By Sonny Mulpuri & Billy Steigelman
North Pointe
Grosse Pointe North HS
1st Place
Division 2, News Writing
Sports News Story
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is known for its superior athletic standards but has recently started to expect the same level of performance from its athletes in the classroom. The organization has a new eligibility rule for Division I-bound athletes to have at least 16 core classes, but there’s a catch.
Some classes don’t meet the NCAA’s core class requirements, which can potentially shape the types of classes high school athletes sign up for.
Freshman Julia Ayrault would like to play Division I women’s basketball, but knows that this rule is important to follow if she wants to play.
“It makes students have to do well academically as well as in their sport so overall I think it’s a good rule,” Ayrault said.
To play at a Division I school, athletes need a total of 10 core class credits: four English credits, three math credits (Algebra 1 and higher), two science credits and one ad-ditional credit of any of those three subjects. Other requirements are two social science credits, two foreign language credits and four additional credits of any core classes.
This core class minimum for athletes isn’t the same for students not pursuing collegiate athletics. Several different English courses, that would count towards the required four credits needed to graduate, like Film Liturature, would not count towards an athlete’s 10 credits.
Essentially, athletes around the country will have the same number of credit hours and same type of coursework if they want to go out of state and compete in college, setting a standard. For a class to be considered as a core credit, it must be received as a graduation credit and should lead into a prep course an athlete can take in college.
Athletic director Brian Shelson said the purpose of the new regulation is to help keep the classes consistent for all student athletes around the country.
“It helps level out the playing field for people from different places,” Shelson said. “So people can’t take a bunch of classes that don’t count for the core and get all A’s versus a student that has to take more difficult classes.”
While Ayrault is aware of this rule, senior rower Emily Truss, who is committed to the University of Tulsa, was not aware and believes the NCAA shouldn’t put limits on the classes athletes can take.
“I think you should be able to take what-ever classes you want because you don’t know what you will want to do in the future,” Truss said.
Boys cross country coach Diane Montgomery, who has coached a handful of college-bound runners, hasn’t encountered the rule. However, she said that student athletes’ transcripts should be treated the same as those for regular students.
“I don’t think it is very fair,” Montgomery said. “I think that any classes that count for credits under core classes should count for everyone.”
Unlike the NCAA, the Grosse Pointe Public School District holds students to a minimum of 24 credits to graduate from high school. This includes elective subjects such as fine arts, technology and physical education, which are some of the examples of classes that the NCAA doesn’t count as a core credit.
An athlete who simply follows the necessary core classes provided by the district of four credits of math and English, three for science and social studies and two for a world language would easily be able to complete the requirements of the NCAA.
Freshman Chad Lorkowski has always wanted to play Division I baseball. While he is currently taking many different kinds of classes such as physical education and cooking, Lorkowski knows he must be-come more focused on his core classes in the future to be able to continue his base-ball career.
“I’ll start taking classes that aren’t as flat like cooking so I can make sure that I get the certain credits for main classes that you have to get,” Lorkowski said.
The rule has more impact on current day student athletes trying to play a sport in college than ever before.
Times have changed since Shelson was in college, when there was no rule affecting sports competitors. He knows that nowadays, colleges look at athletes’ abilities to both play on the court and perform in the classroom.
“I think it helps the athlete, and it helps the college because now you have to play your sport, but you also have to be a good student while meeting the NCAA requirement, which will help the future of not only the colleges, but the student-athletes themselves.”