Current Student-Athlete Resources

NCAA DII PLAYING AND PRACTICE LIMITATIONS FOR STUDENT-ATHLETES

Definition:  The playing season refers to the period of time between the team's first officially recognized practice session and the last practice session or competition, whichever occurs later.  Declaration of the institution's playing season in each sport shall be on file in writing in the compliance office prior to the beginning of the institution's playing season for that sport.

For all sports other than football and basketball, each member institution may divide the playing season into two distinct segments: championship and non-championship.

1) WITHIN THE PLAYING SEASON (referred to as in-season)

a)  A maximum of four (4) hours per day and twenty (20) hours per week (except during preseason practice or an official King University vacation period-see item "f" below). b)  One day off required per week (except for participation in conference, postseason and NCAA championships, preseason practice or an official King University vacation period).  Travel day may count as a day off as long as no CARA (see below) occurs.

c)  All competition and any activities associated with the competition count as 3 hours.

d)  Practice may never be conducted following competition (multi-day, multi-event competitions are exceptions).

e)  No class time is ever to be missed for practice except for practice in conjunction with an away-from-home contest.

f)  Daily and weekly hour limitations do not apply during pre-season practice (prior to the first day of classes or the first scheduled contest) or during an institution's official vacation period.

2) OUTSIDE THE PLAYING SEASON (referred to as out-of-season)

a)  A maximum of eight (8) hours per week and two (2) days off per week.

b)  Activities are limited to individual skill instruction and weight-training or conditioning:

  • individual skill instruction (voluntary or required) is limited to 2 hours per week
  • a maximum of four student-athletes may be involved with an individual coach at any one time in the facility and no co-mingling between groups may occur.

c) Conditioning drills may simulate game activities but

  • offensive/defensive alignments are not permitted
  • equipment related to the sport cannot be used

Countable & Non-Countable Activities

COUNTABLE

  • Practice.
  • Competition (counts as three hours, regardless of actual length).
  • Required weight training and conditioning activities.
  • Film or video reviews of practices or contests required, supervised or monitored by institutional staff or coaches.
  • Required participation in camps, clinics or workshops.
  • Meetings initiated or required by coaches or other institutional staff on athletic-related manners.
  • Individual workouts required or supervised by a member of the coaching staff.
  • On-court or on-field activities called by any member of the team and confined primarily to members of that team.
  • Field, floor or on-court activity.
  • Visiting the competition site in the sports of cross country or golf.
  • Participation in a physical activity class for student-athletes only and taught by a coach or athletics staff member.

NOT COUNTABLE

  • Compliance meetings.
  • Meetings with a coach or athletic staff member initiated by the student-athlete as long as no countable activities occur.
  • Drug/alcohol educational meetings or CHAMPS/Life Skills meetings.
  • Study hall, tutoring or academic meetings.
  • Student-athlete advisory committee meetings.
  • Voluntary weight training not conducted by a coach or athletics staff member.
  • Voluntary sport-related activities (initiated by student-athlete, no attendance taken and no coach present).
  • Traveling to and from the site of competition (as long as not countable activities occur).
  • Training room activities, rehabilitation activities and medical examinations.
  • Recruiting activities (such as student host).
  • Training table meals.
  • Attending banquets (e.g, awards or postseason banquets).
  • Fundraising activities or public relations/promotional activities and community service projects.

NCAA DRUG TESTING

NCAA student-athletes are subject to random drug testing at any time.  Drug testing may be initiated by the institution, conference or the NCAA.

Student-athletes may find out information about drug testing by contacting the Resource Exchange Center (REC) at 877.202.0769 or www.drugfreesport.com/rec (password is ncaa2).  More information and the current NCAA list of banned drug classes can be found at www.NCAA.org/health-safety.

Student-athletes should also be aware that before consuming any nutritional or dietary supplements they should review the product label with your athletics department staff.  Dietary supplements are not well regulated and could cause a positive drug test.

REDSHIRT VS. MEDICAL HARDSHIP WAIVERS

 

REDSHIRT

MEDICAL HARDSHIP

Description

The term "redshirt" is used to describe a student-athlete who does not participate in competition in a sport for an entire academic year. If the student-athlete does not compete at all during the academic year, he/she has not used a season of competition.

A medical hardship is for those student-athletes who have sustained an incapacitating injury or illness which prevented them from competing in the remainder of the playing season that concludes with the NCAA championship.

Form

There is no official form to complete for a redshirt student-athlete. However, a student-athlete's participation in competition is recorded on the Competition Record Form (KCA-011) which must be submitted by the coach to the King University compliance office at the completion of a team's season.

The King University compliance office applies to the conference and/or the NCAA for a medical hardship waiver.  The conference and/or NCAA determines whether the student-athlete should be granted an additional year of competition as a result of his/her incapacitating injury or illness.

Seasons of Eligibility

Any competition, regardless of the time played, during a season in an intercollegiate sport is counted as a season of competition in that sport except as indicated below. This applies to all intercollegiate athletics competition for any collegiate institution at the varsity or sub-varsity level.

  • W Volleyball & M, W Soccer: A student-athlete may engage in outside competition during the segment of the playing season that does not conclude with the NCAA championship (non-championship segment) without using a season of competition, provided the student-athlete was academically eligible during the segment that concludes with the NCAA Championship (championship segment). [14.2.4.1.2]

King University Eligibility Policy & Academic Standing

The first rule of NCAA eligibility for competition is that a student-athlete must be in good academic standing with his or her institution.

The King University Academic Standards Committee has established the attached definition for students to be in good academic standing with the College.

registrar.king.edu/fileadmin/Sites/Documents/Registrar/AcademicStanding.pdf

Academic records of all students are reviewed at the end of each semester.  A student who meets all the listed requirements for grade point average and semester hours passed will be considered to be in good academic standing.

For those students not meeting those requirements, academic standing may fall into three categories of Academic Concern, Academic Probation and Academic Suspension.

Under the King University definition, a student-athlete would be eligible to compete if he or she falls into the Academic Concern category, assuming they meet the basic NCAA rules for eligibility (see below).  Student-athletes will not be eligible to compete if they fall into the categories of Academic Probation or Academic Suspension.

Basic NCAA rules for eligibility:

  1. Student-athlete must be in good academic standing with the institution.
  2. S-A must be enrolled as a full-time student.
  3. S-A must have passed six hours in the preceding academic term in which they were enrolled full time.
  4. S-A must pass twenty-four (24) hours from the start of the previous school year through the completion of the following summer term.
  5. S-A must pass 75% of the twenty-four (24) hours in the regular school year and no more than 25% in the summer term.
  6. S-A must have attained 1.800 GPA after 24 completed hours, 1.900 after 48 completed hours, and 2.000 after 72 completed hours.
  7. S-A must designate a degree by the start of their fifth semester.