It can be when a baseball player desires to transfer from one Division I program to another! 

As many of you know, in Division I baseball, a transfer directly from one program to another is required to “sit out” (can practice but not play) a year at the second school before he can be eligible for competition. 

There is an exception, however, for a player who was not on scholarship and was not recruited by the first school.  A player in that situation MAY transfer from one Division I program to another and be immediately eligible to play upon transfer (as long as they meet appropriate academic requirements).  This exception also applies for basketball and football (bowl subdivision).

The requirement of this exception that trips up most players is how the term “recruited” is defined by the NCAA.  A “preferred walk-on” might not be “recruited” in NCAA terms. 

A prospect is “recruited” by a particular school:

• If they’ve been contacted off-campus by one of the coaching staff members,
• If they’ve made an official visit to campus,
• If they’ve signed a National Letter of Intent or athletic scholarship agreement, or
• If the coaches have contacted the prospect by phone more than one time to recruit them to the program.

Another possible “advantage” to being a non-recruited walk-on can be found in situations in which a prospect receives a scholarship from, for example, their high school booster club or a local civic club, such as Kiwanis or Rotary.

If their athletic achievements are the primary reason that a prospect wins such a scholarship, a non-recruited walk-on can accept the scholarship with no consequences. 

A recruited walk-on, however, would be considered a “counter” and the value of their outside scholarship would count against the baseball team’s limit of 11.7 scholarships.  This could result in the prospect being required to decline the scholarship so that its value does not cause the baseball team to exceed their scholarship limit.

Keep in mind that regardless of whether an athlete was recruited or not recruited:

• If they desire to transfer from a Division I program to a Division I or II program, the athlete will still have to request permission from the first school to talk with other institutions about a transfer. 

• That request should be made in writing to the compliance office (after talking with the coach), especially in cases where you believe the coach may want to withhold or restrict that permission for contacting other schools.  The schools have deadlines within which they must provide an athlete with an answer to their request to contact other schools (Division I – 7 days, Division II – 14 days).

If you have questions about NCAA rules, contact Rick at rick@informedathlete.com or at 918-994-7272.  We’ll discuss your situation and how we can help.  

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. 

Allen’s new book Both Sides of the Plate – Insider Secrets for Navigating the College Baseball Recruiting Process  is now available for $17.95 + $4.75 shipping.   

 Decisions made during the recruiting process can have HUGE impact both emotionally and financially.  This book provides real-life advice and insights into many situations you will encounter during & after the recruiting process. 

Some of the questions this book answers include:

- How soon should we get started in the recruiting process?

- What should we do if we’re not getting recruiting interest?

- What should we look for and what questions should we ask on campus visits?

- What are the academic requirements needed to be eligible for an athletic scholarship?

- What should we do if things don’t work out and we need to transfer to another school? 

- What should we know about transfers BEFORE we go through the recruiting process? 

Each year parents spend thousands of dollars on lessons, equipment, competitive sports teams, and travel in the hopes that their child will be noticed by college athletic recruiters and offered a scholarship.  Their journey is often complicated by making costly mistakes due, in many cases, to not knowing or understanding the NCAA rules. 

Informed Athlete helps families navigate through the often confusing and complex athletic recruiting, academic eligiblity, transfer and financial aid rules so they can make informed decisions that are in the best interest of their family.  This book was written to address many questions we receive on a daily basis from families who call asking for help. 

To order your copy, please go to:  http://www.informedathlete.com/online-store/both-sides-of-the-plate.

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 918-994-7272 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.

Informed Athlete LLC provides guidance and answers questions that high school and college athletes, parents, and coaches have about college athletic recruiting, eligibility, transfers, and scholarships.

Rick & Julie Allen founded Informed Athlete in 2008 to help families of student athletes who have the athletic skills to compete at the collegiate level, but often struggle through the recruiting or transfer process and make mistakes that cost a lot of money or result in an athlete quitting their sport before they have reached their full potential.

Informed Athlete is NOT a recruting service – our prime concern is the family we work with.  We also offer assistance following college enrollment, for example in situations involving a transfer from one college to another.  We deliver our services in several ways including our website:  InformedAthlete.com, monthly newsletters, teleseminars, live presentations and individual consultations/coaching sessions with the student-athlete and his/her family.

Rick Allen is uniquely qualified in this field.  He has worked on college campuses since 1980, and has over 20 years experience working directly with the NCAA compliance rules and procedures on two college campuses:  the University of Illinois and Oklahoma State University.  In addition, he also understands what it’s like to be in the parents’ shoes as his son went through the recruiting process and signed to play baseball at University of Missouri 4 years ago.

These athletes will have an opportunity to sign a National Letter of Intent with an NCAA Division I or II institution during the early signing period that begins on Wednesday, November 11.  The signing period continues through Wednesday, November 18 and is available for athletes in most sports.

High school football seniors will not sign a National Letter of Intent until February 3, 2010.  Other sports that do not sign until February 3 are cross country, track and field, soccer, field hockey and water polo.

Do you have questions about the National Letter of Intent?

Questions about scholarship offers that accompany the National Letter of Intent?

Join Informed Athlete for our next teleseminar when we discuss the rules and processes regarding the National Letter of Intent and scholarship agreements.

This topic will be especially helpful to any high school athletes and parents who are planning to sign a National Letter of Intent during the November signing period, or during a future signing period.

Date:  Wednesday, October 28th
Time:  7 PM CST

Rick Allen, Founder of Informed Athlete will discuss:

• The NCAA rules regarding the National Letter of Intent

• Institutional athletic scholarship agreements.

• Recruiting rules during this signing period.

• “Double signing.”

• Publicity about letter of intent signings

To register for this FREE teleseminar, go to National Letter of Intent.

If you would like to submit a question before the teleseminar begins, you can send it to rick@informedathlete.com.

This teleseminar is one of our regular series in which we discuss topics of interest to athletes, parents, and coaches, and interview coaches, scouts and other from the world of baseball.  It is provided as a complimentary service of www.informedathlete.com, but registration is required.

In NCAA Division I, the following sports are “head-count” sports:  men’s and women’s basketball, football, women’s gymnastics, women’s tennis, and women’s volleyball. All other Division I sports, as well as all Division II sports, are “equivalency” sports.  In equivalency sports, coaches can divide their scholarships up as they desire, as they long as they do not exceed the total allowable scholarship value available in their sport.  A few examples in Division I are baseball with 11.7, softball with 12, and wrestling with 9.9 scholarships.  One athlete on the team may be provided with the cost of tuition, a second athlete on the team may be provided with room and board, and a third athlete on the team may only be provided the value or use of books.

Any student-athlete who receives any amount of athletic financial aid is considered a “counter” per NCAA rules.  Once a student-athlete is considered a “counter” there are situations in which other types of financial aid may be required to be “counted” as athletic financial aid.

Any scholarships that a student-athlete will be receiving from groups such as a Rotary or Kiwanis club, a church youth group, or a high school booster club should be sent to the financial aid office of the college the student-athlete is attending so that the scholarship can be processed properly.  In addition, NCAA rules may require that the donor organization of the scholarship be required to complete a questionnaire to determine whether athletic participation was part of the criteria for the awarding of the scholarship.

In addition, if a student-athlete also receives an academic scholarship from their college or university due to their high school GPA or their ACT or SAT test score, the fact that they are already an NCAA “counter” may affect the value or receipt of their academic scholarship.  Once a student-athlete is a “counter” all other financial aid received from their institution is required to “count” as if it is an athletic scholarship, unless the student-athlete qualifies for an exemption based on the level of their GPA, their class rank, or their ACT or SAT test score.  If you have questions regarding athletic or academic scholarships for a student-athlete, you can contact Informed Athlete at 913-766-1235 or email rick@informedathlete.com.

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