Frequently Asked Questions
A: Meridian follows the practice common in surrounding schools in having competitive sports open to students starting in 7th grade. 6th grade students are eligible to participate most developmental/pre-season sports experiences and in a variety of Meridian extracurricular activities, but not in competitive sports.
Q: Can boys play in girls sports and vice versa?
-
- Girls are eligible to participate in all boys sports with the exception of Track & Field*, Cross Country, Golf* and Tennis activities. *Sports not offered by Meridian Athletics.
- Boys' cannot participate on girls' teams.
For questions regarding Eligibility, please visit the Eligibility webpage.
A. Meridian encourages our student athletes to advocate for themselves as they prepare to artfully navigate our complex world. In keeping with this principle, the Meridian Athletics Department has adopted the school approach for how student athletes and parents/guardians should communicate concerns. Student athletes and parents/guardians should wait 24 hours after tryouts and/or competitions before approaching a coach about a concern. This allows time for the coach to focus on the task at hand and for student athletes and parents/guardians to fully reflect on their concern. Please do not approach a coach before or after a tryout, competition or practice.
Please respect the 24-hour reflection period. After 24-hours, student athletes and parents should communicate concerns following the
this order of escalation:
Order of Escalation for Communicating Concerns or Grievance:
To find contact information for coaches and the Athletics Department, please go here
1. Student athlete to Coach.
2. Parent/guardian to Coach.
3. Student athlete or parent/guardian to Athletics Coordinator
4. Student athlete or parent/guardian to MYP Principal: Crystal Lane
Contacts
-
-
- Ashlie Langlinais, Athletics Coordinator: a[email protected]
- Robyn Tester, Secondary Enrichment Specialist: [email protected]
- Coaches: Basketball / Cross Country / Dance Team / Soccer / Tennis / Volleyball
-
A: Each sport has a registration window. There is a multi-step registration process for each sport. Students are not successfully registered until all steps have been taken by the registration deadline. Successful registration will produce a MySchoolBucks receipt for the $52.30 non-refundable registration fee. Find a list of our anticipated sports experiences for 2023-2024 along with the registration dates and tryout dates on the Registration webpage.
Q: Why is the registration fee for each sports experience for each participant $50 (before the 4.6% MySchoolBucks Fee)?
A: The $50 registration fee is dedicated to department overhead such as department salaries. Participation fees are designed to cover the operating costs of that sports experience.
A: No. Each sport's registration window is at least a week long and communicated via several channels. There is no late registration available for students who were enrolled in Meridian during the sport's registration window. New students who enroll in Meridian School after the sport's registration window should email the school registrar for information about possible New Student Late Sports Registration. Please email [email protected].
Q. What if I need to withdraw my student from a sport for which they are already registered?
A: If you need to withdraw from a sport, please follow this process:
- The parent/guardian of the student withdrawing should email [email protected] and copy the coaches. Please send a fresh email and don't reply to another email. Please include in your subject line: "Withdrawing from [sport]" and your student's name.
- In the body of your email, please include the student's name and grade and the sport from which you are withdrawing. You are welcome to include a reason, but you are not required to do so.
Please note that registration fees and participation fees are non-refundable and non-transferable and are due in full. You can learn more about that on this webpage. (Scroll down to Athletics Refund Policy.)
Additionally, If a student quits a team or season, or if they are removed from a team/sport, the student must write a thoughtful reflection and submit that to the Athletics Coordinator within five (5) school days of leaving the team in order to maintain their Character in Good Standing eligibility for the next calendar year. Learn more in the Athletics Terms for Participation.
A: Developmental/Pre-Season sports, sports camps, and Cross Country do not have tryouts to join the team. However, there are limited spots in most of these cases, and those spots are filled on a first registered basis. All other sport's tryouts will be communicated on their webpage as soon as that information is available.
A: Participation fees are due before the first practice, Participation fees are invoiced via MySchoolBucks. The date participation fees is due is communicated on the sport's webpage as soon as that information is available.
A: Families can choose to pay participation fees by check by the due date. Specific instructions must be followed to ensure it is processed correctly:
- Make checks payable to “Meridian School.”
- Write the sport and student athlete's full name on the memo line.
- Seal it in an envelope with “Ashlie Langlinais” written on the outside of the envelope.
- Drop off the sealed envelope with the check enclosed to blue box outside the Athletics Office in the Mays building. Please do not drop off checks with school reception or to the school offices.
- Then email [email protected] to let us know when and where you dropped it off.
A: Meridian School is a member of Texas Charter School Academic and Athletic League (TSCAAL), which offers a post-season for most of our sports. Volleyball, Basketball, and Soccer compete within this league, which consists of other charter schools. Cross Country participates in the Regional and State Meets available through TCSAAL. Tennis participates in the TCSAAL State Tennis Tournament. TCSAAL currently does not offer Dance Team competitions. Therefore, Dance Team participates in area competitions and performs at pep rallies and some home Basketball games.
Q: When does the season end?
A. Prior to participating in any Meridian sports, students and parents/guardians must read Athletics Terms for Participation carefully. Questions about the terms, procedures and agreements outlined in the Terms for Participation should be emailed to [email protected]. Please allow two school days for a response. Upon submitting a registration form for Meridian Athletics, the parent/guardian agrees to all terms outlined in the Terms for Participation for themselves and their participating student(s).
Q: What are the eligibility requirements for participating in Meridian Athletics?
A: Great question! There are four eligibility requirements: Academic, Physical, Financial and Character in Good Standing. Please see the Eligibility webpage for details about each.
Academic eligibility does not apply to sports experiences that do not include competition, such as Developmental/Pre-Season sports seasons, Camps and Clinics. Academic eligibility also does not apply to summer sports experiences.
A.
For sports with tryouts, cuts are generally made. The coaches for a sport run the tryouts together to make the best decisions for the sport and each team. For that reason, it is essential that all students who plan to participate in a sport participate in tryouts, regardless of possible personal conflicts due to participation in other activities.
While the Athletics Department works with other school departments to avoid major conflicts, at times, conflicts are simply unavoidable, and students will have to make choices.
For more information, please revisit the Athletics Terms for Participation.
A. Yes, limits are set weekly by team level (Middle School, JV, Varsity). Please see below.
Limits on Practices and Competitions (Games/Matches/Meets)
Dance Team Officers, Varsity Basketball, Varsity Soccer, Varsity Tennis, Varsity Volleyball
- Practice - 6 hours per week maximum, up to 2 hours per day
- Competitions - 2 per week
- Activities (Practices + Competitions) - 5 per week
Dance Team, HS Cross Country, JV Basketball, JV Volleyball, JV Soccer
- Practice - 4.5 hours per week maximum, up to 2 hours per day
- Competitions - 2 per week
- Activities (Practices + Competitions) - 5 per week
MS Basketball, MS Soccer, MS Tennis, MS Volleyball, Developmental/Pre-Season Sports
- Practice - 3 hours per week maximum, up to 1.5 hours per day
- Competitions - 2 per week
- Activities (Practices + Competitions) - 4 per week
Essentially, the practice/competition limits allow five activities a week at the Varsity or JV level and four activities a week at the Middle School level. For example, if there are three competitions in one week, practices must be reduced to two for Varsity and JV; reduce to one practice for Middle School. For weeks that include a tournament, the team should remove a game or a practice during the week as they are essentially getting an ‘extra’ day in and taking time away from available academic time.
Q: Why does HS Cross Country only practice 4.5 hours a week?
Meridian’s Cross Country coaches select the best practice schedule that supports the level of activity required to train for Cross Country while also considering the hot months of the season. Cross Country participants are invited to reach out to their coaches for additional training suggestions that they can pursue on their own outside of the team’s practice schedule.
A. There will be no competitions finals week, although a competition may be scheduled the evening of the last day of finals. There could be mandatory practices during the summer (Cross Country and Dance Team), during Fall Break (Cross Country), and during Winter Break (Basketball and Soccer). Some sports also have competitions during holidays. For example, Meridian hosts the Labor Day Classic Volleyball Tournament. All competitive Volleyball players are expected to be available for that tournament on Friday, September 1 and Saturday, September 2. Cross Country participates in meets on both weekends of Fall Break -- the last weekend being the Regional Meet. Prior to registering, student athletes and their families are urged to look at the sports experience's Important Dates on the sport's main webpage to determine if their availability aligns with what is required of the sport. (Reminder, registration fees remain nonrefundable if you change your mind later.)
- TeamApp - a tool accessible from computers and smart phones/mobile devices that allows parents to start private and group chats, which could include carpooling collaborations.
Registration Fee Refunds -
The Sport Registration Fee is automatically refunded under the following circumstances:
- If the minimum number of participants to form the team/group is not met during registration.
- If the student athlete tries out and is not offered a place on any team in that sport during that season.
The Sport Registration Fee is NOT refundable under the following circumstances:
- If the student leaves the school.
- If the student decides not to try out (for sports with tryouts).
- If the student does not participate.
- If the student is unable to establish and/or maintain eligibility or becomes injured.
- If a student is removed from a sport’s roster for failure to pay the participation fee within 3 calendar days.
- If the student is removed from the sport’s roster by administration for behavioral reasons or by the Athletics Department for violation of participation expectations.
Extraordinary Event Refund for Registration Fee - Should there be an extraordinary event interfering with the ability to provide the experience as expected, the registration fee could be refunded at the school's discretion.
Participation Fee Refunds - Should a student athlete leave the school, decide not to participate, become injured, and/or not establish or maintain eligibility, the fee is non-refundable and non-transferable (to another sport, student or school fee).
Extraordinary Event Refund for Participation Fee - Should there be an extraordinary event after the sport’s season has started, requiring the sport to be cancelled before reaching the halfway point, a 35% refund will be issued to the parent/guardian who paid the participation fee. (The halfway point of the sport’s season is noted under “Important Dates” on the sport’s webpage.)
Families are encouraged to connect with the Athletics Coordinator for any support needed. (Ashlie Langlinais, [email protected].)
- The Athletics website, accessible at mwschool.org/athletics - Important dates and deadlines are communicated on each sport's General Information page and the Athletics Calendar.
- The DP Lions Share (11th & 12th) - Diploma Programme newsletter emailed to parents/guardians weekly, usually on Tuesdays. The DP Lions Share can also be found here.
- The MYP Mane (6th-10th)- The Middle Years Programme newsletter emailed to parents/guardians weekly, usually on Tuesdays. The MYP Mane can also be found here.
- Athletics Newsletter - The Athletics Newsletter is updated weekly on Monday nights. It is linked from both the DP Lions Share and MYP Mane, and it can also be found here.
- Advisory Slides - On Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, slides are posted during Advisory at 2pm. Reminders about important dates and deadlines for Athletics are included in these slides that are shown to all secondary students. The slides are also accessible to parents/guardians through the DP Lion's Share and MYP Mane newsletters, emailed weekly.
- TeamApp - Student athletes and their parents/guardians will need to join and use TeamApp to stay current on everything important about their team/sport.