Playing Season
Countable athletically-related activities (CARA) must be recorded on a daily basis for each student-athlete, regardless of whether the student-athlete is participating in an individual or team sport. Any countable individual or group athletically related activity must count against the time limitation for each student-athlete who participates in the activity, but does not count against time limitations for other team members who do not participate in the activity.
CARA logs are to be logged and submitted through ARMS/Teamworks. Each team will define their “week” for each segment (Sunday-Saturday OR Monday-Sunday). The NCAA limits how often and for how long student-athletes may participate in CARA during traditional and non-traditional playing seasons.
In-season:
During the summer:
CARA logs are to be logged and submitted through ARMS/Teamworks. Each team will define their “week” for each segment (Sunday-Saturday OR Monday-Sunday). The NCAA limits how often and for how long student-athletes may participate in CARA during traditional and non-traditional playing seasons.
In-season:
- Student-athletes may engage in CARA for no more than four (4) hours a day and twenty (20) hours a week (except during preseason practice and official vacation periods);
- Student-athletes must receive one (1) day off per week (except preseason practice or vacation periods where school is not in session);
- Competitions count as three (3) CARA hours, regardless of the actual duration of the competition.
Out-of-season, but during the academic year:
- Coaches may require up to eight (8) hours of CARA per week, four (4) hours of which may be skill-related instruction. Football may also require up to eight (8) hours of CARA per week, but only two (2) of those hours may be skill instruction, film review, or walkthroughs.
- Student-athletes must receive two (2) days off per week.
CARA may not take place during the week before the institution’s final exams, or during the week of final exams. CARA may not take place outside of a sport's declared playing and practice season.
During the summer:
- The general rule is that student-athletes may not engage in CARA, though there are exceptions. Basketball and Football may have 8 hours of required CARA during a designated 8-week period. In individual sports, coaches may conduct individual workout sessions with student-athletes from their team, but only at the student-athletes' request.
Exceptions:
Daily and weekly CARA limitations do not apply to the following periods:
Daily and weekly CARA limitations do not apply to the following periods:
- Preseason practice prior to the first day of classes or the first scheduled contest (whichever is earlier);
- Institutional official vacation periods during the academic year (ie, Thanksgiving, Spring Break, etc.) as listed in the institution’s official calendar; and
- During the academic year between terms when classes are not in session.
