ARTICLE II: ELIGIBILITY OF PARTICIPANT ATHLETES

Section 1. Every athlete participating in any Championship event organized by the MPSRA must:

1. be eligible under the criteria set by her/his respective public high school to compete in after school sports, and

2. be a "Junior" as defined by USRowing's Rules of Rowing, and

3. compete only for his/her designated MPSRA Participant Program team during the season of the Championship race and for no other teams or clubs whether affiliated or unaffiliated with said MPSRA team.

Section 2. Novice status ends after one calendar year of competition as a high school student.

Section 3. Sculling events may be entered by crews not affiliated with a Participant Program, subject to the following conditions:

1. all participants within the entry meet the stipulations of Article II, Section 1.

2. all participants are members of the same school system.

ARTICLE III: ELIGIBILITY OF PARTICIPANT PROGRAMS

Section 1. Participant Programs must abide by MPSRA team guidelines (see Section 3 below) for all racing throughout the season, but MPSRA will place no restrictions on which teams Participant Programs may compete against, nor which other regattas Participant Programs choose to compete in.

Section 2. There are (2) types of Participant Programs: Full and Provisional.

Section 3. Each Participant Program, Full and Provisional, must meet the following criteria:

1. be in accord with the purpose of the MPSRA

2. all student athletes must be eligible to row (see Eligibility of Athletes)

3. be from a defined area subject to the following:

1. The team is defined at time of application and will be reviewed for compliance by the Board,

2. A team may draw from a single school.  The name must reflect the school.

3. On approval of the board, a team may be made up of multiple schools in one school district, or two single schools in different school districts. The name must reflect all schools.

4. There can only be one team per school. If there is an MPSRA team representing a school district, an individual school may have its own team in that district as well; students from that individual school would be only eligible to compete for the school team, not the district team.

5. In case of conflict, the Board will look to the local school to make a preference known.

6. Each Participant Program must be a bonafide team, with a full racing and practice schedule. While a public high school rowing program can institutionally be a subset of a larger club, please note that the public program must have its own USRowing membership and the student athletes are not allowed to compete as members of the larger club during the championship season. (Please refer to USRowing rules for Youth National Championship if your program is interested in qualifying to race at that event.)

7. New programs must meet with the board to discuss the rules and organization of their public high school team prior to submission of petition.

4. submit roster postmarked by October 1 (fall season) and May 1 (spring season) signed by a principal or athletic director acknowledging that all athletes are bona fide public school students.

5. be a member of USRowing

Section 4. A program will be eligible for Full Participation status once it has satisfied the following conditions:

1. the program has competed in at least three events at a single championship regatta, at least one of which is on the 1^st Varsity level.

2. the program has completed at least two years of Provisional Participation.

3. the Board has deemed the program compliant with the guidelines of Article III, Section 3.

Section 5. A Program is eligible for Provisional Participation upon meeting the requirements of Article III, Section 3 and will be accepted by the following process:

1. The Program will submit a written petition to the Board no less than 30 days prior to the general meeting (application posted on website). Petition will include:

   1. definition of the area covered by the Program

   2. contact information for the Head Coach or Program director

   3. description of the parent club/organization and its relationship to the Program applying for Provisional Participation.

2. The Board will review the petition for compliance. If the Program meets all criteria outlined under the Eligibility of Programs, it becomes a Provisional Participant.

3. In the event that a petition is submitted late, a Program may be allowed participation in the current season's regatta if approved by majority vote of the Board. The Board may not approve participation after the registration deadline for the regatta.

4. Provisional Participation approved by the Board after the general meeting will allow the team to race in that season's regatta but will not count towards the two years of Provisional Participation requisite for becoming a Full Participant Program.

5. If there is a conflict with a pre-existing MPSRA program, the Board may recommend a solution, subject to Article III, Section 3c guidelines. Conflicts must be resolved before the season is underway. Spring season begins January 1 and ends after USRowing's Youth National Championship Regatta. Fall season begins September 1 and ends after the MPSRA Fall Championship Regatta.

Section 6. All Participant Programs must send a representative from the coaching staff to the annual general meeting. Any program failing to do so for two consecutive years may have its participation revoked for one year at the Board's discretion.