Click here for basic eligibility rules.

TO REPRESENT YOUR HIGH SCHOOL IN ATHLETIC CONTESTS:

• You must be a regularly enrolled student and must have enrolled in a school no later than the 20^th school day of the semester in which the contest occurs.
• You must not have graduated from an accredited high school or equal grades.
• You must not have reached your 19^th birthday prior to August 1 of the current school year. (A student reaching age 19 on or after August 1 is eligible for the entire school year.
• You must have a copy of your certified birth certificate (issued by the State Bureau of Vital Statistics in the state where you were born and bearing its official seal and birth/recording number) on file in your principal’s office and an official eligibility list (a Form 3 with required information about you included) submitted to the State Office at least five days before you are eligible.
• You must not have attended high school more than eight semesters after completing the eighth grade. (Fifteen days of attendance during a semester count as a semester). For athletic purposes, a student completes the eighth grade when he/she passes five or more academic subjects of eighth grade level or above.
• You must not have participated in any sport more than four seasons after completing the eighth grade or have participated more than six seasons in any one sport after entering the seventh grade.
• You must have received an adequate physical examination for the current school year and have a Physician’s Certificate on file in the principal’s or superintendent’s office prior to participating in interscholastic athletics.
• You, as a 10^th, 11^th or 12^th grader, must have passed a minimum of six units of work (including any four core courses) with a composite numerical average of 70 for those six units during your proceeding two semesters of attendance. Any four core courses must be included in the six passed and averaged. All 8^th and 9^th graders must have passed five subjects with a composite numerical averaged of 70 for those five subjects during your preceding two semesters of attendance (core courses not required). One unit (subject) of physical education may be counted per year. A maximum of two units (subjects) may be earned in an accredited summer school. One of these units could be an accredited correspondence course completed before the first day of school. All students must be taking six new units of work (ones not previously passed) during the current year.
• You may be eligible in your home school at the beginning of each new school year as far as any transfer of schools is concerned. Your home school is the one that serves the area where your parents reside. Eligibility may be established in any school by attending that school for a period of one school year from the date of original entry. If you attend school outside of your “home school” district, you must attend that school for one full calendar year in order to establish eligibility in that school. Always check your eligibility status before changing schools.
• If your parents make a bona fide move completely out of one school zone to another, you may transfer your eligibility to the new school. You become eligible five days after a Form 3 is submitted by the new school to the State Office if you meet all requirements. If you change schools before your parents move, you do not become eligible in the new school until your parents complete a bona fide move into the new school zone and five days have elapsed after a Form 3 is submitted to the State Office
• You may not participate on a non-school team or in an outside sport activity in your sport(s) during your school season with the exception of a tennis, golf, swimming track, cross-country or wrestling team member, who may participate as an independent in two outside activities on non-school days during the season of that sport.
• You must be an amateur athlete and never have played on a college team.
• You must not have participated in any non-sanctioned all-star game.
• You must not be guilty of flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct.
• During the school year, you may not be coached by your school’s coaching staff outside of the school season in your sport(s). Weight training and conditioning programs are exempt from this restriction.
• During the summer months (from the end of school until the fall sports practice date), you may not be coached in competition with another school’s players by your sport’s coach or coach’s aide. Otherwise, you may practice with your school’s coaching staff, but mandatory practice and games between schools are prohibited.
• You may not dress in uniform for an athletic contest or sit on the bench in a game uniform or be on the field or court as a player if you are not eligible to participate in the game or event.
• You may not participate in two levels of competition (varsity, junior varsity, B-team, junior high or middle school) in one sport during the same event or the same day. (This includes county tournaments even though they are played on several days).

This summary of major athletic regulations is provided by the Alabama High School Athletic Association so that students can be made aware of rules which affect their eligibility. It is important to understand that the rules above are general statements only and do not include all of the details which may be involved in any specific eligibility questions. If you have any questions or need further explanation of details and exceptions, see your principal, athletic director or head coach.