As per the multiple comments about USF's "appearance" at the NCPA Championships this past weekend, please read the following:
USF registered for Class A play and, due to 4 of the players eligibility issues, the team was bumped down to class AA.
The 4 players in question are as follows:
2 players with 6-9hrs for Spring that are graduating in the Summer. These students were not able to take the summer courses during the Spring. Because of USF's class offerings drying up due to big budget cuts, The only way for them to maintain a full-time (12 hr) semester would mean paying for an extra 3-6 hrs that do nothing but cost time+money that most people in this economy don't currently possess.
1 player was graduating in the summer as well. This player was enrolled in 9hrs of Masters level classes which would not be a problem for eligibility.
The last player was @ 10hrs after dropping a course.
Out of the 4 in question, only 1 was actually ineligible without extenuating circumstances because of the Prior semester's enrollment status.
I find it hard to believe that many teams did not get exceptions for Summer graduates playing the tournament since there are "supposedly" players getting clearance to participate after graduating in the Fall of the same academic calendar.
As the team checked in on Thursday, they brought the proper forms and the 4 players in question also brought a letter explaining their cases as per:
2.1.1.4. Have an exception from the NCPA President or CEO. Exemptions may be granted under certain circumstances, including
After the papers were turned in, they were told something to the affect of " waivers must be turned in prior to the event and they were not going to grant waivers to them at check-in".
At this point, players may use their "lifetime" exception which wasn't "unofficially" added to the rules until 02-16-2011, 09:19 PM.
This option was NOT offered to our team until we were already dropped into Class AA and I started working with Chris and his staff personally to make sure that no violations were taking place before USF would take the field.
link to "unofficial rule addition/change":
https://www.pbnation.com/showthread.p...+eligibilit y
At this point, 2 out of 4 players were given the options to use this method to compete ONLY in the class AA division. The statements that were given about "checking on the players eligibility to legally use this method would be checked the following work week and anything wrong with it would end with a full club suspension."
This comment was made clear and taken very seriously by both players. They needed to know, and be able to prove that they could meet ALL of these requirements:
- You've already played in the NCPA.
- You're playing on the same team you played on the last time
- You're enrolled in a degree program (you're admitted as a student, not just taking some classes)
- You have at least two full-time semesters at the school you're playing for (sorry, no Freshmen. That's also two semesters where the student was full-time, not two full-time semesters worth of credit.)
- You were enrolled full-time the previous semester (or on Co-Op or active duty or some such.)
You can begin to understand the choices facing players and why they decided not to risk the club with the vagueness of how "having 2 full-time semesters" yields difference in interpretation (enrollment/credit completion), the players not wanting to make a mistake that would put the club in jeopardy, and burning a one-use exception for Class AA play instead of A.
With all of this, there is, and never was any problem with the actual rules as we read prior to check in on Thursday. Things happen and sometimes people just don't think. It doesn't mean anything more than a mistake was made. All of the efforts made to adhere to the rules, as stated to us, where not officially written in the posted rules PDF, should have been more than ample to provide proof to show our desire for full compliance.
In almost 20 years in this sport, I have yet to see a team have to go through anything close to what this team dealt with only to be left with the choice of playing Class AA with ONLY 4 players or leaving the event and forfiting Class AA entrance fees after being told, you will have your money returned to the CC that was used to purchase it.
What happened was handled poorly and it reflects negativly upon our sport.
There isn't any need for further comments concering USF's organization and this situation by anyone.
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