LITTLE ROCK — Students who are homeschooled will be able to play interscholastic sports after a vote by the Arkansas Activities Association.
The AAA’s Boverning Body, in its annual meeting Wednesday, voted 155-82 on Wednesday to approve the change.
The regulation known as the “Tim Tebow rule” for the New York Jets quarterback who was homeschooled before his college career at Florida, failed votes in 2009 and 2011 in the General Assembly.
The rule has some restrictions. Students will have to play in the public school district where their parents live. And a student who leaves a public school to be home schooled will have to sit out of activities out for a year to become eligible.
The Governing Body also approved a proposal to extend to three weeks the amount of time teams have to get in 10 days of spring football practice. Class 7A schools voted 11-5 to approve freshman eligibility in all sports.
Principals in Class 7A narrowly defeated (9-8), basically along Central/West lines, a proposal to take all 16 teams in the classification into the postseason state playoffs in all sports. Voting against the proposal were Conway, Har-Ber, North Little Rock, Springdale, Little Rock Central, Little Rock Catholic, Mount St. Mary, Cabot and West Memphis.
Voting for the proposal were Fort Smith Southside and Northside, Bryant, Rogers Heritage, Rogers, Van Buren, Bentonville and Fayetteville.
The AAA’s Governing Body includes superintendents, principals and athletic directors from across the state.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report)