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Unattached Athletes

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 7:38 pm
by VaultPurple
What is the NCAA rule regarding unattached athletes. Like if you are on a college team and have been competing under your college's name all season, is there any rule saying that you can not go enter a meet half way through the season as unattached (like if your team did not have a meet that weekend but you wanted to jump)?

Please only answer if you really know the answer.

Thanks!

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 8:53 pm
by rainbowgirl28
I think the most important thing is that you are on the same page as your coaches, so you should clear it with them.

I do not think NCAA rules prohibit it, but obviously the marks would not count for any qualifying purposes.

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 9:01 pm
by VaultPurple
yeah i need to talk to them too but was just wondering. I know the marks won't count, which is kind of good for me. Because entry height at conference is always equal to what last place is seeded at. And since i have only cleared one bar and it is fairly low, that is a nice comfortable entry height for me. But we have almost a month off before conference with no meets because they got canceled or moved.

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 11:54 pm
by VTechVaulter
NO

If you have been competing for your team all season, you can not suddenly compete in a meet unattached. We ran into this problem a few years ago when some of the VT athletes wanted to go to a meet that wasn't on the schedule. Our compliance officer looked into it and we found it is against policy. So our guys stayed home.

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 8:27 am
by Barto
It is against NCAA rules - period

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 11:21 am
by PV Official
http://www.ncaapublications.com/product ... s/D110.pdf

14.7 OUTSIDE COMPETITION , EFFECTS ON ELIGIBILITY
The eligibility of a student-athlete who engages in outside competition (see Bylaw 17.02.9) is affected as set forth in the following regulations.
14.7.1 Outside Competition—Sports Other Than Basketball. A student-athlete in any sport other than basketball who participates during the academic year as a member of any outside team in any noncollegiate, amateur competition becomes ineligible for intercollegiate competition unless eligibility is restored by the Committee on Student-Athlete Reinstatement. A student-athlete is permitted to practice on such a team. (Adopted: 1/10/91 effective 8/1/91, Revised: 1/16/93, 1/11/94, 1/10/05)

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 1:27 pm
by rainbowgirl28
Good to know! :idea:

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 2:45 pm
by Tumbleweed
It says academic year, so I would assume that it is permissable to jump during the summer in street vaults and all-comer meets since it's not during the "acadmeic" year?

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 4:33 pm
by Cooleo111
as a member of any outside team


I thought the rule was you were allowed to compete in season as unattached, but if you competed for a club during the regular season you became ineligible.
Which is it...not allowed to compete at all unless under your school's name, or not allowed to compete for another team?

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Tue Apr 13, 2010 5:11 pm
by PV Official
Cooleo111 wrote:
as a member of any outside team


I thought the rule was you were allowed to compete in season as unattached, but if you competed for a club during the regular season you became ineligible.
Which is it...not allowed to compete at all unless under your school's name, or not allowed to compete for another team?


14.7.1.5 Competition as Individual/Not Representing Institution. It is permissible for a student-athlete
to participate in outside competition as an individual during the academic year in the student-athlete’s sport,
as long as the student-athlete represents only himself or herself in the competition and does not engage in such
competition as a member of or receive expenses from an outside team.

As RG said, it is still a good idea to check with your coaches first.

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Wed Apr 14, 2010 10:59 am
by Barto
The NCAA has ruled both ways on this in the past regarding whether "unattached" constitutes a "team" or not. I would not push it.

Re: Unattached Athletes

Posted: Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:16 pm
by Divalent
Barto wrote:
PV Official wrote:14.7.1.5 Competition as Individual/Not Representing Institution. It is permissible for a student-athlete to participate in outside competition as an individual during the academic year in the student-athlete’s sport,
as long as the student-athlete represents only himself or herself in the competition and does not engage in such
competition as a member of or receive expenses from an outside team.

The NCAA has ruled both ways on this in the past regarding whether "unattached" constitutes a "team" or not. I would not push it.
Hmmm. If I wanted to write a rule that clearly and unambiguously stated that competing as an unattached athlete was permissible, I don't know if I could improve upon what PV Official quoted above. (Maybe this is a more recent rule designed to clarify that it is indeed permitted, given the conflicting rulings in the past?)