College coaches must follow certain rules when contacting prospective student athletes.
According to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), students are considered prospective student athletes when they reach their freshman year of high school. In an effort to ensure fairness in the recruiting process, the NCAA sets up strict rules about how often, what times of year, and through what means college baseball coaches may contact prospective student athletes or their families. Prospective college baseball players and their families should be aware of the rules, and the contact periods set for the 2010-2011 recruiting year are outlined below.
Communication
College coaches are allowed to contact prospective baseball players at certain times throughout the year, but these contact times must follow specific guidelines. An official contact, which is a contact that occurs when the prospective student athlete or the athlete's parents meet with a college coach off the college's grounds, is limited to August 1-30, September 10 through November 7 and March 1 through July 31, except for April 11-14. Anything beyond the exchange of "hello" is considered a contact.
Dead periods, which run from November 8-11, January 6-10 and April 11-14, limit coaches from having any in-person contact with the prospective baseball player or his parents. Telephone calls, letters and e-mails are not limited during this time.
Quiet periods extend from September 1-9 and November 12 through February 28, and allow the prospective baseball player and his parents to have in-person contact only on the college campus grounds.
College Visits
A prospective baseball player’s senior year places more limitations on the student than the previous year. A high school senior baseball player is permitted to make five official visits to a single college. A visit is considered an official visit when the educational institution pays the expenses of the prospective student and his family to make the visit. Expenses include transportation to and from the college, three meals a day, three complimentary tickets to home athletic competitions, boarding for the time spent visiting the college and other entertainment expenses. Official visits do not start until the prospective athlete’s first day of his senior year.
National Letter of Intent
The prospective student athlete signs a National Letter of Intent when he determines which school he plans to attend. The National Letter of Intent is an official, binding contract that states the student will attend a specific educational institutions. The letter also claims that the student is eligible for financial aid for a minimum of the single academic year the student athlete has agreed to enroll. Colleges that participate in the National Letter of Intent (NLI) program are in violation of the NLI program if they try to recruit a student athlete once he signs the nation letter of intent with another school.
Baseball players have two time periods during which they can sign the National Letter of Intent. The first period, also called the early period, is from November 11-18. The second time, or the regular period, is from April 14 through August 1.
Tags: prospective student, Letter Intent, National Letter, National Letter Intent, prospective baseball