There may be four quarters in a school year, but for many high school athletes, the year is divided into thirds. These are the fall, winter, and spring seasons, all of which bring new opportunities for the athletes of AHS. Many students take full advantage of these opportunities, whether for the love of the game or to stay fit in the off-season.

However, based on a Virginia High School League (VHSL) rule change, these seasons could begin to mesh into one.

As a result of a decision made by the VHSL Executive Committee on Feb. 23, high school coaches can now work with their athletes throughout the year. The measure, which will not take effect until Aug. 1, will allow coaches to make contact with their athletes in the off-season, excluding a 10-day dead period at the start of each season and a similar week-long period in the summer.

This new rule is a near reversal of prior regulation, which allowed coaches to work with their athletes only while a sport was in-season. However, the Northern Region and the Patriot District can still adjust the policy, which the region hopes to have finalized by May.

“FCPS has always been stricter than VHSL, even with the older regulations.” Director of Student Activities Angelo Hilios said.

Though the Northern Region could still interpret the policy strictly, the new rule is expected to result in at least minimal change to the off-season training of athletes in the 2011-2012 school year.

“I think it would affect my off-season training because our coach would be able to work out his philosophies a lot easier and more in depth over more time,” sophomore Nolan Gilbert said of his baseball training.

Gilbert is just one of the many AHS students who participated in multiple high school sports under the old regulation, which prompted athletes to become involved with other high school and club teams in order to stay in shape and train during the off-season.

However, now that this rule has been modified, many students are unsure of how their participation and training will be affected.

“Allowing coaches and players contact during the off-season promotes a much heavier focus on a single sport, and for me personally, I would love to be able to work all year round at field hockey,” junior Annie Rutherford said. “However, it may create a conflict with my club team because the coach could want players to solely focus on the school’s team.”

This is just one of Rutherford’s worries, who despite feeling that the extra practice would be beneficial, believes that the change could have a negative impact on high school athletes.

“It would limit or possibly take away the ability to be able to play multiple sports because a coach may require training all year round,” Rutherford said.

Others believe that the new regulation could prove advantageous should the Northern Region choose to interpret it broadly.

“There could be more organized practices in the off-season than in the past where we could only have open gym,” junior varsity basketball player David Croghan said.

Since the Northern Region normally forms stricter policies than VHSL, its teams are put at a disadvantage when competing against those from other regions. Therefore, should the region choose to interpret the rule broadly, it would help level the playing field across Virginia.

Not only that, but the rule change is expected to make one-on-one training with coaches both more affordable and more convenient. Many players pay large amounts of money to work with private coaches and play on travel teams in the off-season, a problem likely to be remedied by the new rule.

“It will give an opportunity to those players who cannot afford for individual coaches to work with them to come to the high school and work with their coaches,” Hilios said.

This will be especially beneficial to individual players because according to Hilios, “coaches can only work with a controlled number of kids,” giving athletes a chance for special attention.

However, each of these scenarios depends heavily on the decision yet to be made by the Northern Region. VHSL may have passed a new regulation, but the region can still adjust its policy, leaving athletes with no other option than to wait and see to what extent their off-season training will be affected.