Recruiting Calendars for July & August posted!

The NCAA College Recruiting Calendars for July & August 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.

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!

June & July Recruiting Calendars now posted!

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!

Key Points About Outside Scholarships

The end of the school year will be arriving before we know it, bringing with it graduations and awards ceremonies where many scholarships will be awarded to high school seniors to help pay for their college education. 

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.

Commitments & Signings Getting Out of Hand?

Last week, Seantrel Henderson, one of the top football recruits in the country, flew from his home in Minneapolis to New York to announce his college commitment (University of Southern California) live on the CBS College Sports Network’s National Signing Day special.

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?

What is Informed Athlete?

National Letter of Intent & Athletic Scholarships

November is an exciting time for those high school seniors (or junior college athletes) who have been recruited by an NCAA Division I or II athletic program and have been offered an athletic scholarship to continue participating in their sport in college.

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.

Summer Camps – An opportunity to be seen!

Summer is a very important time in the recruitment of high school athletes by college coaches. Participation on summer teams, in summer individual competition, or in summer camps and clinics are an opportunity to be seen by college coaches as you are participating in your sport. This has become more evident over just the past few years. We see the trend noted frequently in the sports pages as college football programs announce high school athletes committing to their program during campus visits in the spring of the junior year or during participation in summer camps held on the college campuses.

This trend is also being noted in other sports as well. During this past spring, I have been on college campuses from Carolina to the west coast and have heard comments that are very similar, particularly from sports such as soccer and volleyball. When I was on those campuses to analyze and review their athletic compliance program, I met with a sample of coaching staff members to ask them about their recruiting practices. One of my routine questions is about recruiting phone calls and how they document and monitor those phone calls so as not to violate the NCAA recruiting rules regarding permissible phone calls to recruits.

Coaches in the sports of soccer and volleyball told me that “When it becomes permissible for us to start calling prospects on July 1 following the junior year of high school, our recruiting for the upcoming class is already completed for the most part. By then, most of our recruiting has been done through e-mail contact and through camps and unofficial visits during this past year, and our phone calls are mainly just to keep in touch with prospects who have already committed to us.”

So, as much as possible, get out there this summer to participate in camps and clinics, on your summer teams, and visit college campuses as you travel this summer if possible. When visiting college campuses, contact the athletic department and ask if a coach is available to speak with you.

In addition, remember that when you are participating in summer events, and camps or clinics, that somebody is always watching how you perform, not just on the field or on the court, but how you conduct yourself on the bench, in the dugout, and during pregame warm-ups. They are watching to observe if you are going 100% on each play. Are you a team player? How do you interact with your teammates and coaches?

Enjoy your summer and go out there and have fun. And remember that each time you step out there to compete, it’s like a tryout opportunity. Even if a college coach is not watching you, your current coach is, and the college coaches are frequently asking them not only about your athletic ability but how you conduct yourself.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your individual situation, please email rick@informedathlete.com or call 918-994-7271.

Athletic Scholarships and Financial Aid Issues

While some people believe that college athletes who receive athletic scholarships to participate in their sport receive “full-ride” scholarships, the truth is that no athletic scholarship covers ALL of the costs of attending college, and that athletes in the majority of sports programs receive “partial” athletic scholarships.  A “full” athletic scholarship covers the following costs of college:  tuition, certain course-related fees, room and board, and the value or provision of books. An athletic scholarship may not cover all student fees, and also may not cover things like parking fines, a single room in the dorm, library fines or late fees, etc.

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 Athletic at 918-994-7271 or email rick@informedathlete.com.