NCSA College Athletic Scholarships Blog

When it was reported that Michael Phelps lost a race and his world record in the 200 meter free style it shocked the swimming world. Soon after, however, it was brought to light that the reason Germany’s Paul Biedermann was able to dominate Phelps was through the use of a new high-tech suit called the Arena X-Glide (pictured right).

Biedermann said after his 400 free win that the suit made him two seconds faster, but Phelps passed on the chance to wear one of the latest-generation suits. He’s been sponsored by Speedo since he was a teenager and wasn’t about to abandon the company that paid him a $1 million bonus after he won eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics.

Shortly before the race, FINA confirmed that a ban on bodysuits will go into effect by May 2010, making this the last major competition where buoyancy aiding suits are allowed.

Now the NCAA has announced new regulations on swimsuits according to ESPN.

The NCAA is placing restrictions on high-tech suits in college competition similar to the ones swimming’s world governing body enacted this week.

The NCAA said Wednesday that its swimming and diving committees for all three divisions have endorsed rules that limit coverage and the type of material used. The Playing Rules Oversight Panel must still approve the changes, which could go into effect for the start of the season in September.

Suits cannot go past the knee, men’s suits must stop at the waist and women’s at the shoulder. Materials must be completely permeable to air and water and be no more than 0.8 millimeters thick.

The NCAA said it was not influenced by FINA’s decision. Like their counterparts on the international level, college coaches balked at seeing the new high-tech suits rewrite the record books.

Seventy NCAA meet records were set in 2009. But after much discussion, the committees decided not to wipe those marks from the books. Heat sheets at the 2010 NCAA championships, though, will include the pre-2009 records for context.

The impact of these rulings is yet to be seen, however it is safe to assume that fewer records will fall during the 2010 NCAA swim season.

Q: What are the scholarship regulations for an international, non-U.S. citizen?

A: First, you must meet minimum academic standards  if you have never enrolled as a full-time student at a university. Secondly, you must take the SAT or ACT, tests such as the TOEFL or the TWSE are not accepted by the NCAA. If you are currently enrolled at a university you will be subject to the NCAA’s transfer student policy. You must also be sure that you have not violated any of the NCAA’s amateurism rules.

Failure in the last three major world competitions has people asking, has the United States lost its dominance in its own national pastime? The US has failed even reach the championship game in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, 2008 Olympic Games, and the 2009 WBC. Now, ESPN reports that the United States Collegiate All-Stars have lost to their collegiate counterparts in Japan in a five game series.

Japan took advantage of two errors in the bottom of the 11th inning to defeat the United States 8-7 in the deciding fifth game of the college baseball championship series.

Shuta Koike walked and advanced to third on a throwing error by pitcher Sonny Gray. Masayoshi Kato then hit a grounder to shortstop Christian Colon, who committed an error, allowing Koike to score the winning run.

The Americans took a 7-4 lead in Thursday’s game with three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Japanese team scored three in the bottom of the inning to send the game into extra innings.

Yusuke Nomura picked up the win after holding the Americans scoreless in the final two innings. Gray took the loss.

Many people blame these recent shortcomings to a lack of superstar talent in international competition. Many players from the United States did not participate in the World Baseball Classic because it interfered with Spring Training and they were afraid of injury. Major League players cannot join the US squad during the Olympics because it occurs in the middle of the regular season. Even in the recent collegiate series headliners such as number one overall draft pick Stephen Strasburg were not present. Although this may be a valid claim, the players being sent to these competitions are in no way lacking of talent. In the recent series many of the top collegiate programs such as Florida State, Arizona State, and Cal State Fullerton all had representatives from their rosters. With this in mind then, what could be the cause? Could it be the governing bodies of baseball, the NCAA and MLB?

Recently, athletic interest has been pushed away from baseball and funneled at other sports such as football and basketball. Peter Gammons of ESPN gives pretty valid reasoning for this.

The NCAA has limited baseball scholarships to 10½ for 30 players, it has essentially eliminated full scholarships and the opportunity for poor kids to play college baseball. Now MLB is trying to limit bonuses, which will in turn drive athletes to football and other sports in which they can get scholarships. [Scott] Boras has long railed against the combined efforts of the NCAA and MLB to drive American athletes away from baseball.

It is a shame that America has seemingly lost some of its prowess in the international game. However the reality is that it is getting tougher for every athlete to receive a scholarship with economic times coupled with constantly shifting NCAA regulations on the matter. That is why every athlete should know the 5 Things They Must Do to Get Recruited in order to better their chances of earning a scholarship that will drastically lower the financial burden of a college education.

Two-a-days has become a staple in high school football practice. The common use of two practices a day during the summer in order to prepare for the upcoming fall season has been put to use by almost all programs throughout the Unites States. However, an ESPN article described that some changes may be on the horizon.

High school football teams should eliminate two-a-day practices during the first week of August drills when heat stroke has proven particularly deadly, a leading trainers’ group said Thursday in a report issued less than two months before the sweltering rite of passage begins at thousands of schools.

The National Athletic Trainers’ Association said its recommendations, which include longer breaks between practice and more time for players to ease into contact drills, are not radical changes and closely mirror policies already in place at the Division I college level.

“Thing aren’t going very well at the high school level. We’ve had a couple very bad years,” said Douglas Casa, director of athletic training education at the University of Connecticut and co-author of the report for the Dallas-based association. “This wasn’t done for the convenience of coaches.”

The executive director of the Texas High School Coaches Association, D.W. Rutledge, said he declined an invitation to appear at a news conference announcing the proposals. Rutledge, who won four state championships in Texas, said he first wanted to review the guidelines with his membership.

Scaling back on two-a-days amounts to lost preparation time, he said, and that’s something that could concern coaches in football-crazed Texas.

Since 1995, at least 39 football players across all levels have died from heat-related causes and most of those cases happened in early August, said Dr. Frederick Mueller, director of the National Center for Catastrophic Injury Research at the University of North Carolina.

Many of the proposals are stricter versions of rules already in place. In Florida, contact drills are prohibited during the first three days of practice. Under the recommendations by the athletic trainers association, teams shouldn’t begin full contact until the sixth day of practice.

In Texas, schools must take a minimum one-hour break between practice during two-a-days. The report calls for a minimum three-hour rest, and would limit the second practice of two-a-days during the first week to only a light walkthrough without helmets or pads.

Rutledge said a three-hour break could actually force players into the heat, since some teams start practice early as 6:30 a.m. to avoid the hottest parts of the day. He also stood by the current guidelines that Texas coaches follow.

With two-a-day season looming, athletes need to take their own precautions in order to prepare themselves for its physical toll. First, they need to make sure they stay hydrated; lack of hydration can lead to heat stroke or hear exhaustion. Drink plenty of fluids during practice to replenish what you are losing, it is just as important to have high fluid intakes before and after practice. Secondly, get plenty of sleep, it is necessary to “recharge you batteries” for the next day. Finally, do not be afraid to inform your coaches or trainers if you are feeling dizzy or light headed during practice, your safety and well-being is their primary concern.  Staying on top of your health is just as important as staying on top of your grades and athletic endeavors. Coaches are looking for responsible players who will be able to handle the high demands of college football.

The rules and regulations of the NCAA get more complicated every year.  Last week, facing allegations of rules violations UConn Basketball Coach, Jim Calhoun, defended his techniques by pointing to the size of the NCAA rule book. “If we made mistakes, someone else will judge us out of that 508-page manual,” he said. “That is the NCAA manual.”

But, it’s not just the size of the current rule book, it’s the growing number of ways around the rule book.  Take a look at the numerous ways Kentucky Coach John Calipari has successfully recruiting players while not committing a single violation.  ESPN’s Pate Forde writes to Kentucky Athletic Director Mitch Barnhart:

Everyone in basketball knows William Wesley, aka Wes, even if nobody knows exactly what the loosely defined but tightly connected power broker does. But the important thing isn’t his job description — it’s his results. Wes helped hook up Memphis with some of its best players under Calipari: Dajuan Wagner, Derrick Rose, Chris Douglas-Roberts and Tyreke Evans.

With those guys under his wing, Wes went wherever Wes pleased in Memphis — locker room, practice facility, good seats at the FedEx Forum, too. Heck, I even ate with him once at the Tigers’ training table. He’s a charming guy, has a lot of charisma — just don’t ask him too much about his business.

With Wes, your job is to accommodate. Not interrogate.

What’s your outlook on package deals, Mitch? You cool with them? If not, I suggest a change of attitude. When Calipari goes after big fish, the net tends to bring in some sucker fish, too.

When he signed Juanny Wagner, he also got his dad as a staff member (Milt Wagner, even without a college degree) and his best friend (Arthur Barclay, despite limited ability). A positive side effect: Milt stayed several years after Juanny left and got his degree.

When he signed Evans, he got his personal strength coach, Lamont Peterson, too. But really, what high school kid doesn’t come with his own strength coach these days?

And there even have been some prepackaging efforts. C.J. Henry, who hadn’t played basketball in years after trying his hand at professional baseball, enrolled at Memphis this past August to play hoops. Surprisingly enough, his brother, Xavier — considered by many the No. 1 high-school senior in America — signed with the Tigers in November.

What about an occasional scrape with the law, Mitch? Guys such as Sean Banks, Andre Allen and Kareem Cooper got multiple chances to stay on the Memphis team and still couldn’t do it.

Any opinion on prep schools, Mitch? Some of them have gotten a lot of negative publicity as academically sketchy diploma mills in recent years from the likes of The New York Times and Washington Post, but be prepared to deal with them. Calipari has relocated many an academic reclamation project to prep school. Among them: Joey Dorsey, Shawne Williams, Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier and the aforementioned Cooper.

Again, these stories are troubling, yet legal recruiting methods. But what is lurking around the corner? Scott Soshnick at Bloomberg News wonders:

What happens, though, when the technology changes faster than the rules?
 
The NCAA has opened an investigation into the Yahoo report on UConn. To expect coaches and athletic directors to self- report infractions is unrealistic. There’s too much at stake.
 
It used to be that a coach visited a promising athlete’s house, sat with the parents and pleaded his case for Whatever U. Now it’s only a matter of time before Steve Jobs concocts an iPhone application for recruiting.
 
The NCAA simply can’t keep up. It doesn’t have the manpower, money or high-tech savvy.
 
The governing body for college athletics will have to rely on the appropriately named whistleblowers.

My opinion is there is only one direction for the NCAA to go, legalize it all.  Leave extremely simple contact rules in place that are consistent across all sports.  Decide which rules are absolutely the most important and forget about counting texts.  I think everyone can agree on outlining exactly what can be counted as compensation and outlawing it.  Sure some grey areas would remain, but if a coach wants to waste a roster spot for a package deal let him. 

What is the alternative?  What we have right now.  Every few years a school gets caught and the national press comes down on the coach, but everyone knows deep down that the coach wasn’t cheating anymore than any other coach.  He just got caught.

I believe simplicity will lead to some real clarity.

Attention all men’s basketball recruits! The NCAA has put into effect legislation restricting, NCAA Division I men’s basketball coaches, from observing non-scholastic events in April. A vote to override this new legislation has failed.

Since coaches will not be able to attend your travel team events in April–events in July will be crucial to your recruiting. Make sure you know where the NCAA Division I coaches you are talking to and have interest in, will be this July. If you do not know where they will be, you could miss out on an evaluation.

Now it is more important than ever to play on your high school varsity team. You need to get college coaches to your high school tournaments and games for more exposure. You might need to play on a travel team earlier in your career, because you need the opportunity to get in front of as many college coaches as possible.

How does this affect your summer schedule? What do you think about this new rule?

by Chris Krause, NCSA Founder and President

Getting recruited to play college sports means paying attention to all of the important dates that are a part of the process.

Earlier this past week, we reached one of those important dates:  September 1st.

That’s the day that Juniors – the class of 2010 – can start receiving detailed recruiting information and materials from colleges that are seriously considering them for their programs, according to the NCAA recruiting calendar:

• Personalized letters from coaches at the college.
• Photocopies of newspaper articles about the team, the school, or the coach.
• College media guides.
• Schedule cards for the team.
• Official university and admissions publications and paperwork.

And, the contact for Juniors is not restricted to just mailings.  September 1st is also the date that coaches can send e-mails to you, and reply back to the e-mails that you send them.

So, with those facts in mind, it’s a good time to do a little self-assessment in terms of where you stand in the recruiting process today:

Have you received mail from a college coach yet?  If you are a Junior, be on the lookout for mail from colleges.  If you are a top prospect, it’s likely that you will be hearing from a college coach soon.  

The rules allow for even earlier contact if you are a men’s basketball or men’s ice hockey prospect:  College coaches within those sports can contact prospects as early as June 15 after a prospect’s Sophomore year.  

It’s certainly safe to say that if you are a Senior, and you haven’t yet received any mail or any contact from a college coach, you are not being recruited.  I would advise you not to wait to hopefully be discovered at some point during your Senior year.  Coaches at the college level need your information as soon as possible.  Click here to start the process.

Have you received an e-mail from a college coach yet?  If the answer is “no”, and you are a Junior or Senior in high school, that is a possible red flag as well.  E-mail is a very convenient, inexpensive way for coaches to communicate.  Many college programs opt for e-mail communication over regular mail, and any recruit that is on a coach’s radar is probably going to be receiving e-mail by now.  If you aren’t, you are probably not being seriously recruited by any schools (yet).

Whether you are getting initial contacts from colleges, or you find yourself on the outside looking in when it comes to recruiting, there are a few things that you can do to ramp-up your recruiting activity:

• Register with NCSA to ensure that coaches are matched with your athletic and academic skills.  It’s one of the best ways to make sure that every possible opportunity is uncovered.  Plus, you’ll have a former college athlete and recruiting expert from our staff personally assigned to you to answer your questions and help you through the process.  Doesn’t it make sense to have an experienced guide help you through the process from start to finish?
  
• Call a coach yourself.  The recruiting rules placed on coaches by the NCAA allow them to accept phone calls from prospects of any age, at any point in their high school career.  The advantage to picking up the phone and calling the coach yourself is that not many athletes do it.  They are intimidated, shy or just plain lazy when it comes to the idea of being proactive and getting in touch with a coach at the college level.  If you can overcome these things, you’ll really stand-out in the mind of a coach that you call.  And, you’ll really jump-start the recruiting process.
  
• Get highlight info, academic info, and a letter/e-mail of interest out to coaches immediately.  If you don’t want to register with NCSA as a verified student-athlete prospect, you will need to do some of this important work yourself.  Coaches need to see what you can do competitively, what kind of grades and test scores you have, and they’ll want to hear from you with some kind of personal statement so they get a sense for who you are and why you would be valuable to their program. Make sure you gather that information and distribute it to as many potential college coaches as possible.

September 1st has come and gone for 2008, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t take action to enhance your opportunities to hear from a college coach.  

The date does, however, give you a good indicator of where you sit on a college coach’s recruiting priority list.  Use that information to make sure you are where you want to be when it comes to getting the chance to play at the next level.  
 

Do you think the college athletic recruiting process should provide you with the highest number of opportunities? Do you think understanding college athletics recruiting can reveal the perfect college fit for you? How do you go about increasing your opportunities? What system should you employ to make sure you are selecting the right opportunity for you?

College coaches begin by initially contacting 1,000 or 2,000 or even 10,000 (depending on the sport) student athletes by sending them camp brochures, emails, questionnaires, etc. Those same college coaches are clearly not recruiting all of those student-athletes. Why do they start with such a large pool? They are following the advice of Marketing 101: the more kids who they find out about, the better chance they’ll find the really quality student-athlete who will help their program. If that’s a good strategy for college coaches, shouldn’t a student-athlete use the same strategy? Doing so will increase your number of opportunities.

A savvy student-athlete will learn as early as freshman year that they need to develop trust-based relationships with college coaches. This can only happen through communication. Since the NCAA restricts the amount and timing of contacts initiated by college coaches, the student-athlete must be proactive. Unfortunately, the 14 or 15 year old student-athlete doesn’t have the life experiences or the maturity to begin building relationships with adults. The good news is they can be trained in that skill set. It’s like interviewing for a job. 

College recruiting boils down to trust-based relationships between college coaches and student-athletes. What college coach is going to make a significant investment in a student-athlete unless they know a lot more about that student-athlete than her/his performance on the playing field?

If you agree with playing the numbers game and building trust-based relationships with college coaches, have you thought about how you would do that? If you’re a student-athlete reading this, do you think your parents can do this for you? If so, you better forget about playing sports in college. Do you think your coach can do this for you? Again, if so, you better forget about finding the perfect college fit for you. You are the one that needs to take charge. You can only do that if you develop the skill set to do so. Who will teach you that?

Finally, if you do all of the above correctly, how do you determine the right fit? There are many different factors including: academic quality of the school, size of school, location of school, financial aid package, level of competition, opportunity to play early, getting along with the coaching staff and players, receiving tutoring help (if necessary), etc. There is a way to logically sort out all of those factors. If you need help, go here.

 The NCAA is always playing catch up to coaches who are looking for any advantage in recruiting.  They ban text messaging and coaches soon find a new way get their message across to recruits.  In the last few years camps have become an increasingly important evaluation tool for coaches.  ESPN’s Bruce Feldman wrote a piece for the magazine detailing the trend.

In the past, holding camp meant eager high school players could get some tips and college coaches could collect some easy pay on the side. Then a few schools began using camps to evaluate the skills and coachability of recruits. Five years ago, Rutgers set up shop way off campus-in Florida-moving the NCAA to forbid schools from holding camps outside of their state lines. So the Scarlet Knights-along with schools like Oklahoma State, Rice and Southern Miss-put together roving seminars in their states. “It works great because with the rising cost of gas, lots of kids and their coaches can’t make long drives to campus,” says USM coach Tony Hughes.

Another trick: full-pad camps. Many prep governing bodies limit the number of live practices. But coaches noticed that those rules don’t address full-contact college camps. Now prep coaches can cram in extra practice time, while recruiters get a good gander at prospects in pads. “It’s a tremendous draw,” one assistant says.

The NCAA forbids invite-only camps, but some schools stay within the rules by barely advertising certain sessions and relying on word of mouth to attract top talent. Florida stages Friday Night Lights on July 18, an event in which many of the nation’s top recruits will compete on UF’s field. At USC’s Rising Stars Camp in June, Pete Carroll hosted blue-chippers from Arizona, Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee.

And in a copycat industry, that means the stakes have grown to where coaches now have to recruit kids just to come to their camps. Want to bet the NCAA is watching?

That is exactly why athletes need to be proactively contacting schools to find out which camps to attend.  They can not afford to waste valuable time and resources attending the wrong camps.  Trying to catch a coach’s eye at a camp could end up being a huge mistake if you miss attending a camp for a school that is actively recruiting you.  You need to find out where you qualify!

 Why do high school student athletes want to play collegiate athletics?  I speak with so many student athletes who express that commitment on a daily basis and often times I wonder if they truly realize the advantages of being a collegiate athlete. Outside of love for their sport which is the best reason to want to continue to play at the next level, I believe that if student athletes realized the ancillary benefits of partaking in collegiate athletics, their desire to maximize the recruiting process would increase significantly. 

I have often contemplated writing a list of all the rewards that accompany playing collegiate athletics to pass along to prospective student athletes, but quickly realized that it might take hours if not days.  Secondary advantages such as an immediate community of possible friends on a new college campus all the way to an instant alumni network for career opportunities after college fall into this extensive list that student athletes should think about.  I believe it will inherently create more value on the goal at hand and thus a greater attention to the steps required to achieve that goal.   

Student athletes should realize that a love for their sport should serve as their main motivation for working hard in the classroom, on the field, and throughout the recruiting process.  However, they should also understand the ramifications of taking part in collegiate athletics and how that might change their entire life.  Knowing what’s at stake, every student athletes should make sure to maximize this process.  What are some other advantages that college athletes receive?  I think that is a topic well worth a discussion…