What was once known as the NCAA Clearinghouse, is now known as the NCAA Eligibility Center. Everyone has heard about it but few people understand it.

Here is what it is-

1) The Eligibility Center is an organization that interprets your high school transcript and determines your eligibility to participate on an NCAA college sports team as a freshman

2) It evaluates your core classes for NCAA standards and qualifies them for NCAA requirements

3) The required courses begin in 9th grade, in fact, 1/3 of your requirements can be completed in 9th grade

4) It applies to all DI and DII level student-athletes

5) It grants permission of high schools to send transcripts to colleges

6) It allows for your Board scores to be sent directly to the Eligibility Center

7) It only costs $65 to register

8) The best time to register is upon completion of your Junior year

Here is what it isn’t-

1)  It is not run by the NCAA, rather it works for the NCAA

2) It does not grant admissions into colleges

3) It does not apply to DIII college student-athletes

4) It has no bearing on $cholarships

5) It does not grant exceptions to the rules, the appeal process does not work

Passing through the NCAA Eligibility Center is an absolute requirement to play your freshman year for a DI or DII college sports team, you simply cannot play without their clearance to play. When it comes to your eligibility, it’s a yes or it’s a no, there are no appeals once a decision is rendered. It is in your best interests to understand the requirements of NCAA Eligibility. Contact The College Sports Track immediately if you would like help with this.

As I speak in front of groups, I find that a rare few student-athletes have and maintain a current Profile. Yet, they all want to play college sports. In continuing with this month’s theme regarding your marketing package, our focus this week is the role of the Student-athlete Profile.

Reference page 16 of our CST Workbook & Guide- The Inside Track to Playing College Sports.

What is a Student-athlete Profile? It is a brief, one-page, accumulation of personal information that is important to college coaches. It is designed for their quick and easy reference. It is important to have the information current at all times. That includes- contact information, high school information, academic record of grades and board scores, athletic record of high school and club sports, special achievements and awards for both on and off the field activities, volunteer record, leadership involvement, and current photos of you in action. Flash and fancy is not necessary, but good order is. Your personal Profile represents you. It is a snapshot of you in time. It is your record of qualifications and achievement. It reflects in your organizational skills.

The role of a Profile is to give college coaches a quick insight into you the person, not just you the athlete. The Profile is working well if the coach spends 30 seconds looking at it, therefore, the layout is important. Your Profile must be easy to spot vital bits of information and cannot be bogged down by irrelevant or disorganized data. The goal here is to pique the coaches interests. Leave the rest for a future conversation.

Contact me directly and I will send you a Profile template to use for building your own.

There are more than 7.5 million high school student-athletes. How do you think college coaches know who is serious about playing their sport in college? How are coaches to become aware of your qualifications for their college? Just because you play on a travel team or attend college camps and showcases, does this mean that you are a qualified college prospect? Do you think it’s the coaches job to chase everyone down to find out? No, of course not. But if you don’t send out an introductory email to prequalified college coaches announcing your intentions to consider their college, then you are doing what the vast majority of so-called prospects do. Most of the 7.5 million hope, wait, and wish for coaches to contact them. Not us at The College Sports Track.

Reference page 81 of our CST Workbook & Guide for Student-athletes, The Inside Track To Playing College Sports. Our sample introductory email memo reflects in your intentions to continue with your sport in college and specifically references your interests in their college. It implies your qualifications. It is short and easy to read. It is grammatically correct with proper spelling throughout. It properly identifies the coaches name and the team mascot. Perfect. Anything longer or challenging to read will not get the initial interest of the coach.

Therefore, the role of the introductory email is to gain initial interest of college coaches. Without it, the coaches will remain unaware of your intentions. With it filled with errors, you will lose interest of the coach. Yes, it’s a fine line, but a simple line to walk.