtherEligibiltyDoc s/EligibilityGuidelinesGuidanceCounselors.pdf

7/8 Grade School Students- At the conclusion of the first grading period, you need to have passing grades in a minimum of four classes. Please check with your guidance counselor and/or athletic administrator to ensure you are scheduled for enough classes! Failure to schedule enough classes, or failing a class to fall below the standard, will make you ineligible beginning with the start of the fifth school day of the second grading period. This ineligibility will then extend all the way until the third grading period.

We do not want any student failing to meet these standards so let’s all work together to make sure you set yourself up for success to stay eligible! Best of luck this coming school year!

*Some schools elected to continue upholding the scholarship bylaw during the 2020-21 school year and/or may not let a student play with a failing grade. Schools are always permitted to enforce stricter rules than the OHSAA standard.