Ask Coach Taylor: College Sport Tryouts
March 11th, 2011 - byCoach Taylor, do colleges hold tryouts for sports?
Programs at the NCAA Division II level are permitted to hold tryouts, but Divisions I and III are not. The NCAA also has some strict rules regarding these tryouts:
The prospective student athlete MUST be a senior in high school enrolled in a term other than the term(s) in which the sport being tried out for does not occur. This means that a fall sport athlete must try out in the spring and vice versa. Two-year college students are also allowed to tryout pending their season has concluded or they are ineligible to play at that period of time.
No more than ONE tryout is allowed per student athlete per school and sport. Prior to trying out, the student-athlete must undergo a medical exam within six months of the date of trying out, or the exam can be part of the tryout. Tryouts can include evaluation of basic skills and, except in football, ice hockey, lacrosse, and wrestling, competition. In a football tryout, student athletes are not allowed to wear helmets or pads. Lastly, the maximum length of a tryout is 2 hours.
That is some basic information regarding the tryouts that are allowed at the NCAA Division II level.
In some Division II sports, such as hockey, some teams may conduct highly competitive tryouts. In other sports, tryouts may be comparable to walking-on in Divisions I and III. If this is the case, all of the decisions relating to a walk on athlete must be considered in the recruiting process.
Good Luck!
