Simple-minded question on sports in college and homeschooling --

[Gwen in VA]

I am a bit confused. I know NOTHING about sports, so PLEASE bear with me on this one!

 

My younger junior-high-age son may want to participate on a sports team (sailing) in college, if he ends up going to a college that has one.

 

Does he need to worry about NCAA eligibility and all that, or is the worry about accredited homeschool programs and the like only of concern for recruited athletes?

 

(Since he doesn't sail that much, he will NOT be a recruited athlete!):D

 

(At least twenty years ago, some of the top sailors on my college's sailing team had never sailed before college!)

[Gwen in VA]

Thanks, Margaret.....

 

Ugh! Oh dear!

 

I guess I now need to look at the recent thread about NCAA requirements!

 

i do have a quick question though --once a student is in college, he's in college. So what does the NCAA do -- ask all athletes to produce their high school diploma?

 

And what if a student decides to join a sport during their sophomore year? (I know, most students don't -- but where I went to college the sports were pretty poor and lots of non-athletes floated through the NCAA teams!)

 

I don't mean to be snide -- I was on the sailing team at the college I attended, and no one ever asked about anything related to a high school diploma. Now, I wasn't very good, so maybe that was the reason!

[Linda in NM]

I believe NCAA expects your student to register in his or her junior year; also, to make sure that the courses he or she takes are "approved" (in other words, 4 years of hs English, etc.) Some schools that we homeschoolers use (such as Clonlara, which I use) are approved; some schools are not (NARS).

[Nan in Mass]

So what happens if a student doesn't register in his junior year and then decides he wants to play sports once he gets to college?

[Linda in NM]

Good question.

[Gwen in VA]

I had no idea! This is a new world to me!

 

I guess I need to get serious about investigating this approved courses stuff. :glare:

 

If we do this, I do hope ds2 goes to a school with a sailing team -- that's the only sport he is interested in!

 

Thank you to all who responded -- I am not happy about this, but knowing this is an issue ahead of time is VERY good.

 

Thanks again for alerting me to a potential problem!

[Begonia]

I had no idea! This is a new world to me!

 

I guess I need to get serious about investigating this approved courses stuff. :glare:

 

Gwen, I feel your pain! ;) At our house we're now scrambling to find NCAA-approved courses for next year for our 8th grade dd. This is not the way I envisioned homeschooling high school! It limits our choices and it's going to be much more expensive than we originally thought.

 

I seem to remember that your kids have taken courses through places such as PA Homeschoolers, Keystone, and Scholars Online. The NCAA website lists many PAH and Keystone courses, but it came as a surprise to me that Scholars Online isn't on the NCAA list at all. Surely SO Wheelocks Latin classes are more rigorous than many other Latin classes out there.

 

Our plan (as of now) for next year is to cherry-pick from Keystone and PAH and to throw in the Scholars Online Latin just because dd loves it so. I've heard about other homeschooled Div I athletes in dd's sport (riflery) who have successfully taken cc and university classes during their high school years, so I'm investigating that option, too. Someone mentioned that the NCAA doesn't accept cc credits, but I'm not sure that's right. I have heard that it's a very bad idea for an athlete to become a matriculated student at a college during high school. I think there's also a limit to the number of college credit hours allowed on the high school transcript.

 

Are you a member of the hs2coll (Homeschool to College) yahoo group? They have a wealth of info in their archives-- including threads relating to NCAA eligibility.

 

Good luck!

[Nan in Mass]

Perhaps I should find out more about this. My shy son has been ending his college visits by dragging us all down to the athletic department, walking into the director's office, and announcing, "I'm a gymnast. If I come here, what sports could I do?" It never occured to me that this would be more complicated than the switch from one sort of sport to another. And I have to say, those athletic directors have been sweet and welcoming and sympathetic as they discussed the switch to a different sport and my son's very real need to combine academics with physical action. Definately the most universally impressive batch of college people we've met so far, to my non-athletic amazement.

-Nan

[NancyL]

That's wonderful that your son wants to continue athletics in college. And how nice that the college coaches have been receptive. Having a sports team with other good students is a wonderful experience and they will probably feel more connected to the college, plus make a wider circle of friends. Hopefully, if the coaches are good, they will have expectations about the students grades as well as attending practices, etc. Really, its a good thing especially for the first year. (kids can suffer from homesickness, etc) My daughter could ask her other team mates for help with little questions informally and she said they were really helpful. (she mentioned one was a whiz with the graphing calc) I think the team environment is social and informal sometimes, and if you have some older kids that are great role models thats a very valuable contact.

I think what I understand from the NCAA- over the phone the woman told me that my daughter could definitely take CC courses and use them as part of her high school. However, George at IUHS told me that you really need to get that advice in writing. He said that they can always fall back on the --"only approved courses are acceptable" and the verbal opinion given to me by someone who may not even be there two years later really won't carry any weight. We have to keep in mind that the NCAA is Huge--and people put a lot of money into getting around the rules, so they are really sticklers. We were so amazed that it seems so important when you have a wonderful SAT score--but trust me, they don't care about that. Just make sure you have enough "core classes" and if you need more like CC, try to get a letter authorizing this that you could submit with your packet. The NCAA has a lot of teeth, and kids do sit out if they aren't eligible. The NCAA decides who is eligible.

[Storm Bay]

So, I'm guessing that if you swim on a local high school's team as a homeschooler you'd still have to register? Not that we see anything that indicates any of our kids will be good enough to do so, but none of them are at the point where we're sure (the youngest is still learning to swim, lol, but at least one of my girls is planning to swim for the local high school team next year.)

[Storm Bay]

What state are you in that they can do high school sports? we sure love our access in CO!

 

MA, but it may vary by school district, I don't know. Ours is quite user friendly--much easier to work with now than when dd was actually in ps. And I don't know if my kids will ever have fast enough times as this is their first year on the Boys and Girls Club team (we actually have a really good coach and a more serious team than many B&G teams, but next year is high school for her and that's even more serious), just am doing a LOT of planning for high school so we don't miss anything important.

[Linda in NM]

CO is nicer than NM--my son can play one varsity sport, which will be baseball (since hockey isn't varsity, we don't have to worry). He's already been recruited by a private school hockey coach...good goalies are in big demand in NM!