Campus Terminology – Athletics

Student-Athlete – A college student who is also a member of an intercollegiate athletics team sponsored by the institution. For convenience, it is often abbreviated S-A.

Prospective Student-Athlete – They are commonly referred to as a “recruit.” It is any high school student who has begun their freshman year and maintains that status until the first day of classes at an NCAA college/university or the first day of practices as part of an NCAA college/university athletic team, whichever comes first. For convenience, it is often abbreviated as PSA.

NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) – The NCAA is the collective of colleges and universities that have created the governing body and rules by which we agree to follow for S-As to compete. All colleges and universities that are part of the association make the rules, which they then vote on before they are enacted. The member schools create the rules. The national office of the NCAA is where the administering staff members work to help the member institutions maintain and oversee the policies the schools have chosen to create and follow.

Division II – The NCAA has three different divisions that it oversees, and schools choose which division they believe best fits their mission and the type of institution they are. Division I members are institutions that provide athletics scholarships to their S-As, and each team they sponsor has larger scholarship opportunities and commitments to their S-As than Division II institutions. Division II schools also provide athletics scholarships to their student-athletes, but the overall limits on what they can provide are reduced compared to Division I institutions. Division III institutions do not offer athletics scholarships, and their student-athletes receive the same financial aid support as all students attending those institutions. Rockhurst is a Division II institution.

GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference) – The GLVC is the athletics conference to which Rockhurst belongs. It is a smaller collective of Division II colleges and universities with which Rockhurst has partnered for scheduling purposes in all sports that Rockhurst sponsors.  This group of schools also determines the rules and guidelines we all agree to follow within this conference.

Eligibility – This refers to whether an S-A can participate in competitions against other teams. Typically, it relates to whether a S-A is academically eligible, but it can also refer to whether they are eligible under amateurism regulations. It also refers to the S-As window of time they are allowed to play at an NCAA institution. 

Academic Eligibility – This is the requirement to meet ongoing minimum criteria that a S-A must maintain throughout their career. It is defined by the NCAA with requirements for credit hours passed per semester, per year, and minimum cumulative GPA standards.

Amateurism Eligibility – The NCAA defines amateurism eligibility with standards that ensure that, before coming to an NCAA institution, you have not been a professional athlete and have not been paid to play your sport.  Also, once you’ve begun enrollment and participation at an NCAA institution, there are standards to ensure that you have not received impermissible benefits not allowed under NCAA bylaws.

Window of Eligibility – This refers to the amount of time a S-A is allowed to participate in athletics at an NCAA school. For Division II schools, the S-As are allowed to complete four seasons of competition (definition below) over 10 semesters of full-time enrollment. This is commonly referred to as the S-A's “clock” as it is the time each S-A has left to complete their playing career.

Eligibility Center – An entity operated by the NCAA that certifies all incoming PSAs meet minimum standards for initial academic eligibility to participate at an NCAA institution in their first year of enrollment. The entity also certifies that all incoming PSAs (high school seniors or junior college transfers or four-year college transfers) are certified for their amateurism eligibility.

Season of Competition – Each S-A is granted the ability to participate in four seasons of competition during their allowable window of eligibility.

Redshirt – This term is used interchangeably for two different opportunities to retain a season of competition. This can be used when an S-A simply does not play in any games against outside teams during one of their years, thus preserving one of their seasons of competition. The other “redshirt” scenario is when an S-A is injured during a season and asks if they can regain that season of competition due to the injury. This second “redshirt” is a medical hardship and has the qualifications to be granted one.

Medical Hardship – If a S-A is injured in the first half of their season and plays in a limited number of their games (30% or less of what they are allowed to play), and a doctor certifies that the injury prohibits the S-A from being able to compete in the remainder of their season, then with the proper documentation, the S-A will be granted the medical hardship to essentially not count that the S-A played in that year; thus, preserving the season of competition for the S-A.

Transfer Portal – The NCAA Transfer Portal is an online database of student-athletes who have notified their school that they wish to transfer to another NCAA institution, allowing other NCAA institutions to view the names of student-athletes seeking a new school to attend. An S-A must inform their institution by June 15th each year if they are going to transfer and request to be entered into the transfer portal.

N.I.L. (Name, Image, and Likeness) – The NCAA has granted S-As the opportunity to earn income utilizing their name, image, or likeness since they are an S-A. This was prohibited prior to rule changes in the summer before the 2021-22 academic year. If a S-A can arrange for income in exchange for services rendered (i.e. appear for autograph session; provide private lessons in their sport; promote a product via social media or other media outlets; create, market, and sell their own product; etc.), they can receive compensation for that work when not representing the institution (when they aren’t playing or practicing as a member of the institution’s team). An S-A must notify their institution of these opportunities for approval before accepting them to ensure they are fulfilling their agreement, while also not interfering with contracts the institution may have.

ARMS (also known as Teamworks Compliance) – An online service that helps the athletics department oversee compliance requirements, helps with team scheduling, and can serve as a communication option for athletics administrators and coaches. The original company, ARMS, was acquired by Teamworks to serve as their compliance oversight entity for a comprehensive athletics administrative system. We still just call it ARMS since it's easier.

Compliance – The area of Athletics oversight that deals with keeping to the NCAA and GLVC rules. Making sure the university is keeping accurate records to show proof of oversight and submitting notification to the NCAA administration when we do discover we have violated one of the rules would be examples of items that fall under the Compliance umbrella. Keeping track of which S-As are eligible to practice and play, as well as educating them on the rules they must follow, are additional items that are part of compliance responsibilities.