Overview: CYM Sports did not begin with this handbook. Through its predecessors such as the Catholic Athletic Council, the Catholic Youth Organization, and the Office for Catholic Youth Ministry, the program has administered Catholic athletics in the Diocese of Wilmington for nearly a century. Across those generations, certain policies have been tested, refined, and retained because they protect fairness, safety, local responsibility, and the identity of the ministry. Legacy Policies are those enduring standards that remain in effect even as the handbook is reorganized. Some have been interwoven into the sections that now govern administration, eligibility, conduct, and procedures. Others have no single modern heading that can contain them without distortion. All of them keep the foundation and roots of the program visible and binding, and apply in today’s current CYM landscape.
A living handbook must be clear and current; it must also refuse amnesia. When policies are rewritten, merged, or relocated, their authority does not lapse simply because their numbering has changed or not known by a participating party. Legacy Policies preserve continuity between what the program has always required and what it requires now. They safeguard practices that local affiliated programs, coaches, and families have long understood as part of CYM’s way of proceeding: expectations that may not fit neatly into a outline, yet still govern participation, competition, and the relationship between parish, school, and diocesan office. By naming this inheritance explicitly, we prevent older standards from being treated as optional folklore and newer language from being read as a break with the tradition that formed it.
This section holds those remaining and interwoven policies in one place so that the roots of CYM Sports stay clear within the life of the program. It does not exist to archive the past for its own sake, but to keep the ministry accountable to the wisdom already paid for in experience. The innovation serves the same mission that first gathered Catholic youth on parish fields, and these Legacy Policies remind every generation of coaches, administrators, and families that we are stewards of a tradition, not inventors of a new one. These are standards which built this program and still speak with authority today.
9.1 Legacy Guidelines
9.1-1 Legacy policies, athletic guidelines, and commentary, prior to the 2025-2026 program year, may be referenced to formulate an opinion and determination on by-laws not available in the Athletics Handbook for rulings.
9.1-2 Legacy policies may be referenced back to the original implementation of Empowering Disciplines, established by the Diocese of Wilmington’s Office for Catholic Youth, Young Adult and Family Ministry.
9.1-3 Legacy policies are historically accepted by-laws and practices of the program, unless otherwise noted.
9.2 CYM Commitment & Divisional Alignment
9.2-1 Individual players are expected to commit to their CYM team. This means attending practices and games of the CYM team over that of other athletic teams when conflicts arise. This agreement is covered in the Parental Consent & Release Form on On-Line Registration. (2023.10.26)
- 9.2-1.1 Club, travel, and/or non-CYM affiliated school competitions will NOT be considered for schedule conflicts unless expressed in location and team conflict sheets. Even if expressed, the office and affiliated CYM Coordinators may not be able to accommodate.
- 9.2-1.2 In the event of a conflict, a team(s) below the minimum number of accepted players may be required to forfeit, including but not limited to: regular season, postseason, and championships.
9.2-2 Division Alignment will be decided by the Appropriate CYM staff member, Coordinator of the sport and/or Division Alignment Sub-Committee of the Athletic Advisory Committee. Guidelines have been established and approved by the Athletic Advisory Committee and will be reviewed at pre-season coaches meetings. (2023.10.26)
9.3 Athletic Contest and Games
9.3-1 Every effort will be made to give all teams in a particular sport the same number of games. The CYM Office and CYM Sport Coordinators will set the number of games per sport per division with consideration given to the number of teams, availability of gyms/fields and the number of weeks in a season. (2022.08.15)
9.3-2 Once the schedule is published there will hopefully be no further changes to schedules. Any team that knows they will not have enough to field a team should notify the CYM Sport Coordinator early enough so that officials can be cancelled. (2022.08.15)
9.3-3 Two forfeits for any reason in any one season will result in that team be ineligible for post season playoffs or tournaments. (2022.08.15)
9.4 League Rules
9.4-1 The office shall have full authority to interpret all rules of the league. (1927.12.01)
9.4-2 The referee shall have full charge at all games with authority to banish from the game any player breaking the rules. A player banished on two occasions by any official will be suspended for two weeks and on the third occasion for the remainder of the season. (1927.12.01)
9.4-3 Players signing the formal contract of the league will become a member of the teams with which they first play. No player will be allowed to take part in the league unless his contract has been approved forty-eight hours before the start of the contest. (1927.12.01)
9.5 Athletic Associations – Parishes and Schools
9.5-1 If CYM finds that the policies of a parish/school athletic association are detrimental to, or not in the best interest of, the parish, school or overall athletic program, CYM may institute sanctions up to and including refusing to accept the registration of athletic teams of that parish/school, or barring teams from participating in any more CYM contests. In such instances, individuals that wish to participate will be referred to other parishes subject to openings. (2022.08.05)
9.5-2 If the conduct of players, coaches and/or spectators is found to be detrimental or that their continued participation is not in the best interest of the overall CYM program, CYM may dismiss the team from the CYM league. (2022.08.05)
9.6 Parish In-House/Intramural Program(s)
9.6-1 Unless it is extreme circumstances, the CYM office will not involve itself in any issues surrounding the in-house programs from each parish. (2022.08.15)
9.6-2 If an athlete is playing a sport for a team registered in a CYM league as well as for a parish in an inhouse program, this athlete MUST be properly registered and affiliated with that said parish before any tryout/practice or participation in any athletic contest is permitted. (2022.08.15)
9.6-3 Families should understand that playing in an in-house program for one parish/school does not automatically mean that each athlete will be affiliated with that same parish/school in the year they would like to participate in a CYM sport. (2022.08.15)
9.7 Tryouts/Practice Guidelines
9.7-1 Athletes participating in two sports in the same season are restricted to two hours of practice time per weekday. Exceptions are on the weekends where rest can be sufficiently achieved. (2022.08.08)
9.7-2 No athlete is to be denied permission to tryout for an upcoming season’s team because he/she is still actively participating in a current sport. (2022.08.08)
9.7-3 Sessions are to be a maximum of 2 hours in duration, inclusive of warmups, stretching, water breaks and cool down periods. (2022.08.08)
9.7-4 If calls or complaints are received that call into question the parish/school’s adherence to the letter or spirit of conditioning rules, the CYM Office may terminate all conditioning drills. (2022.08.08)
9.7-5 All athletes MUST be properly affiliated with the parish/school that they are planning to try out for BEFORE they are permitted to participate in any tryout.
9.7-6 Tryouts are for the sole purpose of assignment to a division/team. In situations where a parish/school will only field one team in a given level/gender/sport, no tryout is permitted. Parishes/Schools that do field multiple teams may not use tryout sessions to begin team practice and training.
9.8 Registration and Billing
9.8-1 The CYM Office will establish program fees for each sport. These are subject to change each year and will be based on the associated costs per sport. Registration Fees per athlete will also be administered. (2022.08.01)
9.8-2 A parish/school is responsible for a team’s registration fee once the team is entered into the season (at the time registration forms are submitted). If a team withdraws during the preseason or the season, the parish/school must still pay the team’s fee. (2022.08.01)
9.8-3 No parish or school may register teams for an upcoming season unless all outstanding bills have been paid for any prior seasons. The CYM Director of Youth Sports must approve any request for an extension. (2022.08.01)
9.8-4 Prior to the schedule being produced and published, it is the responsibility of each Athletic Association to provide (by a deadline prescribed by the CYM Director of Youth Sports and published at the preseason meeting or via email) the following data:
- Team Confirmation & Divisional Alignment Form – this form will explain the number of teams expected for your parish/school and the divisions they would like to be placed in. This is NOT a guarantee that the team(s) will be placed in these divisions.
- Parish/School Conflict Forms – this form will described the parish/school conflict, the date of those conflicts and the teams that will be impacted by those conflicts. The CYM Office will do its best to avoid those conflicts when scheduling athletic contests. Please speak to the parish to capture confirmation classes, graduations, etc.
- Gym/Field Availability Form – this form will dictate when your parish/school field or gym is free to permit the CYM Office to use it to schedule games. This form should also indicate whether other non-parish/school teams can play at your field/gym or if all contests must include one of the parish/school teams. The more we can have flexibility to put two other teams there, the better off we will be for scheduling. (2022.08.01)
9.8-5 The CYM Office may administer fees for Parish/School team forfeits game without enough notice to cancel officials, and Parish/School team has non-rostered players/coaches participating in the athletic contests.
The above progress has migrated to Team Sideline with user-submissions required by deadline dates set to develop schedule. The CYM Office will not input this information for Athletic Associations and/or Local Coordinators.
Remainder of CDOW/CYM Policies in-effect can be found at https://cdowcym.org/athletics-commentary/. The commentary listed here remains in-effect until adoption of language is updated to remove. They will either be added directly into provisional, or attached to this section. An appendix has been included of remaining commentary.