Informed Athlete | The Allen Group, Inc. | » Eligibility Issues

Attending Junior College? Make sure you’re a qualifier!

Rick Allen — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 12:00:52 +0000

Reading our newspaper the other morning, an article in the sports section mentioned that a local high round baseball draft choice had recently signed a letter of intent with an area Junior College. He’s keeping his options open, may play there for one year, and have the opportunity to be drafted again in 2012.

Players who do this should keep in mind the NCAA eligibility and transfer rules that may apply to them should they end up being recruited from the JUCO to an NCAA Division I or II program.

Why? What will happen if you get injured and your draft stock goes down? Or if the coach you hoped to play for took a new job?

All high school athletes – in any sport – who desire to play at the college level should strive to achieve the academic requirements to be a Division I “Qualifier.”

If you’ve graduated but haven’t yet achieved Qualifier status, you still have the opportunity to do that if you don’t enroll this Fall as a full-time student. This gives you more time to improve your ACT or SAT test score to achieve Qualifier status.

If you’ll attend a JUCO before moving to an NCAA program, becoming a Qualifier will make the transfer process easier as you will have fewer academic requirements when the time to transfer arrives.

A non-qualifier who attends a JUCO and then plans to transfer to a Division I or II program is required to graduate from the JUCO and/or will be required to attend the JUCO for at least three semesters and will be required to have at least six-semester hours of English and four semester-hours of math.

Also, if you’ve signed a National Letter of Intent with an NCAA Division I or II program for enrollment this Fall, but decide to enroll in a JUCO instead, remember that the NLI that you signed remains binding upon you until you graduate from the JUCO or until you are released from the NLI by the school that you signed with.

If you have questions about NCAA rules, contact Rick at rick@informedathlete.com or at 918-994-7272. Sign up to receive our monthly newsletter and current recruiting calendars with the SAT/ACT test dates.

When should you take the ACT and SAT tests?

Rick Allen — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 12:01:41 +0000

I recently had lunch with a friend who provides private baseball instruction. During our visit, he told me about one of his athletes who is a senior and hoping to play at the NCAA level. The player told him he was taking the ACT test on December 11.

When my friend asked him how many times he had taken it so far, the player said “This will be my first time.” (He has not taken the SAT either.)

If you are a subscriber to our monthly newsletter, I’m confident that most of you know how important it is to take the ACT or SAT test during the junior year.

It not only provides a baseline score so the athlete knows how much, if any, they need to improve their score for freshman eligibility to compete, but also how much they need to improve their score for academic scholarships.

Keep in mind that an ACT Sum Score of 105 or an SAT score of 1200 (in critical reading and math) could mean an additional academic scholarship (100 or 1050 for NCAA Division II).

In addition, it also is required before athletes can make official visits to campus or be offered a National Letter of Intent.

So make sure you get an ACT or SAT test scheduled at least once during your junior year.

If you are new to our website, you can access our up-to-date recruiting calendar with upcoming ACT & SAT test dates by clicking on the “Current Recruiting Calendars” button on our home page at www.informedathlete.com. For additional assistance, please call us at 918-994-7272 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

Does your nutritional supplement contain banned substances?

Rick Allen — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:10:41 +0000

It was recently reported by the New York Times that two dietary supplements that are popular with high school football players, Mass Xtreme and Tren Xtreme, contain steroids, according to court documents filed by federal authorities. Search warrants executed by authorities on July 23 allege that the products, manufactured by American Cellular Labs, contain illegal man-made steroids.

This news should serve as a reminder to high school athletes, parents, and coaches to be careful about nutritional supplements that are purchased over-the-counter.

In addition, high school athletes who will be starting their college careers at NCAA colleges and universities within the next month are reminded that they will be subject to NCAA drug tests, and in many cases, additional drug tests administered by their school or conference. These athletes should have received a list of the NCAA’s banned substances from their college or university. If you did not receive such a list, be sure to contact your coaches and request a copy of the list.

Many universities, especially at the Division I level, have their own drug-testing policies, which in most cases are “help-based” programs. This means that if an athlete tests positive in a university drug test, they will be referred for counseling and/or drug education classes, and may serve a penalty determined by the coach or school, but will not necessarily be subject to restrictions by the NCAA.

NCAA athletes will also be subject to drug tests administered by the NCAA. The NCAA drug-testing program is a “punitive” program. Student-athletes who test positive for NCAA banned substances will be ineligible for one calendar year from the date of a positive drug test. There have been cases in which freshmen athletes tested positive for a substance that they began taking while involved in high school sports because they were not aware that the product contained an NCAA banned substance.

Athletes and parents are reminded that a product as common as caffeine is on the list of NCAA banned substances. Most athletes would have to drink a large quantity of caffeine to test positive in a NCAA drug test, but due to different body compositions and metabolic rates, there is no sure way to know how much caffeine may be consumed before being in danger of a positive NCAA test.

For more information about matters regarding NCAA rules, or any other issues that athletes and parents have questions about, go to www.informedathlete.com to sign up for our free newsletter, or contact Rick Allen at 918-994-7272 or rick@informedathlete.com.

Should I stay or should I go?

Rick Allen — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:11:41 +0000

Congratulations to baseball players across the country who were drafted in the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft. It had to be exciting to see your name next to the name of a major league baseball team.

Many of you will have a difficult decision to make by August 17. Those of you who recently finished your high school career, or may even still be competing for your high school baseball team, have the largest number of options to consider.

Some of you will choose to sign a contract with the team that drafted you and begin your professional career. Others of you will choose to attend a four year school and will not be eligible for the draft until after your junior year of college (exceptions for those of you who turn 21 in your sophomore year, for example, or who start out at a four-year school but then transfer to a two-year college). Still others will attend a two-year college next year – possibly encouraged to do so by an advisor – with the goal of being drafted in a higher round after one year at the two-year college.

For those of you considering starting out at a two-year college, be sure to keep your options open for transfer to a four-year program in case your dreams of being drafted higher don’t work out. Be sure to do the following if you have not done so already, so that you have the option of successfully transferring to an NCAA Division I or II institution.

1. Register with the NCAA Eligibility Center. Even if you are not planning to transfer to an NCAA Division I or II school at this time, registering now can make the process much easier if and when the time comes.

2. Have your high school send an official transcript with official seal and date of graduation to the Eligibility Center. Do this as soon as possible because it can be hard to find the appropriate staff members at a high school office that is closed for a few weeks in the summer.

3. If you have attended more than one high school, you also need to have an official transcript sent to the Eligibility Center from each high school you have attended.

4. Have your official ACT or SAT scores sent directly from the testing agency to the Eligibility Center. The Eligibility Center cannot accept scores taken off of the high school transcript.

5. Go to the NCAA Eligibility Center website and be sure to answer the amateurism questions for your amateurism certification. This includes answering the required question about NCAA Bylaw 10.1 (this is the “ethical conduct” bylaw that requires that athletes provide complete and accurate information to any questions asked on the Eligibility Center website or on other required NCAA forms).

6. The goal is that you will be certified as a “Qualifier” by the NCAA Eligibility Center so that you will have fewer academic requirements to satisfy as a transfer from a two-year school to a four-year school. Even a “Qualifier” will have academic requirements to satisfy as a “2-4” transfer, but the requirements will not be as extensive as they will be for a person who did not meet Qualifier standards.

Good luck with your decision as you review your college or professional options. If you have any questions about college eligibility contact Rick Allen by phone at 918-994-7272 or by e-mail at rick@informedathlete.com.