School and NCAA set guidelines to allow student-athletes to juggle commitments
By Kevin Lytle
With only four days left in the final semester of his master’s degree in management practices, a basketball commitment forced Andy Ogide to miss one of his final class periods.
That was just one of dozens of classes that Ogide missed during the school year while playing with the CSU basketball team.
Such is the life of a Division I student-athlete. They have to find a way to balance schedules filled with practice, weight-lifting and video study around a full slate of classes and the work that comes with those credits.
CSU and the NCAA have many practices in place to try and make sure that the term “student-athlete” applies.
Academic Requirements
Photo Courtesy CSU Athletics.
Andy Ogide juggled basketball
and finishing a master's degree.
Initial entrance into a Division I school such as Colorado State for an athlete means they have to meet minimum requirements as set forth by the NCAA.
For the NCAA, Division I entrance standards are based on a sliding scale. The higher the GPA, the lower the score necessary on the SAT and ACT to qualify.
For instance, a student with a high school GPA of 3.5 would need a minimum SAT score of 400 and an ACT score of 37 according to the NCAAs sliding scale. But a student with a 2.5 GPA would need an 820 on the SAT and a 68 on the ACT.
In addition, the student would have to meet specific requirements of the school they choose to attend.
For CSU, there are many factors taking into account for prospective students, according to the CSU admissions office. Academic rigor of courses taken in high school is one factor looked at in addition to GPA and test scores.
Once in school, Colorado State has certain requirements to maintain eligible for competition.
According to the CSU student-athlete handbook, athletes must be registered for a minimum of 12 credits during a semester to remain eligible. But they only have to successfully complete 18 credits during an entire school year.
To be eligible for the start of their second year of competition, an athlete only needs a cumulative GPA of 1.8. And to be eligible for their third year it only needs to be a 1.9, according to the student-athlete handbook.
The catch to those numbers is that if a student-athlete has two consecutive semesters below a 2.0 it can result in dismissal from school, according to guidelines set forth to the entire student body.
But there are practices put in place by the athletic department to ensure athletes success in school.
Academic Aid
For all of the strains in place that come with being a student-athlete, there are many options to help athletes succeed.
All incoming freshman, as well as transfer students, are required to attend structured study sessions for their first year.
Additionally, all athletes have free tutor services available to them throughout their time at CSU as a student-athlete.
Progress reports are sent out at mid-term to all freshman and some upper class student athletes. These reports are used to ensure that no athletes get too far astray academically without anyone knowing about it.
According to CSU’s director of media relations Zak Gilbert, all athletes have Athletic Academic Coordinators which serve as a mentor of sorts to help athletes balance school and sport. These academic coordinators ensure that athletes are succeeding academically and point them in the right direction if help is needed.
“We (the athletic teams) have a great relationship with our academic support staff,” Gilbert said.
There are also many study tools available to athletes such as the new, athlete-only, study area in the McGraw Athletic Center with computers and wireless access to give athletes their own place to study.
Road Trip
Photo courtesy CSU Athletics.
Audrey Hemmings missed
practices during the season to
attend a required class.
One of the toughest parts succeeding academically as an athlete is the inevitable missed class time due to competitions held outside of Fort Collins.
Athletes’ absences from class due to competition are categorized as excused absences by the school, but the work missed must still be made up.
At the beginning of the semester, professors of student-athletes are given a list of the dates that the athlete will miss class. The athletic department tells student-athletes to remind their professors a week before that they will be missing class.
Professors are required to work with student-athletes to set up times to make up work missed. Student-athletes are told to contact their Athletic Academic Coordinator if professors are not cooperative.
“It’s never been much of a problem for me,” said journalism professor Jack Lovelace on having student-athletes make up missed work. “Athletes usually have great discipline and that helps them keep up.”
While on road trips, teams set aside time to make sure that studying is done. Occasionally the team will proctor an exam, but that isn’t usually the case.
Student-athletes are also able to check out laptops for use on road trips to help their studies. But teams make sure that work gets done.
“We set up two hours a day usually for study where they have to be doing that,” volleyball coach Tom Hilbert said. “They can’t have TV’s on or anything, they’ve got to be working on class stuff.”
Fitting into time
In order to allow athletes to fit school and athletics together they receive scheduling benefits.
Student-athletes receive priority class registration which makes them some of the first people to sign up for classes in an effort to ensure the ability to be in classes which do not interfere with practice times.
But even that doesn’t always allow students to avoid scheduling conflicts. Sometimes the athletes run into a required class that they must take, but there is only one section and it is in conflict with practice.
That happened in the fall to Audrey Hemmings, the senior libero of the CSU volleyball team.
Every Thursday, Audrey would have to miss practice to attend a class she had to take to complete her degree in biological science. And this was during the season for the nationally ranked volleyball team.
“There are times where it cuts into practice where we have to reschedule things,” Hilbert said. “That’s not uncommon, especially as you approach the end of the semester. There are times when players are in classes that cut into practice and there’s nothing we can do.”
The NCAA also has specific guidelines for the amount of hours a student-athlete can put into their specific sport.
During the season, student-athletes can be required a maximum of four hours a day and 20 hours a week of team activity (practice, weight-lifting, film study, etc.). There must be one day per week free from required team activity, according to NCAA rules.
There is no restriction on voluntary activity.
In the offseason there is a maximum of eight hours per week of required team activity and student-athletes must receive at least two days off per week.
What it comes down to is that in order to be a collegiate athlete, students have to be very disciplined in time management. That, combined with teamwork between coaches, academic support staff and professors, makes it possible for someone like Andy Ogide perform at the highest level on the court, while also succeeding in the classroom.
“It’s definitely tough,” Ogide said. “I’ve had to miss some class, but teachers are understanding and my group stuff, they understand. I’m able to get my work done. It just takes hard work.”
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