CAA CAA Athletic Program Compliance and Governance 1 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which organization sets the primary eligibility rules for high school athletics in the United States at the state level?
- The NCAA
- State high school athletic associations (e.g., NFHS member associations) (Correct answer)
- The U.S. Department of Education
- Individual school boards
Correct answer: State high school athletic associations (e.g., NFHS member associations)
State high school athletic associations, operating under the NFHS umbrella, establish and enforce eligibility rules for their member schools.
Question 2: What is the purpose of an athletic eligibility audit?
- To select all-star teams
- To verify that student-athletes meet academic, age, transfer, and enrollment requirements before competition (Correct answer)
- To evaluate coaching performance
- To set team budgets
Correct answer: To verify that student-athletes meet academic, age, transfer, and enrollment requirements before competition
An eligibility audit confirms that each competing student-athlete satisfies all applicable academic, residency, and enrollment criteria to protect program compliance.
Question 3: When a student transfers from one high school to another, which eligibility concern is MOST common?
- Uniform number conflicts
- Transfer eligibility rules and sit-out periods enforced by the state athletic association (Correct answer)
- Grade point average recalculation
- Loss of senior class rank
Correct answer: Transfer eligibility rules and sit-out periods enforced by the state athletic association
Most state associations impose sit-out periods or conditional eligibility for transfer students to discourage recruiting and ensure compliance.
Question 4: An athletic administrator discovers a coach gave an athlete a prohibited extra benefit. What is the CORRECT course of action?
- Ignore it if the benefit was small
- Report the violation to the appropriate governing authority and initiate an internal review (Correct answer)
- Allow the coach to self-correct without documentation
- Notify only the booster club president
Correct answer: Report the violation to the appropriate governing authority and initiate an internal review
Compliance violations must be reported to the proper governing authority and documented through an internal review to maintain institutional integrity.
Question 5: What does the term 'amateurism' mean in the context of high school athletics compliance?
- Playing for a school for the first time
- Maintaining eligibility by not accepting payment or compensation for athletic participation beyond allowable benefits (Correct answer)
- Competing in only one sport per year
- Being under the age of 18 for all competitions
Correct answer: Maintaining eligibility by not accepting payment or compensation for athletic participation beyond allowable benefits
Amateurism rules prohibit student-athletes from receiving compensation for their athletic ability to preserve the educational character of high school sports.
Question 6: Which NFHS guiding principle emphasizes that high school athletics should be subordinate to the educational mission of the school?
- The Competitive Balance Principle
- The Education-Based Athletics Principle (Correct answer)
- The Community Engagement Mandate
- The Revenue Generation Standard
Correct answer: The Education-Based Athletics Principle
The NFHS education-based athletics model holds that sports programs exist to support the educational development of student-athletes, not as ends in themselves.
CAA CAA Athletic Program Compliance and Governance 1
Which organization sets the primary eligibility rules for high school athletics in the United States at the state level?