How to Register Your Homeschooled Athlete with the NCAA

I should have known. From the time the child could sit up, he wanted to roll a ball back and forth. This quickly progressed to throwing the ball at every opportunity. When a little brother was born two years later, a built-in teammate and competitor arrived. The moment the boys were old enough, they spent as much time as possible playing backyard wiffle ball. When we began homeschooling, every lunch was followed by a heated game. The love of the game was innate. It carried through the elementary, middle, and high school years, so it was no surprise when the talk of playing college baseball began. The one surprise, however, was that as a homeschooler we had some paperwork to complete in order for our son to play baseball at the DI or DII level. 

If your student wants to play college sports at the DI or DII level, it is important to know the eligibility requirements. Let me share with you how to register your student with the NCAA. Let’s start by defining our terms:

• NCAA - National Collegiate Athletic Association

• DI and DII - Division I and Division II Schools - These are the schools that have the premier athletic programs. They will have the most scholarship money, the most media coverage, and they will be training their athletes 20-30 hours per week. 

There is not a specific homeschool curriculum that you have to use to meet NCAA D1 requirements, however you do have to complete sixteen core courses which must be completed within eight consecutive semesters beginning freshman year. The core courses include:

• 4 English

• 3 Math

• 2 Science

• 1 additional from either English, Math, or Science

• 2 Social Studies

• 4 in either Philosophy, Comparative Religions, or World Languages

Your student must maintain a 2.3 or above in these core courses. 

If your student is expressing any interest in playing college sports, even their freshman year of high school is not too early to create a free profile page account. You can do that here. Once your student is being actively recruited by a DI or DII school, then you will transition the free profile page account to the appropriate certification account. This is explained here. You will then begin working through the tasklist which includes a transcript. 

This process might seem overwhelming, but we are here for you! If you need help organizing your records, developing a transcript, and preparing course descriptions for the core course worksheets, ask us about our one-on-one advising service. We’ve been through this process and are happy to help you navigate it as well. 

All of the work will be worth it when you watch your student fulfill their childhood dream.