TO: The FHSAA Representative at Each Member School; District School Superintendents; District Athletic Directors

FROM: John A. Stewart, Ed.D., Commissioner

DATE: August 24, 2005

SUBJECT: Immediate Amendment to FHSAA Bylaw 11.8.1, "Physical Examination"

CC: FHSAA Board of Directors


Pursuant to the authority granted this office by FHSAA Bylaw 14.4.1, “Compliance with Florida Statutes,” and s. 1006.20(4)(e)3, Florida Statutes, all member schools are advised that FHSAA Bylaw 11.8.1 is amended effective immediately to read as follows (underlined words are additions; stricken words are deletions):


“The student each year shall undergo a physical evaluation by a licensed physician not earlier than April 1 of the preceding school year and shall be certified by the physician as being physically fit for participation in interscholastic athletic practice or competition before being allowed an opportunity for such participation. This annual physical evaluation must be administered either by a licensed physician, a licensed osteopathic physician, a licensed chiropractic physician or a certified advanced registered nurse practitioner, and shall be valid for a period not to exceed one calendar year from the date of the practitioner’s signature. Interscholastic athletic practice shall be considered to include any and all forms of physical conditioning, both aerobic and anaerobic, in which the student is permitted to participate regardless of whether such conditioning occurs in the preseason, offseason, summer season, or during the period of permissible organized practice. The physical evaluation shall include a medical history questionnaire that must be completed and signed by the student and his/her parent(s) or guardian(s). The Board of Directors shall adopt minimum requirements for the physical evaluation to which each member school shall adhere. The fully executed physical evaluation form signed by the practitioner physician, and as well as the medical history questionnaire signed by the student and his/her parent(s) or guardian(s) shall be filed in the principal’s office.”


RATIONALE. A review of Florida Statutes relative to interscholastic athletic competition revealed discrepancies between Bylaw 11.8.1 and s. 1006.20(2)(c), Florida Statutes, which establishes the types of practitioners who may administer a physical evaluation and stipulates that such an evaluation is good for one calendar year. State statutes supersede Association bylaws. Consequently, it is necessary to revise the language of bylaws to comply with statutes when discrepancies between the two are discovered. FHSAA Bylaw 14.4.1, “Compliance with Florida Statutes,” and s. 1006.20(4)(e)3, Florida Statutes, both charge and empower the Commissioner to make such revisions to Association bylaws without the need of approval of either the Board of Directors or Representative Assembly when he or she determines such revisions to be necessary.


IMPACT.

1. All physical evaluations, regardless of when they are administered, are valid for no more than one calendar year from the date of the practitioner’s signature on the physical evaluation form. This applies to all physical evaluations that were administered last spring. Student-athletes who received their physical evaluations between April 1 and the last day of the 2004-05 school year will be required to undergo another physical evaluation this coming spring (not later than one calendar year after the date of last year’s physical evaluation) to be eligible to complete the 2006 spring sports season so far as physical fitness is concerned.

2. Physical evaluations may be administered by one of four different practitioners. They are a licensed physician, a licensed osteopathic physician, a licensed chiropractic physician and a certified advanced registered nurse practitioner. A physical evaluation form signed by any one of these four practitioners is valid and must be accepted by the member school.


TRACKING DATES OF PHYSICAL EVALUATIONS. It will be necessary for each member school to track the dates of each student-athlete’s physical evaluation. The FHSAA Office, as a service to each member school, is in the process of revising the student record form in the iFHSAA interactive online database to include a new field for this purpose. We expect this field to be available for your use within the next two to three weeks. Use of this field by a school will be strictly voluntary. You may choose to use any other method of tracking physical evaluation dates that you devise.


EFFECTIVE DATE. This amendment is effective immediately and is retroactively applied to each physical evaluation administered within the last calendar year.


QUESTIONS? Contact Sonny Hester, Senior Director of Athletic Operations, in the FHSAA Office by e-mail at shester@fhsaa.org or by phone at (352) 372.9551 ext. 300.


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