<p>Our son attends a very high academic and prestigious prep school. He was asked to repeat the 9th grade. Although he didn't fail any subjects, the school feels he is immature and can benefit from an extra year. My wife and I agree. He is a D1 prospect in his respective sport. If he repeats, he will not have the 4 years of English in the first 8 semesters of high school as the NCAA eligibility rules require. He would not complete the 4th English until his senior year, which would now be his 10th semester. There are new rules starting with the 2016 class that are making eligibility requirements even harder to obtain. My son would still be OK though if not for the 4th English. Now for the dilemma. Do we keep our son at the prep school and have him repeat? From what I understand, any interested colleges would need to file a waiver for him to be able to obtain a scholarship and be able to play his freshman year in college. Or do we send him to a regular high school as a sophomore and have the eligibility issue resolved? My wife and I are going crazy trying to figure out the right path. We'd like him to stay at the prep school for the better education and reputation, although we didn't want any roadblocks in his way for college sports. Anyone have a similar issue? Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>I should have been more clear with my question. Does anyone have experience with a student repeating a grade in high school, NCAA eligibility, and the waiver process? Just wondering if I am making this into a bigger deal than it actually is. From what I was told, the NCAA is looking more at the basketball and football factories of the world and not the highly academic prep schools.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I don’t have direct experience with your question. My son just received his final Dl/Dll Eligibility and will play Div. ll next year. Also I have not dealt with the new rules that will be in effect when your son graduates. However, the following is straight from the NCAA website:</p>
<p>Core Courses
NCAA Divisions I and II require 16 core courses. See the charts below.
NCAA Division I will require 10 core courses to be completed prior to the seventh semester (seven of the 10 must be a combination of English, math or natural or physical science that meet the distribution requirements below). These 10 courses become “locked in” at the start of the seventh semester and cannot be retaken for grade improvement.</p>
<p>AND</p>
<p>DIVISION I
16 Core Courses
4 years of English.
3 years of mathematics (Algebra I or higher).
2 years of natural/physical science (1 year of lab if offered by high school).
1 year of additional English, mathematics or natural/physical science.
2 years of social science.
4 years of additional courses (from any area above, foreign language or comparative religion/philosophy).</p>
<p>It appears that he would have to have a total of 10 core courses done before his seventh semester (4th year) of which 7 would have to be English, reading, science and math. So he could have 2 years of English, 3 of math, 2 of science, and then 3 of other defined subjects to meet the eligibility. If I am interpreting this rule correctly, he could repeat his English class and still meet the NCAA requirements. I would call the NCAA directly and run it by them just to be certain. </p>
<p>One thing I would be careful about doing is modifying his academic plan solely in order to meet NCAA requirements. The school must feel it would really benefit your son to repeat 9th grade. If you were to transfer him to another school just so that he can move on to 10th grade, and he struggles as a result, he may end up losing NCAA eligibility completely, and then be stuck with a low GPA and few opportunities for college. </p>
<p>Also, a lot can happen in 3-4 years! Of all the kids at our large high school who in 9th grade we thought would move on to college sports (at any level), only a very few actually did so by the time they reached senior year. Many things happened, including: 1)injuries- a lot of kids stopped being competitive because of persistent injuries; 2)kids who were really good in 9th and 10th grade kind of stayed at that level while other kids matured and passed them by; 3)poor grades- colleges weren’t interested; 4)lost interest- kids who were die hards at their sport suddenly burned out and quit (girls and social life often intervene); 5)minimal or no scholarship offers- the percentage of Dl athletes who are recruited with significant scholarships is very minimal. They are often reserved for the extremely elite (nationally ranked) athletes or those who are very talented and have great grades. We know kids who counted on those scholarships and then had no where to turn when they didn’t come through. </p>
<p>These are just a few of the reasons it doesn’t work out. So while you obviously should aim toward meeting the NCAA requirements for eligibility, just be careful about switching schools or pushing him ahead when he is not ready to do so. This is a really confusing process and I wish you the best of luck</p>
<p>My son has a former travel (baseball) teammate that also played baseball at his magnet high school specializing in engineering. The young man wasn’t doing well academically (too many social distractions) his junior year, and failed. His parents enrolled him in a private prep school to repeat 11th grade. The young man turned it around and was recruited to play D1 baseball, and is still playing today. I know the family well, and there were no issues that I’m aware of. </p>
<p>It sounds to me like you know the best path for him. Good luck!</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Almost everyone I speak to about this says it shouldn’t be a problem and it’s actually a good thing to have an extra year of high school. They say the NCAA will understand because of the academic reputation of the school. Athletically, I agree, as my son would be bigger and stronger. The fact remains though that he would be short 1 core course. I did call the NCAA Eligibility Center a few times. They keep saying “that he needs to graduate on-time” with his original class. That’s hard to believe, I know there are kids out there that have repeated a grade in high school and are playing D1 sports.</p>
<p>If you are REALLY worried about it…and wanna make sure all your bases are covered…try looking into a “virtual school” or online English class. Our state actually has a virtual school, that many kids take advantage of, just to help their gpa and ease their class loads. Good Luck…and enjoy “the recruiting ride”.</p>
<p>Two comments.</p>
<p>While I do not know the specifics of the rules about this I do know the majority of kids I know who switched to private schools for sports and are possible D1 recruits repeated a year … so clearly a lot of students make it work for them somehow. A very recent case … 76ers first round pick Nerlens Noel switched from public to prep school and played his first year at Kentucky.</p>
<p>A suggestion. Talk to someone in the process. Ask the coach at the prep school about this … ask your son’s club coach … ask a D1 coach? This situation is faced by a TON of potential athletes every year … lots of people know how to navigate the process … ask an insider!</p>
<p>Interesting, I can say this I know some kids(AAU basketball) who literally have taken a year off of school to train for basketball. During that time they have improved in skill and maybe learned a little something along the way. I know this happened in Ohio in the Pickerington community after they won the state championship and a ton a kids flocked to that community to play basketball. Sad…</p>
<p>It just doesn’t sound right that if he doesn’t graduate with his original class he becomes ineligible. There must be many D1 athletes that repeat a year. I’m just not sure who to ask.</p>