Are You an Amateur Basketball Player? Here’s How to Check

To play college basketball you have to have a amateur status. But what does amateur status mean? Lets cover what you need to know and how your amateur status is figured out. When you register for a certification account with the NCAA Eligibility Center as a potential student athlete you will be asked a few questions about your participation in basketball. These questions are designed to determine your amateur status . In some cases, the Eligibility Center might request some additional information from you to further evaluate your amateur status, so be ready.

WHAT IS AN AMATEUR ATHLETE?

An amateur athlete is defined as someone who participates in sports in which their participation in that sport, is without any financial gain in any type or form. The distinction between amateur sporting participants and professional sporting participants is – the professionals get paid for their time spent training and competing.

WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU LOSE YOUR AMATEUR STATUS?

Here are the types of things the NCAA Eligibility Center looks into when assess your amateur status. If you have any of the following, it might delaying your ability to participate in full-time college, organized competition:

• Playing with professionals
• Signing a contract with a professional team
• Participating in tryouts or practices with a professional team
• Receiving payment or preferential treatment/benefits for playing sports
• Receiving prize money
• Receiving benefits from an agent or prospective agent

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REQUESTING YOUR FINAL AMATEURISM CERTIFICATION

For all basketball players looking to attend college and play college level basketball for the first time, you must receive a final amateurism certification before you can compete. This applies to student athletes who are looking to play NCAA D1, D2 and D3 – (this also JUCO Transfers, NAIA, and Internationals).

How do I request my final amateurism certification?

As a student athlete you must put a request in through your Eligibility Center account and ask them directly for your final amateurism certification. This is important because the Eligibility Center staff cannot finalize your amateurism certification without your request!

If you start school in the Fall: You can request a final amateurism decision from the NCAA Eligibility Center on or after April 1 before you enroll at the NCAA D1 or D2 school you are going to for the fall semester.

If you start school in the Winter or Spring: You can request a final amateurism from the NCAA Eligibility Center for a decision on or after October 1 before your enrollment at an NCAA school.

WHAT IS DELAYED ENROLLMENT?

Once you have graduated from high school you have a certain amount of time to enroll at any two year or four year college or university. This is referred to as a “grace period“. If, (for whatever reason) you do not enroll within the grace period, and continue to compete in organized competitions, then you will use up one of your seasons of NCAA eligibility. This will keep going for every calendar year that you continue to compete. In this situation, you maybe required to do an academic year in residence at your NCAA school before they will let you compete

NOTE: The grace period for men’s basketball is 12 months. A student athlete’s grace period is: the period between your expected date of high school graduation and initial full-time collegiate enrollment.

WHAT IS CONSIDERED ORGANIZED COMPETITION?

You need to know this definition. The NCAA Eligibility Center says that organized competition is when any of the following statements apply to you and your playing situation:

• Official score is kept
• Standings or statistics are maintained
• Official timer or game officials are used
• Admission is charged
• Teams are regularly formed or team rosters are predetermined
• Team uniforms are used An individual or team is privately or commercially sponsored
• The competition is either directly or indirectly sponsored, promoted or administered by an individual, an organization or any other agency
• For Division 1: The competition is scheduled and publicized in advance
• For Division 2: The competition is scheduled in advance

WHAT IS CONSIDERED A PROFESSIONAL TEAM?

A professional team is one that declares itself as professional, or provides any player more than their “actual and necessary” expenses. Actual and necessary expenses are defined as the following:

• Meals and lodging directly tied to competition or practice
• Transportation expenses directly related, such as to and from practice, training or competition
• Apparel, equipment and supplies related to competition or practice
• Coaching and instruction, or the use of facilities and entry fees
• Health or medical insurance, medical treatment and physical therapy directly associated with an individual’s participation on a team or in an event
• Other reasonable expenses such as laundry money etc.

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT INFORMATION YOU SHOULD KNOW

The following information is important to know for all potential student athletes who are looking to play NCAA basketball at the D1 or D2 level. Make sure you know where you stand so you can be 100% eligible and not lose any years of competition at the collegiate level. All the following are what is and what isn’t permissible for D1 & D2 schools:

• As a basketball play you can delay your enrollment to college up to 12 months (called the grace period)
• You can use a recruiting or scouting service but the fee of the service charges cannot be based on receipt or the amount of an athletics scholarship.
• You can receive funding from an outside source no questions asked for D2 but if your looking to attend a D1 school, only if the funding is less than or equal to your actual and necessary expenses related to competition and practice directly associated with competition. Training expenses may only be provided
  by the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), appropriate national governing body (or international equivalent organization for international students) or a governmental entity.
• You can receive price money as long as it does not exceed actual and necessary expenses for a calendar year and comes from the sponsor of the event for a D1 School. D2 schools allow this only pre-college enrollment.
• You cannot enter into any agreement with an Agent to secure or identify any playing opportunities (verbal or written).
• You cannot receive benefits from an agent or professional service provider.
• You can tryout with a professional team as long as you do not exceed actual and necessary expenses for D1 schools. For D2 schools, only pre-college enrollment.
• You can be selected for a professional draft but you must contact the NCAA or your school’s compliance office before you enter an opt-in draft. This applies to both D1 and D2 schools.