Student-athletes should know rules

When Kate Stipech met high school soccer players who were being recruited by Jacksonville State University this fall, she often gave them one important piece of advice.

“I’d tell them, ‘Double-check the Clearinghouse yourselves. It’s not just about GPA and SAT scores,’” she said.

Hardly.

Stipech learned that it takes more than a good grade-point average and entrance-exam score to play college sports. She was ruled ineligible this fall by the NCAA Clearinghouse because she fell one-half credit short of the 13 that the NCAA requires high school graduates to have in the core courses of math, English and the sciences.

Athletes entering college in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years must have at least 13 credits in the core courses. Students entering college beginning Aug. 1, 2005, must have 14 core credits, and in 2008 the standard rises to 16 core credits.

For courses to make the NCAA’s approved list, high schools send descriptions of the curriculum in each course. The NCAA then determines whether those courses fall under its approved list.

For example, a drama class at one school may be approved because it would require students to study history, theory and/or write a term paper. At another school, a drama class may not make the approved list because it would consist of putting on a play but not include the other academic work.

The approved core courses for all high schools are listed on the Clearinghouse web site (www.ncaaclearinghouse.net).

Under the 13-course requirement that applies to athletes beginning college in the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years, the NCAA requires:

Four years of English.

Two years of math (Algebra I or higher).

Two years of natural or physical science (one year of lab if it’s offered by the high school).

One year of additional English, math or natural/physical science.

Two years of social science.

Two years of additional courses (from any area listed above, or foreign language, non-doctrinal religion or philosophy, or computer science). Beginning with the 2005-06 school year, incoming athletes must have three years of additional courses, and computer science will not be allowed.

High school administrators urge athletes and their parents to become familiar not only with the NCAA’s requirements, but with the individual colleges’ requirements as well. Students at Everett High School need two years of math to graduate, but many colleges and universities require four years.

“My advice,” said Pat Sullivan, principal at Everett High School, “is to keep your young people involved in as strenuous an academic program as possible.”