By Dana Hess
For the S.D. Newspaper Association
PIERRE — At its meeting Tuesday, the South Dakota High School Activities Association board of directors approved a new rule governing fan ejections and set a $500 fine for schools that employ coaches who have not taken their required courses.
SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos said member schools have been asking for a fan ejection policy that could serve as a baseline for the actions taken when an adult is ejected from a contest. Swartos said schools are free to set a stricter policy.
The policy approved on Tuesday says once a spectator is ejected from a contest, that fan is banned from the next contest as well. A second ejection results in a mandatory four-contest suspension. A third ejection in a single sports season results in the fan being suspended from the remaining contests in that season.
In order to be able to return to games or activities, the ejected spectator must meet with the local school administration as well as take an online sportsmanship course and show proof of course completion to SDHSAA.
There was some discussion among board members about how to interpret the policy. “We’re interpreting this as per sport,” Swartos said.
In other words, an ejection from a volleyball game would not preclude a spectator from attending a basketball game. That spectator would be suspended from the next volleyball game.
The new $500 fine for schools is a safety measure, according to Swartos, who explained that there have been too many incidents of schools vouching for coaches as having taken the required courses, only to find out later that they didn’t complete the training.
“We find that people are lying about that,” Swartos said.
Courses that must be completed once include Fundamentals of Coaching and Understanding Copyright. Concussion in Sports and Heat Illness Prevention must be renewed every year after June 1. A First Aid, Health and Safety course and a Collapsed Athlete course must be renewed every two years. A Cheer and Dance course is renewed every four years.
A coach who has not taken the proper course can put the school at risk of a lawsuit if there is an accident or injury on the field.
“You as a school are going to be flapping in the wind,” Swartos said.
While the school will be fined for the infraction, there is nothing keeping it from passing that cost along to the coach. “If they want to charge that to their coach, they can charge that to their coach,” Swartos said.
