NCAA Rules - post race workouts and cool downs

I'm not understanding why you are getting downvoted. It's a legitimate question.

Technically, coaches cannot require post-meet activities, per this rule.

But I've seen this interpreted in many different ways.

1. Some coaches see post-race activities as allowable so long as they are not monitoring them.

2. Some coaches see post-race activities as allowable so long as they are not requiring them (i.e. suggested post-race workouts, but unsupervised and voluntary).

3. Some coaches see post-race activities as allowable so long as the "contest" (i.e. meet) is not yet concluded. This is much easier in track.

And I'd say most coaches see post-race activities as allowable due to the fact that there is no real consequence for doing so. It's common practice in the sport (cool downs, especially), and only truly abusive behavior would ever get reported, realistically.

I guess they can never practice after the first contest of the season.

and mostly, some coaches have and athletes do a post race cool down because they need to... its part of the sport and the competition.

meh

this is applicable to a practice after a game. Like Coach K and Duke got in trouble a long time ago because he made his team run sprints late at night after getting whooped in a game

or like a football coach making a team watch film right after giving up 400 yards rushing to Georgia Tech's old option offense

I gotta think the cooldown thing in running is considered a sports medicine deal and there's probably an interpretation out there by the NCAA that allows it

what I don't get is how college golfers can be out on the driving range with their coaches right after a competitive round at a tournament. Per the bylaw that doesn't seem like something that should be allowed

although at this point who the heck cares about any rules? It's not like the NCAA is capable of or interested in enforcing anything at all

this applies to all sports and not just TF/XC. this says "practice," not cooldown. that suggests coach led fully elaborated workouts. my guess is it would be seen as not coach driven -- athlete is drilled to do it themselves or believes it's necessary -- and almost part of the contest as opposed to a separate workout.

you row to the end of the lake in NCAA rowing. are you not allowed to row back? and perhaps use that as a cooldown?

to me it's meant to prohibit elaborated postgame punishment work, or a two a day including a game or meet. or the distraction of someone is literally running intervals and getting coaching input in the outer lanes while you're trying to run a meet.

It is. Nonsensical. It doesn't say same day. It literally says not after competition including vacation.

reading that rule again makes it clear why golfers are allowed to hit balls on the range with coaches after a round

I can't imagine how mind numbing and soul crushing it must be to work in a NCAA compliance office

This would probably be deemed allowable as a normal part of the sport's established procedures.

The challenge could come if an athlete refused to participate in a "workout" after a competition, and felt that they had faced retaliation due to their desire not to participate.

In other words, this would probably not be enforceable because this is relatively standard for the sport, BUT it could be pulled out if an athlete had their scholarship revoked because (in their eyes) they refused to do something after a race.

I'm sure they aren't referring to something like cooldowns. A cooldown would be part of the competition as a whole. That would be like saying the football team doesn't have to go listen to the coach in the locker room as soon as the final ticks off the clock.

Because it’s a dumb thread/“question”.

The track meet is the entire competition not just your event.

This is the correct answer. It says practice and means practice. Coaches would not be allowed to require a lift, practice, etc. after competition. To put this into a XC/TF specific example: When the meet concludes, it would be impermissible for a coach to REQUIRE their team to shake out when returning to campus or later in the day.

It does not matter if the Coaches require it, Easy Cool Down runs speed up the recovery, so most runners will do it because they want to, just like recovery days Most/Almost All runners do an easy run or in most cases 2 Easy runs on recovery days and the main purpose is to speed recovery. If it did not speed recovery there would be no point in recovery runs, but easy runs speed recovery A LOT BETTER than just skipping running on recovery days.

It says nothing about same day, next day, next week.

Yes as long as it is a part of normal post-meet cool downs. Meet day counts as a 3 hour activity - no matter how long it takes. Where it gets questionable for sports like soccer is when you do a 'fitness' run after a match for those with minimal or no playing time.

It’s been over 10 years since I graduated, but I remember there being so many NCAA rules that technically would have made it impossible to run at a high level. Coaches aren’t allowed to mandate offseason workouts - so they can’t force you to train in the summer for XC, maximum official practice hours per week, day off, etc. Our coach would mail us workouts on a post card in the summer and then have us mail a post card back with our weekly mileage. Sunday long runs were always a “suggestion”. If you are running more than 100 miles a week or doing doubles, you’re blowing the NCAA 20 hour rule out of the water.

How slow are you if 100 miles takes over 20 hours? That's slower than 12:00 per mile!!!