Intramural Soccer and Your NCAA Eligibility

How my buddy lost a year of eligibility, playing intramural Soccer!

When talking about the recruiting process, an overwhelming amount of concern is on the rules and regulations. The NCAA puts these rules in place so there can be an equal playing field for all coaches in the recruiting process.

Making sure you, as the prospective studentathlete, follow these rules and regulations is imperative. Not following the rules can result in being ineligible, fines, and worse, unable to ever play collegiate sports.

My good friend fell victim of a rule that not many College coaches even know about, which resulted in him losing out on a year of eligibility. My buddy had not been recruited to play Varsity Soccer at the university he got into but wanted to attend the school anyway because of its outstanding academics.

He knew that the school had an intramural team, so he elected to do that, as well as be a scout player for the Womens Varsity Soccer Team.

While attending school, playing intramural soccer, and being a scout player, he eventually reached out to the head coach of the varsity team at the university, and the coach offered him a tryout in the spring semester. He played outstanding and was offered a spot on the Mens Varsity team the next fall.

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He went on to have 3 very successful years and was named team captain his last year at the University. In his senior year, he played the first few matches and was having a great start to his season until tragedy struck.

He was placed on suspension until further notice. This came out of know where, and everyone, including the head coach didnt understand why?

After an NCAA committee had met, they had deemed my friend ineligible because according to their rules he had exhausted his 4 years of Varsity eligibility.

To everyones surprise, the rule states that if a school directly sponsors an intramural sport and if at any point a student participates with that team, it will count for a year of NCAA Varsity eligibility.

The university received a fine, and my buddy wasnt allowed to participate in what he thought would be his senior year of Soccer. When I heard about this, I was frustrated, but more sadden that a kid that worked so hard, and was such a great ambassador for his school, got the short end of the stick.

I want to make sure everyone knows and fully understands the NCAA rules, so everyone will have a great 4 years of being a student-athlete.>> Educate yourself on the college soccer recruiting process, so your eligibility will never be an issue.<<