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Health & Fitness

Student Athletes: Meeting NCAA Eligibility Requirements

Walk onto the field of any youth club sport or junior high sports team, and ask the question, “Do you want to play this sport in college?” You will see 8 out of 10 children raise their hands with excitement. Visions of playing for top seed schools such as USC, Alabama and UNC while being aired on ESPN, dance in their limitless minds. With national fame and notoriety showered upon college athletes from greats such as Michael Jordan to Tim Tebow, the thoughts of playing a sport in college, which then leads to pro-stardom is an aspiration for many mini-athletes.

 

For many of these young students, playing their sport in college is not only a dream it may be their only way to afford a college education.  For parents, you must understand that receiving an athletic scholarship into college takes more than being talented in a sport. It requires meeting standard academic criteria put in place by the NCAA regulations, to both be accepted into the college, as well as obtain the athletic scholarship.  The National Collegiate Athletics Association, NCAA, is the athletics governing body that serves over 1300 universities and colleges.

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What does this mean for parents and students? Start now. The earlier you start preparing for college, the better it is for your family and the more options your child will have. Junior high is the ideal time to begin educating yourself and your child on the requirements for various types of colleges, both on an academic and athletic eligibility level.

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The current Division 1 clearinghouse requirements are:

·       A high school graduate

·       A minimum core-course of a 2.3 GPA (View course listing and register at www.ncaaclearinghouse.net  )

·       16 core courses required, in which 10 of those must be taken before their senior year

·       Sliding scale of GPA and SAT or ACT Test score. In other words, the higher the GPA, the lower your test score can be and vice versa. (For example a 2.9 GPA requires a minimum of 820 SAT score).

 

Steps to achieve eligibility:

1.     As a freshman, work hard to get the best grades possible

2.     Meet regularly with a college counselor who can review your current transcripts and guide you through high school as far as what courses to take each semester

3.     If you should receive a D or F in a course, remediate that as soon as you can, instead of waiting until it’s too late your senior year.

4.     During your sophomore year, complete your registration at www.eligibilitycenter.org

5.     Make sure that any core class you take or remediate is an NCAA approved course.

6.     After your junior year, ask your counselor to send official school transcripts to the NCAA eligibility center.

7.     Take an SAT or ACT prep course to help you achieve your highest score possible.

The benefits of participating on an NCAA athletic team are priceless. It simply requires some work and dedication in both academics and training, to join the club of 450,000 student-athletes. 

www.halstromacademy.org

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