NCAA Information
Links for NCAA Regulations and Guidelines for Upcoming College Student/Athletes
The NCAA produces a very useful guide entitled The College Bound Student Athlete, that provides a great amount of information for players planning to play soccer at the collegiate level. All prospective players and their parents should read this manual prior to the recruiting process.
 
The College Bound Student Athlete
 
All prospective college athletes need to register with the NCAA Clearinghouse. The main pages for the Clearinghouse can be found atNCAA Clearinghouse Site.
 
The NCAA offers numerous on-line brochures to answer questions regarding eligibility requirements, recruiting, academic qualifications and a wealth of other resources. Links to these brochures can be found at:
 
NCAA Brochures-General Interest
 
Eligibility & Recruiting Information
 
Link toNCAA Div 1 Manual 2006-2007  (Rules and Regulations)
 
Contacting the Clearinghouse You may contact the Clearinghouse at:
Customer Service:   877-262-1492 (toll free in the )
24-hour Voice Response:  877-861-3003 (toll free in the )
Mail:
Initial-Eligibility Clearinghouse
301 ACT Drive
P.O. Box 4044
Iowa City, IA
52243-4044
The following guide should be used as a reference when applying to colleges and universities.

 

 

Sophomore Year
• Review NCAA Athletic Eligibility Guidelines.
• Take PSAT test.
• Prepare soccer resume and player profile.
• Review NCAA Clearinghouse eligibility guidelines and understand requirements.
• Select junior year course to fulfill these requirements.

Summer Before Junior Year
• Register with NCAA Clearinghouse.
• Complete resume and player profile on the Barons Website.
• Search for colleges / universities that meet your interests and submit them to the Barons/Banshees Youth Academy Technical Director.
• Research the academics and teams at these schools.
• Send resume and player profiles to these schools.

Junior Year
• Take PSAT test for National Merit Scholarship.
• Play in College Showcase tournaments.
• Attend any recruitment seminars at these tournaments.
• Narrow your search to 10 or so schools.
• Contact coaches to schedule a time for an unofficial visit.
• Make unofficial visit (at your expense) to selected schools.
• Take SAT test.
• Check status with NCAA Clearinghouse.
• Select senior year courses to complete Clearinghouse requirements.
• Obtain college financial aid form (FAFSA).
• Send coaches updated resume and player profile, send dates of tournaments and league games. 

Summer Before Senior Year
• Complete unofficial school visits.
• Narrow search to 5 or 10 schools.
• Evaluate opportunities during recruiting calls from coaches.
• Complete FAFSA form for an estimate of available aid.

Senior Year
• Check status with NCAA Clearinghouse.
• Narrow search to 5 schools.
• Send “Early Admission” application to the 5 schools.
• Complete FAFSA form again with recent tax information.
• Complete 5 Official (at the schools expense) visits.
• Make a decision and sign a National Letter of Intent.

Visit www.collegeboard.com to find out valuable information about applying to college.

The site offers:
PSAT and SAT testing dates and locations.
Advice about choosing the right school.
Planning for college.
Getting into the schools of your choice.
How to pay for school 

 

 

When Can A College Coach Talk to a High School Prospect?
There can be a lot of confusion about contacting college coaches, especially if you are new to the recruiting game. This is the time of year when athletes start thinking a lot about getting calls from a college coach and there are usually a lot of questions surrounding the topic.

Is it OK for an athlete to call a coach? When can a coach call an athlete? Are there any rules to be aware of when you are hoping to be recruited by a college coach?
To help simplify this, here are a few simple tips to guide your future interaction with college coaches:
  •  A college coach can only call or visit you after July of your junior year in high school. That means a coach can not place an outbound call to you, nor can he initiate a visit to your home or school specifically to talk to you about playing a sport at his or her college, until the summer before your senior year. Remember, this deals only with outbound communication from a coach.
  • You can call or meet with a coach at any point in your high school career. That’s right, you can call a coach whenever you want. The key here is that you are the one initiating contact with the coach and not the other way around. If you want to call a coach or visit a campus and set up a meeting with the coach, you may do so as often as you wish.
  • You can take as many campus visits as you would like when considering a sports scholarship offer. Again, the key here is that you are the one initiating the visit. What about those five "official" visits that you often hear about big-time athletes making to schools when they are seniors? Those are visits that the school pays for. A prospective student-athlete can only take five official visits that are paid for by schools during his or her high school career.
With these rules in mind, the advice that the experts here at Recruit would give you would be to contact as many coaches as you can during high school, as often as you like. We like to see our athletes take control of the process and try to "interview" and evaluate coaches that may express interest in them rather than waiting and waiting and waiting for a coach to finally call them. Be proactive about the process! Take control!
What's the difference between Divisions I, II and III?

Division I

Division I member institutions have to sponsor at least seven sports for men and seven for women (or six for men and eight for women) with two team sports for each gender. Each playing season has to be represented by each gender as well. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria. For sports other than football and basketball, Division I schools must play 100 percent of the minimum number of contests against Division I opponents -- anything over the minimum number of games has to be 50 percent Division I. Men’s and women’s basketball teams have to play all but two games against Division I teams; for men, they must play one-third of all their contests in the home arena. Schools that have football are classified as Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) or NCAA Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Football Bowl Subdivision schools are usually fairly elaborate programs. Football Bowl Subdivision teams have to meet minimum attendance requirements (average 15,000 people in actual or paid attendance per home game), which must be met once in a rolling two-year period. NCAA Football Championship Subdivision teams do not need to meet minimum attendance requirements. Division I schools must meet minimum financial aid awards for their athletics program, and there are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division I school cannot exceed.

Division II

Division II institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, (or four for men and six for women), with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are contest and participant minimums for each sport, as well as scheduling criteria -- football and men’s and women’s basketball teams must play at least 50 percent of their games against Division II or Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) or Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) opponents. For sports other than football and basketball there are no scheduling requirements. There are not attendance requirements for football, or arena game requirements for basketball. There are maximum financial aid awards for each sport that a Division II school must not exceed. Division II teams usually feature a number of local or in-state student-athletes. Many Division II student-athletes pay for school through a combination of scholarship money, grants, student loans and employment earnings. Division II athletics programs are financed in the institution’s budget like other academic departments on campus. Traditional rivalries with regional institutions dominate schedules of many Division II athletics programs.

Division III

Division III institutions have to sponsor at least five sports for men and five for women, with two team sports for each gender, and each playing season represented by each gender. There are minimum contest and participant minimums for each sport. Division III athletics features student-athletes who receive no financial aid related to their athletic ability and athletic departments are staffed and funded like any other department in the university. Division III athletics departments place special importance on the impact of athletics on the participants rather than on the spectators. The student-athlete’s experience is of paramount concern. Division III athletics encourages participation by maximizing the number and variety of athletics opportunities available to students, placing primary emphasis on regional in-season and conference competition.
 
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