For all freshmen and newcomers, it is important to go into Fall practice and expect to challenge for playing time immediately. 

Don’t be content with just being along for the ride. 

Make the decision harder on your coaches by showing that you are a viable option to contribute right away. 

For this to properly happen, you must first believe that you belong at that level. 

Probably the best words I received going into my freshman year at the University of Missouri were given to me by my coach from Connie Mack ball. 

“Just remember, they wouldn’t have recruited you if they didn’t believe you could help them get to Omaha,” he told me. 

This was important for someone like me to remember since I had grown up in the Big 12 and playing at that level was a dream come true.  I was so thankful for the chance to make that dream happen that I almost got caught up in the idea that they had done me some kind of favor by letting me come play for them. 

While it is important for a young player to be gracious in any opportunities given to him or her, it is just as vital for that player to realize the value that they bring to the team. 

Any player who is able to come to grips with this fact, will be on track to realizing their full potential as an athlete, and as a teammate.

Ryan completed his final year of college baseball eligibility in May after playing 3 years for the University of Missouri (2006-2009) and 1 year (2010) for the University of Central Missouri.  He will graduate in May 2011 from the University of Missouri with his bachelor’s degree in Business Management.  He also is a private pitching instructor at Balls N Strikes in Columbia, Missouri. 

As a former college athlete, Ryan brings a unique point of view to Informed Athlete that only someone who has “been there” can understand.  He will be providing input on website content and writing blogs & giving advice from the student athletes’ perspective.

This month’s calendars also make note of the new Phone Call Rule which is effective on August 1, 2010. 

Informed Athlete educates, advises, and assists families of high school and college student-athletes on issues related to athletic recruiting, academic eligibility, transfer isues and financial aid rules so that they are able to make informed decisions that are in their best interest.

If Informed Athlete can be of assistance to you in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 918-994-7271 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.  We don’t charge for an initial 15 minute call.  If your situation requires additional time and research, I’ll be honest and upfront about the time involved and we can discuss the fee. 

We hope you’re having a great summer!

 Phone calls will also be unlimited during a contact period in the sports of men’s and women’s basketball.

This information is also noted in the current July & August 2010 recruiting calendars which are posted on Informed Athlete’s website. 

If you have any questions about this new rule, please contact Rick Allen at rick@informedathlete.com or call 918-994-7271.

To obtain final amateurism certification:
1.  Log onto http://www.eligiblitycenter.org/ and select the box for “Fall 2010 or After.”
2.  Log in using your e-mail address and password.
3.  Request final amateurism certification separately for each sport.  Track and cross country athletes, for example, will need to request separate certification for each.

If you are an athlete who originally registered with the NCAA Eligibility Center through the old website and have not transferred your account to the new site, you need to transfer your account before requesting final amateurism certification. 

Regarding academic certification, athletes must submit all required materials to the Eligibility Center.  This includes a final transcript with proof of graduation as well as an official transcript from any other high school that the athlete attended.

Important: 

1.  Be sure that a final transcript is sent by your high school to the Eligibility Center as soon as possible after graduation occurs.  Waiting until the middle of summer can result in a delay as many high school offices are closed for a few weeks of summer vacation.

2.  Also required is an official ACT or SAT test score sent directly to the Eligibility Center from the testing agency. 

3.  Be sure that the proper fee has been paid to the Eligibility Center for processing.  Each year there are a significant number of athletes whose certification is delayed because they have not yet paid the fee.

Academic certifications are prioritized by the date that a file is “Ready to Process” and by the date that an Institutional Request List (IRL) is submitted by the college or university for a particular athlete.  This is important to keep in mind as the following example illustrates:

If the IRL for a wrestler is submitted to the Eligibility Center by a university a month prior to the submission of an IRL for a soccer player by the same university, the file for the wrestler will be reviewed at the Eligibility Center before the file for the soccer player even though the wrestling season starts two months after the start of the soccer season.

For questions about eligibility requirements, or the eligibility certification process, contact Rick Allen at rick@informedathlete.com or at 918-994-7271.  For more information, register for our free monthly newsletter, or become a fan of Informed Athlete on Facebook.

The NCAA College Recruiting Calendars for June & July 2010 for many of the top sports are now posted on Informed Athlete’s website:  www.informedathlete.com under “Recruiting Calendars” in the menu bar.  For your convenience, the calendars are in pdf format, and the first page contains a listing of the recruiting definitions.

Informed Athlete educates, advises, and assists families of high school and college student-athletes on issues related to athletic recruiting, academic eligibility, transfer isues and financial aid rules so that they are able to make informed decisions that are in their best interest.

If Informed Athlete can be of assistance to you in any way, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 918-994-7271 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.  We don’t charge for an initial 15 minute call.  If your situation requires additional time and research, I’ll be honest and upfront about the time involved and we can discuss the fee. 

Best wishes for a great summer!

For those students who will be playing a sport at an NCAA Division I or II university, it will be important to remember some key points if they receive one of these scholarships from their high school, local civic club, parent’s employer, or other organization.  Local organizations providing these scholarships should also keep these key points in mind.

The NCAA considers any financial aid for an athlete that comes from a source other than their family, or the college or university they are attending, to be “aid from outside sources.”  This “aid from outside sources” is classified into three categories.  Those three categories are:

• No relationship to athletics ability;
• Athletics participation not major criterion; and
• Athletics participation as a major criterion. 

Here are some key points about outside aid classified into these three categories:

No relationship to athletics ability:  A scholarship program that requests or encourages an applicant to include their athletic participation or achievements as part of the application process cannot be classified in this category.  The organization that awards the scholarship may be asked to confirm that it did not consider athletics participation or achievements in selecting the athlete who receives the award and must not restrict the athlete’s choice of college institution. 

Athletics Participation not Major Criterion.  Scholarships fit in this category if athletics participation or achievements are one of the criteria considered in awarding the scholarship, but are not the major criteria for awarding the scholarship.  Organizations awarding scholarships in this category are strongly encouraged to provide written notification of the award to the financial aid office of the college that the athlete will be attending.

Athletics Participation as a Major Criterion.  Scholarships are classified in this category if the athlete’s athletics participation and achievements are the major criteria for awarding the scholarship.  In fact, if applicants or nominees are required to be an athlete in order to be considered for a scholarship, then that scholarship will automatically be considered to be in this category.  Furthermore, if the recipient of a scholarship from this category was recruited by the college they will be attending, the recipient will be considered a “counter” for financial aid purposes and the value of the scholarship will be counted toward team financial aid limits as if it were an athletic scholarship awarded by the college.  Scholarships in this category should be sent to the financial aid office of the college the recipient will be attending so that the aid will be properly tracked for NCAA limits.

Athletes attending an NCAA Division I or II university will likely be asked to indicate on a form for their athletic department whether they are the recipient of an outside award.  In addition, an awarding organization may be asked to provide a copy of their application or nomination form and a list of criteria for the scholarship.

If you have questions about outside awards, or other questions about athletic scholarships, contact Rick Allen at 918-994-7271 or at rick@informedathlete.com.  You can also subscribe to the Informed Athlete monthly newsletter at www.informedathlete.com, or join the Informed Athlete Facebook fan page.

We are excited to provide this update on Donnie Webb following our recent interview with him. 

His agent informed us that Donnie was called up from the Indians minor league camp to the Cleveland Indians big league spring training squad. 

In his first at bat in the sixth inning of a shortened intra-squad scrimmage game, Donnie hit a game-winning 3 run home run! 

Since that intra-squad game, Donnie has pinch-hit in 4 games with the major league squad and has two hits in four at-bats.

It certainly appears that Donnie has taken right up where he left off at the end of last season when he was called up from Class A Lake County to the Triple A Columbus Clippers. 

Congratulations to Donnie on a great start to spring training!  We will keep you updated on his development.

If you would like to listen to our interview with Donnie, sign-up for our newlsetter & you’ll receive the March issue with the link. 

Informed Athlete helps families of student-athletes (high school & college) who have the athletic skills to compete at the collegiate level, but often struggle through the recruting or transfer process. 

If you need assistance, please visit our website:  www.informedathlete.com, call us at 918-994-7271 or send an email to rick@informedathlete.com.

How determined are you to achieve your goals? 

Could you overcome being cut from your high school team?  Once?  Twice?

How about not being chosen for the local summer team? 

Would you keep trying?

What if you were cut from the post-season travel squad of your college team after you had key late-season hits in crucial games?

Could you keep battling back?

Join Informed Athlete on Wednesday, February 24th at 7 pm CST for our interview with Cleveland Indians 2008 10th round draft pick Donnie Webb.

Donnie will share his story of how he worked to overcome obstacles at nearly every level and how, during the 2009 season, he was called up from Level A ball to finish the season with the Triple A Columbus Clippers.

During our discussion, I’ll ask Donnie to talk about how he was able to battle through major disappointments at the high school, summer ball, and college level and achieve major success at the professional baseball level.  We’ll also have him tell us about some of his college and minor league experiences that will be sure to interest those athletes (and parents) who hope to move on from high school sports to the college level and beyond. 

While Donnie’s sport is baseball, his experiences will surely resonate with all athletes no matter what their sport. 

Join us on Wednesday, February 24th at 7 pm CST to hear Donnie’s story and ask him questions about his experiences. 

To register, go to http://www.informedathlete.com/donnie-webb/. 

If you have any questions that you would like to submit before our interview, please send them to rick@informedathlete.com.

That same day, other elite recruits announced their college choices on ESPNU.

Then, USC was in the news again a few days later when it was announced that the Trojans and new head coach Lane Kiffin received the verbal commitment of a young quarterback from Delaware.  Did I say young – David is in 7th grade! That will make him a college freshman in 2015!

Certainly, college sports has become a big business at the Division I level, at least with the revenue-producing sports of football and basketball, but in my opinion, these extremely publicized commitments have gone a bit too far.

A year ago, the NCAA enacted rule changes to govern the recruiting of 7th and 8th graders in the sport of men’s basketball.  With the recent announcement about this young football player’s commitment, will changes to football recruiting rules be far behind?