NCAA Rules and Regulations Regarding Countable Athletically Related Activity
NCAA rules regulate the number of hours a student-athlete can participate in countable athletically related activity (CARA) per week and per day. The amount of CARA that a student-athlete is allowed to participate in varies from championship season to out of season to non-championship season. Coaches are required to track CARA Monday to Sunday each week and report those hours to the Office of Compliance every Monday. Below is a review of the NCAA rules pertaining to CARA.
What is countable athletically related activity (CARA)?
CARA is any required activity with an athletics purpose, involving student-athletes and at the direction of, or supervised by, any member or members of an institution’s coaching staff.
What are the limitations on CARA?
Championship Season/
Traditional |
Non-Championship Season/
Non- traditional* |
Out of Season |
Practice, Games, Strength & Conditioning- limited to 20
hours/week (Games count as 3 hours towards this maximum) |
Practice, Games, Strength &
Conditioning- limited to 20
hours/week (Games count as 3 hours towards this maximum) |
No competition
8 hours/week for weight training, individual workouts/
team activities and conditioning
supervised by staff |
| Maximum 4 hours/day |
Maximum 4 hours/day |
No more than 2 of the 8 hours
can be used for individual
workouts/team activities |
| One day off/week |
One day off/week |
Two days off/week |
| Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice |
Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice |
Student-athlete cannot miss class for practice |
|
Student-athlete cannot miss
class time for competition in team sports. |
|
*In general the Non-Championship/Non-Traditional Seasons restrict activity to 24 days that occur within a period of 45 consecutive calendar days. The Championship/Traditional Season is the season that concludes with the NCAA championships.
What are some examples of CARA?
- Competition (always counts as 3 hours)
- Individual workouts (as required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff)
- Participation of student-athletes in permissible tryouts involving prospective student-athletes
- Required weight training and conditioning activities held at the direction of or supervised by an institutional staff member
- Chalk talk (as required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff)
- Visiting the competition site
- Voluntary skill instruction at the request of the student-athlete
- Captains practice that was required by a member of the coaching staff
What are some examples of activities that would NOT be considered CARA?
- Study hall
- Compliance meetings
- Attendance at an awards or celebratory banquet
- Voluntary weight training and conditioning activities monitored by the institution’s strength and conditioning coach (a student-athlete’s attendance at such an activity cannot be recorded for purposes of reporting their attendance back to a coach)
- Fundraising activities
- Community engagement
- Student-athlete requested individual summer workout session with a member of the coaching staff (in golf, swimming and diving, tennis and track and field)
- Captains practice that is not required or directed to occur by a member of the coaching staff
