The Landscape

Chapters

1. 1. What the NCAA is, and what it isn'tThe NCAA is a membership association of schools, not a regulator or an employer. Almost every confusing thing about eligibility follows from that one fact.3 min
2. 2. What each division actually isDivision I — the highest level of NCAA competition.2 min
3. 3. Division I's three subdivisionsDivision I is not one thing, and the distinction is invisible to most families.2 min
4. 4. Division by the numbersThree numbers describe each division: how many schools it has, how big those schools are, and what share of all NCAA athletes compete in it.2 min
5. 5. Division II's twelve stated differentiatorsDivision II publishes a list it calls the Distinguishing Dozen.2 min
6. 6. Sponsored sports, seasons, and what "sponsored" means for youA school only recruits in the sports it sponsors. Checking that before you build a target list saves an embarrassing amount of wasted effort.3 min
7. 7. Emerging sports for women: the pathway to championship statusA structured route by which a sport grows toward a full NCAA championship — and a genuine opportunity window for athletes who arrive early.3 min
8. 8. Water polo in collegeHow college water polo works, and where the programs are.3 min
9. 9. Adaptive and para-college athletics pathwaysCollege competition for athletes with disabilities exists across several structures. It is genuinely harder to find information about, which is most of the problem.3 min
10. 10. Outside the NCAA: the associations nobody tells you aboutThe NCAA is one of several college athletics associations. For a very large number of athletes, one of the others is the better answer.3 min
11. 11. The NAIA: a genuinely different systemAround 250 schools, its own eligibility center, its own academic standard, and recruiting rules far looser than the NCAA's. For many athletes it is the better route.3 min
12. 12. The real size of the college universeThere are far more colleges, and far more of them play sports, than the schools you can name. That arithmetic is the most useful thing in this module.3 min
13. 13. How the rules actually change, and why last year's advice expiresCollege athletics rules are legislated by the member schools and they move constantly. Knowing how gives you a way to tell current advice from stale advice.3 min
14. 14. Three divisions, two governance modelsLesson 1.7 asks how governance changes rules and why last year's advice expires.2 min
15. 15. The disruption layer: what is changing right nowCollege athletics is in the middle of the largest structural change in its history. Four moving pieces, and what each one means for a family making decisions.3 min
16. 16. The odds, honestlyAbout 7% of high school athletes go on to compete in the NCAA. The number is worth knowing, and so is the reason it is less discouraging than it sounds.3 min