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.

Update on Donnie Webb

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.

What is Informed Athlete?

Athletic Scholarships & Transfer Issues

“You need to transfer if you want to get more playing time.”

That’s the last thing that a college athlete wants to hear from his or her coach.  Sometimes transfers are initiated by the athlete, but many times they are initiated by the coach.

Throughout the years, I have encountered many different reasons for athlete transfers including coaches moving to another school, athletes’ wanting to move closer to home, athletes’ desire to switch schools, or because their scholarship has been reduced or cancelled.

You may be wondering why I am writing about the topic of NCAA transfers when most athletes and parents are just thinking about the NCAA recruiting process.  The transfer rules may be the last thing on your mind.  I understand that – I’ve been there.  However, I believe that you should at least be aware of some of the basic transfer rules.

The sport of baseball is a bit unique in that it is the only sport in which most athletes receive partial scholarships, yet they cannot transfer directly from one NCAA Division I school to another and be immediately eligible, even if their athletic scholarship is reduced or cancelled.

Of special note is the fact that in many transfer situations the first college can still control whether a player will play at another Division I or II school.

An NCAA Division I or II college must receive the written permission of the four-year school that a player is currently attending before they are permitted to speak with that player about the possibility of a transfer.  This can become an issue of conflict between athletes and coaches, and we have worked with a number of athletes and their families to help reduce this conflict and accomplish the transfer in a positive manner.

Players also need to remember that academic eligibility will be a very important factor in order to be immediately eligible at the next college, whether transferring from a four-year college or from a junior college.  Registering with the NCAA Eligibility Center and being classified as a Qualifier – even if you know you will be starting out at the junior college level – is an important factor and will make the transfer process much easier and less stressful when that time comes.

Contact us for further information if you need help with transferring.  Through the years, we have assisted many athletes through tough transfer situations.  To schedule an appointment with Rick Allen, please call us at 918-994-7271 or email rick@informedathlete.com

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.

Does your nutritional supplement contain banned substances?

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 918-994-7271 or rick@informedathlete.com.

Should I stay or should I go?

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 918-994-7271 or by e-mail at rick@informedathlete.com.

Transfer Issues Related to "Walk-ons" in College Athletics

Question: My daughter is participating on the volleyball team at a Division II college as a walk-on. The coaching staff did not recruit her. She now desires to transfer to a college closer to home that is in the same conference as her first college and join their volleyball team. Her current coach won’t give her permission to contact any school in the same conference. Does the coach have the right to do this? The coaches didn’t even recruit my daughter.

Answer: In many cases the coach does have the right to do this. If a student-athlete at one four-year college contacts another four-year college about the possibility of a transfer, the coach at the second college is not permitted to speak with the student-athlete until he/she has received written permission from an athletic administrator at the first college. In this case, however, the first college must provide your daughter with the opportunity for an appeal hearing with a campus committee. Allen Athletic Consulting provides assistance to athletes that find themselves in this situation. For more information, call 918-994-7271 or email rick@informedathlete.com.

College Recruiting – Why doesn’t the coach call me back?

“Stressed Athlete” recently sent me this question: “I called and left a message for a college coach asking him to call me back because I have some questions about their program, but he has not returned my phone call. Does this mean they are not interested in me?”

Answer: If the coach has already called and spoken to you or one of your parents that week, the NCAA rules do not permit him to call again during that week. For example, if the coach called and spoke to you on Sunday evening and you called back and left a message for him with some questions on Tuesday, the coach is not permitted to return your phone call until the following week. However, you can try to call again to reach him at his office or send him an email with your questions.

For information on recruiting, please go to http://www.informedathlete.com/recruiting/recruiting-info/and you will find recruiting calendars for most sports. These can serve as a reference for when and what type of contact that coaches are allowed to have with prospective student-athletes.

NCAA redefines “Prospect” in Mens’ Basketball

At the NCAA Convention in January, the Legislative Council approved a proposal to define 7th and 8th grade boys basketball players as “prospects.” This means that the NCAA rules that regulated the interaction between a Division I men’s basketball coach and high school age basketball players now also apply to 7th and 8th grade players.

While some people have commented how ridiculous it is that 7th and 8th graders are now considered “prospective student-athletes”, this legislation was actually enacted to try to protect talented basketball players of that age from being pursued as college recruits. Until this legislation was passed, it was permissible for men’s basketball coaches to call or write 7th and 8th graders in an effort to recruit them, because the rules did not prevent such action.

In fact, last summer University of Kentucky basketball coach Billy Gillespie offered a scholarship to an 8th grader. Media reports at that time indicated that University of Kentucky President Lee Todd was shocked when he was informed of Kentucky’s newest basketball recruit.

Now, the rules will (or should!!!) prevent college basketball coaches from recruiting these young “stars” until they have completed their sophomore year of high school. Hopefully, this new rule will not be needed with other NCAA sports in the near future.