IU South Bend Student-Athlete Day off Policy
In accordance to The NAIA Institutional Day Off Policy Bylaws Amendment 23-B1-18, effective August 1, 2023. Each intercollege athletic team at IU South Bend shall prohibit all athletically related activities one calendar day per week. The mandatory day off is required year-around, no matter if a team is within its 24 weeks of practice or not. The day off may fluctuate from week to week, as determined by the coaching staff.
As per the NAIA, a week is defined as Monday (12:00am) through Sunday (11:59 pm).
Activities that are not permissible within the mandatory day off are: • Activities using equipment related to the sport • Field, floor or on-court activity • Required weight training or conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member • Skill instruction • Use of institutional athletics facilities when such activities are supervised or held at the direction of any member of the institution’s coaching staff • Voluntary skill instruction at the request of the student athlete
Activities that are permissible within the mandatory day off are: • Athletic department academic study tables or tutoring • Attendance at an awards or celebration banquet • Medical examinations or treatment • Meeting with coaches or athletics department staff members on non-athletic matters (i.e. academics, compliance, eligibility, etc.) • Participation in community service • Team entertainment activities (i.e. leadership training and/or team building activities). Physical components may be incidental to the activity but should be kept to a minimum. • Travel to/from competition
Student athletes are free to participate in their own athletic related activities on the day off but can NOT be mandated to do so by the IU South Bend coaching staff.
Each head coach is responsible for communicating the “Day off Policy” with their student athletes at their first team meeting.
Each team’s alignment with the policy will be the responsibility of each head coach, with oversight from the Director of Athletics.
The policy will be included on the iusbtitans.com website, and in the Student Athlete Handbook.
The Director of Athletics and the Faculty Athletic Rep (FAR) will be dual “point persons” that can be notified via email with concerns of any non-compliance of the policy. The Director of Athletics will also provide policy to the conference commissioner in accordance with NAIA Day Off Policy.
Any violations will be self-reported to the NAIA National Office and CCAC Conference Commissioner.
Noting the possibility that extenuating circumstances may merit an exemption, this will be reviewed in consultation with the head coach, Director of Athletics, and FAR.
