Ryan Allen

Now is the time that is most crucial for players to become routine regimented, both on the field and in the classroom. 

Whether you are a high school or college athlete, your first priority is always your class work. 

Once the season starts, however, it becomes very difficult to put class work first. 

Time management is key - make sure you are completing assignments when they’re due and staying on top of things. 

It will only get more difficult to balance as the semester progresses, so put yourself in a good position for success at the start!

If you don’t understand something in a class, get help EARLY by talking to your professors or instructors or work with a tutor.   

Don’t be afraid to ask for help!  Better to do that than be standing on the sidewalk as the bus pulls away with the rest of the team for a weekend series!

It is also extremely important for all players at this time to become very aware of their bodies and the habits that will allow them to perform at optimal level, (e.g. getting plenty of rest, eating good meals, doing daily body maintenance work). 

Taking care of business now will put you in good position to start the season and continuing to be disciplined and focused will help you through the ups & downs during the season.

Good luck to you!

With the early signing period having passed

Now, with that being said, this article is for those of you, who like me, were not able to sign with a school in November and are still looking for that right opportunity. 

I remember the feeling that I had when the early signing period of my senior year had passed and I had not received many calls or offers from schools that I had hoped to hear from. 

I found it extremely frustrating to see kids that I was convinced I was better than – signing with Division I schools – while I was left wondering and waiting.   

For whatever reason they got called and you did not – it’s happened and now nothing will be able to change that. 

I know it’s hard not to, but I can tell you that continuing to wonder why they got calls and you didn’t will not help your frustration.

But, what you can do is focus on YOU and put YOURSELF in the best position possible to continue participating in your sport after high school graduation.   

Reach out to schools to gauge their interest in you as an athlete and as a student.

If they won’t knock down your door, then you go knock down theirs. 

Don’t be afraid of a little rejection, most schools will do it in a very respectful (and even helpful) manner. 

For those of you finding yourself still looking for a place to play, I want to wish you the best of luck. 

Don’t let one little bump in the road derail your entire path - Keep pushing and finding ways to make it happen!

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. 

If you are going through the recruiting process or plan to be soon, this book could save you hours of time and THOUSANDS of dollars. 

Decisions made during the recruiting process can have HUGE and lasting impact both emotionally and financially later on. This book provides real-life advice and experiences that are typical of the many situations you will encounter if you are actively pursuing an athletic scholarship. 

In this book, you will learn how soon you should get started in the recruiting process, what you should do if you’re not getting recruiting interest, what to look for and questions to ask on your campus visits, what academic requirements are needed to be eligible for an athletic scholarship, what to do if things don’t work out and you need to transfer to another school, and what you should know BEFORE you go through the recruiting process.

For over 20 years, I was Director of NCAA Compliance at 2 major universities: The University of Illinois and Oklahoma State University. In addition, I have walked in parents’ shoes when our son was recruited and accepted a college baseball scholarship at a Division I school. 

Some of the stories I share are based on situations I’ve encountered throughout my years on campus. Some of these stories include mistakes that were made in our own son’s recruitment process despite my years of NCAA experience and expertise.

Note:  Price includes shipping.

Ryan Allen

So fall drills have started, and lo and behold, the coach/coaches aren’t quite what they seemed to be when they were recruiting you to their school.

Unfortunately, this seems to happen fairly often.  I was a fortunate one that did not have horror stories to tell once I stepped on campus.  A few of my former teammates from high school and Connie Mack ball were not so lucky.

I’d like to be able to tell players that there is a magic fix to the problem, but unfortunately, that’s not a realistic option.

The best option available in this situation is to try and use this for mental toughness and experience in working with someone you don’t see eye-to-eye with.  It’s a tough situation, but like any tough situation, it can be used to benefit you later on down the road.

Even though the waters are rough with this particular coach, don’t hesitate to open the lines of communication if you feel that you are not on the same page with your coach.  If this is done in a respectful and confident manner, odds are that the coach will have a greater respect for you because of it.

In some cases, the best option may be for you to transfer away.  Again the best way for this to be done is respectfully (Remember, those coaches still have control over what school you transfer to).

For those reading this, I hope you don’t have to encounter something like this.  But, for the ones that are/will go through this, I hope this can provide you with some help.

Summer can be vital for any baseball player’s development as it is the one time of year where each player can focus completely and solely on baseball on a daily basis.

While it is always important for each player to play within the team concept and to help the team win on a daily basis, this is a point in the year where each player needs to put his own development as the number one priority.

This is especially true for any young player who has redshirted, or simply not played many innings throughout the year.  After all, that is the reason for coaches sending players to summer leagues in the first place.

Every player can benefit by going into summer ball with a plan in place for what they want to accomplish in those two short months.

Go to the park everyday with a purpose to somehow improve your game, as each little piece leads to an overall big improvement.

I don’t want players to think that they need to drive themselves nuts in trying to improve either.
By all means, have fun with your teammates.  Hang out, socialize, do the whole nine, since after all, developing a relationship with your teammates is just as important as any drill.

But keep in mind, the real reason and purpose in your being there.  Again, this is only two short months, and it’s up to each athlete to make them matter.

Can a preferred walk-on transfer from one D-I baseball program to another D-I without sitting out a year?

As most of you know, the NCAA transfer rule for baseball was changed a few years ago.

The change required athletes transferring from one D-I baseball program to another D-I to attend the second school for one academic year before they would be eligible for competition.  They can be immediately eligible to practice with the team, but can’t play for one year.

However, there is an exception that allows a baseball player to be immediately eligible upon transfer to another D-I program.

A walk-on may use the one-time transfer exception as long as the school he is leaving did not recruit him to their baseball program.

The NCAA uses four criteria to determine if an athlete is a “recruited athlete.”  To view the four criteria, click NCAA rules – Definition of a Recruited Athlete.

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. 

The NCAA College Recruiting Calendars for December 2010 and January 2011 for many of the top sports are now posted.  To access, please go to NCAA recruiting calendars. 

For your convenience, the calendars are in pdf format, and the first page contains a listing of the recruiting definitions. 

This is the time of year when some college athletes consider transferring to other schools.  We can answer your questions and help you navigate through that process. 

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 918-994-7272 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.

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.

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.

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 918-994-7272 or email rick@informedathlete.com

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.

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.

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