Eligibility

Athletic Recruits
1

Hey everyone,

I’m a freshman at UW-Superior, but I plan on transferring next year because I want to play soccer. Going into college, I had intended to play soccer and had several offers from NCAA D3 teams and NAIA teams (the D3 offers were to be guaranteed a roster spot, not for a scholarship as D3 schools can’t give athletic scholarships), as well as some (however less serious) interest from a couple f D2 programs. However, I ended up having to pull out of all of my of my offers because they were all from private schools and none could meet the price I needed. At this point I began talking to the D3 state schools I could potentially play for and UW-Superior ended up being the only one with enough scholarship money left for me. Unfortunately, however, their roster was full (understandably-I did reach out incredibly late), so this year I’m only playing on their club team (which has turned out to be not quite as high of a level as I want to play at).

Now that you have an understanding of my journey to this point, here’s my question: does playing soccer affect my NCAA/NAIA eligibility? I assume it wouldn’t but I’m not 100% sure.

The reason I ask is that if it doesn’t, I still have 4 years of eligibility, which I could use to market myself a little better (otherwise, coaches might be inclined to go with a freshman who can give them a full 4 years). Obviously, I don’t intend to study a 5th year, which I would communicate to coaches, but I think having that extra year of eligibility could give me a leg up on securing a roster spot as a transfer student.

Thanks for reading; I know that was a little bit long-winded.

I’d really appreciate any input you have!

2

try posting in the Athletic Recruit forum where people that know the answer are more likely to be

3

Playing club does not affect your eligibility. You have 5 years from when you start college (any college) to play 4 seasons. Often players who red-shirted one year use that 4th season/5th year in school to do a master’s program. Russel Wilson did that.

Your problem is going to be the same as it was when you were in high school - finding a school that will give you a scholarship that will allow you to go to that school.

Good luck.

4

Thanks for the feedback!