Football players who want to participate in the January All-Star game in California will be allowed to do so. 

But the coaches might get penalized if they travel and coach in the game, according to the Arizona Interscholastic Association. The AIA’s All-Star Competition bylaw (14.7) prohibits All-Star competition during the school year. 

The bylaw was introduced in 2005 as more All-Star games were being organized locally and nationally by non-AIA members during the school year. Because of safety concerns and pulling students out of school during the school year to participate in All-Star games, the AIA’s legislative council unanimously (39-0) approved 14.7. 

The AIA’s legislative council is comprised of administrators representing different schools throughout the state. Administrators were worried about the safety of not just their athletes but coaches as well as they traveled to All-Star games. 

Who would be held responsible if a coach got in an accident? As for the players, what if an athlete suffered a catastrophic injury during an All-Star game? 
The AIA didn’t want Arizona high school athletes to lose out on scholarship offers, though.

That’s why exceptions have been made for athletes to play in All-Star games during the school year. But there is a process athletes and coaches need to follow before they are allowed to participate in All-Star games.

The AIA’s executive board ultimately determines whether coaches and players can go to an All-Star game but only after the executive board ensures that the athletes and coaches will be protected in case of an accident. For the January football All-Star game in California, no request was sent to the executive board to see if coaches and players could travel and play.