General Recruiting Vocabulary
Confirmed Recruit
An individual ceases to be a prospective student-athlete when they sign a CIS Letter of Intent or the prospective student-athlete has accepted the institution’s offer of admission and is confirmed for the upcoming semester as a registered student at the institution.
Contact
A contact occurs any time a coach has any face-to-face contact with you or your parents off the college’s campus and says more than hello. A contact also occurs if a coach has any contact with you or your parents at your high school or any location where you are competing or practicing.
Contact Period
During this time, a college coach may have unperson contact with you and/or your parents on or off the college’s campus. The coach may also watch you play or visit your high school. You and your parents may visit a college campus and the coach may write and telephone you during this period.
Dead Period
The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents at any time in the dead period. The coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.
Evaluation
An evaluation is an activity by a coach to evaluate your academic or athletics ability. This would include visiting your high school or watching you practice or compete.
Evaluation Period
The college coach may watch you play or visit your high school, but cannot have any in-person conversations with you or your parents off the college’s campus. You and your parents can visit a college campus during this period. A coach may write and telephone you or your parents during this time.
National Letter of Intent (or NLI)
CIS: A commitment between a prospective student-athlete and a CIS institution with respect to the prospect being a part of that institution’s CIS interuniversity athletic program for the coming academic year.
The NLI is a voluntary program with regard to both institutions and student-athletes. No prospective student-athlete or parent is required to sign the NLI and no institution is required to join the program.
The NCAA NLI is a binding agreement between a prospective student-athlete and an NLI member institution.
- A prospective student-athlete agrees to attend the institution full-time for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
- The institution agrees to provide athletics financial aid for one academic year (two semesters or three quarters).
The penalty for not fulfilling the NLI agreement: A student-athlete has to serve one year in residence (full-time, two semesters or three quarters) at the next NLI member institution and lose one season of competition in all sports.
An important provision of the NLI program is a recruiting prohibition applied after a prospective student-athlete signs the NLI. This prohibition requires member institutions to cease recruitment of a prospective student-athlete once an NLI is signed with another institution.
source: http://www.nationalletter.org
NCAA Eligibility Centre
The NCAA Eligibility Centre processes academic and amateurism certifications. The eligibility center works closely with the NCAA national office to ensure all academic and amateurism regulations are met. Athletes must register with the Eligibility Centre prior to official visits, or signing a Letter of Intent, and are not eligible to train, travel or compete for a university team until their eligibility has been processed and confirmed.
Begin your registration in the fall of your grade 11 year and update it at the end of each semester until your final grade 12 grades are available.
Official Visit
CIS: When a prospective student-athlete is invited and provided financial assistance, in whole or in part, by an institution representative to meet on- or off-campus.
In the NCAA: An official visit is a formal visit to a campus. On an official visit, a school pays for a recruit to spend 48 hours on campus. This visit could include campus tours, facility tours, meeting with the team, coaches, academic councilors, and campus events among other things. The official visit is a time to ask questions, and experience a small taste of what life would be like, if you were to attend that school.Any visit to a college campus by you and your parents paid for by the college. The college may pay the following expenses:
The college may pay the following expenses:
- Your transportation to and from the college;
- Room and meals (three per day) while you are visiting the
college; and - Reasonable entertainment expenses, including three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest
Before a college may invite you on an official visit, you will have to provide the college with a copy of your high school transcript (Division I only) and SAT, ACT or PLAN score and register with the NCAA Eligibility Center.
Prospective Student Athlete
The CIS defines Prospective student athlete as:
“Any Canadian or international athlete whether they are in high school, college or university or whether they are a non-student, who is interested in enrolling and competing athletically for a CIS institution in a CIS sport. This includes the athlete’s representatives (family, legal guardian, agents, relatives and coaches)”
In the NCAA you become a “prospective student-athlete” when:
- You start ninth-grade classes; or
- Before your ninth-grade year, a college gives you, your relatives or your friends any financial aid or other benefits that the college does not provide to students generally
Quiet Period
The college coach may not have any in-person contact with you or your parents off the college’s campus. The coach may not watch you play or visit your high school during this period. You and your parents may visit a college campus during this time. A coach may write or telephone you or your parents during this time.
Redshirt
The term redshirt is used in American college sports to describe an athlete who does not compete during a season to lengthen their period of eligibility, spreading their 4 years of eligibility over 5 years. A red-shirted athlete typically attends classes and trains with a team may dress for games but usually does not travel with the team and does not play in games. There are many reasons teams may choose to redshirt an athlete, typically this happens either during an athletes freshmen year, or due to injury at any point in a career.
Unofficial Visit
CIS: When prospective student-athletes, by invitation or their own volition, meet with institution representatives but do not receive any assistance, financial or otherwise (except interuniversity game tickets), from an institutional representative for any aspect of their meeting.
NCAA:
Any visit by you and your parents to a college campus paid for by you or your parents. The only expense you may receive from the college is three complimentary admissions to a home athletics contest. You may make as many unofficial visits as you like and may take those visits at any time. On an unofficial visit you can meet with academic councilors, talk with team members and even sometimes meet with the coaches, but the entire trip (including transportation, hotel, food and event tickets) is paid for by your family. The only time you cannot talk with a coach during an unofficial visit is during a dead period.
Verbal Commitment
This phrase is used to describe a prospect’s commitment to a school before he or she signs (or is able to sign) a National Letter of Intent. A prospect can announce a verbal commitment at any time. While verbal commitments have become very popular for both prospects and coaches, this “commitment” is NOT binding on either the prospect or the school. Only the signing of the National Letter of Intent accompanied by a financial aid agreement is binding on both parties.
What does Freshman, Sophmore, Junior, Senior mean?
In high school:
Freshman = grade 9,
Sophomore = Grade 10,
Junior = Grade 11 and
Senior = Grade 12
In College:
Freshman = first year,
Sophomore = second year,
Junior = third year and
Senior = fourth year