Abstract
[Excerpt] In April 2006, Patrick Jones, an assistant varsity football coach at Bellevue High School, contacted the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) to request a waiver for the association’s “out-of-season” rule. This rule (Sport Rules and Regulations Bylaw 17.5; WIAA, 2011) generally governs the amount of time that WIAA member schools’ coaches can work with athletes during the school year. “Out-of-season” is defined by the WIAA as the time period during which paid or volunteer coaches cannot coach present or future team members. Jones sought the wavier because he was planning to serve as a volunteer coach for his seventh-grade son’s junior football association team. The WIAA bylaw 17.5.2 states,“ In the absence of a sport being offered at the middle level, the local school board could designate twelve (12) consecutive weeks within the high school season fora middle level season. The high school coach could then work with those middle school students during the concurrent seasons.” However, the season length of the junior football association league was 13 weeks and four days, thereby exceeding the rule’s 12-week limit. Jones stated his concern that his volunteer work on his son’s team would cause him to violate a WIAA rule and would result in a breach of his coaching con-tract for high school football, thus subjecting him to the termination of his paid coaching position.