Eligibility to Play : Hurdle, or Roadblock?

So far, I've briefly discussed the physiological issues I have had to contend with, as well as some of the neurological, and neurobehavioral issues I've had to deal with on top of that.  These issues contribute to making my run down the road to rugby fitness a little more difficult in their own ways.  Whether it be my ability to stay motivated and focused, or my tendency to tire out a little easier, these issues are but another speed bump I have to cross if I want to succeed.  There is, however, a separate issue that I will be facing, which provides its own hurdles to jump over.  This issue has less to do with me, than it does with policies that govern eligibility for playing competitively, as part of a college team.  To be a bit more concise, my issue is not so much with these policies, but with the unknown of whether USA Rugby would be flexible enough to take my circumstances into consideration should I need to apply for a waiver just to be able to play. 

In the U.S, competitive rugby falls under the jurisdiction of USA Rugby - irrespective of if the team is a high school team, a college team, or a team that was formed outside of academic circles.  For college teams, USA Rugby models itself similarly to the NCAA with regards to having an "eligibility clock."  Essentially, starting from a point in time, you have only a certain number of semesters within which you are eligible to play.  Specific numbers depend on what sports you play, and what organization's jurisdiction that falls under.  For USA Rugby, "eligibility is a seven-year window that begins in the academic year immediately following a player’s high school graduation date during which a player may not participate more than five seasons."² You can, if circumstances allow, request a waiver, but there are guidelines that determine if an appeal will be successful or not.

Maybe my Google™-fu is failing, but I had trouble finding a specific, official statement as to the purpose of this eligibility clock.  The closest guess I could ascertain, however, was concern about a team having an advantage over others.  This alone seems fair, but can become problematic if the decision making on appeals related to eligibility matters are too rigid, as there is a chance that  Granted, if they are too loose, there could be a host of problems as well, but I feel like there are a lot of people out there who are in positions similar to mine, who could find a passion in rugby and could go try it - even succeed in it - but can't either because the circumstances are not substantial enough to get an exception to the rules, or because the rigidity is off-putting, and viewed as not worth trying to challenge.

I've been in college for a fairly long time, its time becoming dragged out for a multitude of reasons.  I started going to college in the fall of 2007, upon graduating high school.  I enrolled at a state university, as a full time student.¹  3 semesters later, I dropped out due to extremely severe depression stemming from the stresses I was under at the time.  The summer following my departure, I enrolled at Westchester Community College to study computer science.  There, I was a full-time student, taking 9-10 credits per semester.¹  Unfortunately, between academic issues, and continuous "oops, you need these classes to graduate" moments, my time there was stretched out from the 2 years that it should have been, to approximately 4 years.  I graduated in the spring of 2013 with an Associate in Science (A.S.) degree in computer science, then took a couple of years off, during which I tried to explore potential career opportunities.  It wasn't long, however, before I got the yearning to continue on, and finish what I had started.  During the spring semester of 2016, I enrolled at Iona College.  I only took one course, with the intent of easing my way back into an academic lifestyle.  The following semester - this past semester, rather, crippling depression nearly ruined my chances of continuing my education.  Fortunately, my circumstances were such where I was able to appeal being dismissed.  I am now on medication for depression, and feel a sense of motivation, and well being I haven't felt in many, many years.

This seems like quite a bit of rambling, but my point in going through my academic career is to emphasize the complex circumstances that can make what seems like a straightforward path really shows itself as a very windy road.  When you couple this with the physiological, and neurological, issues that I have had to contend with, I (at least) have difficulty seeing how my pushing for eligibility would create an advantage for the Gaels.  Maybe someone can think of a reason as to why my efforts would fail, currently, however, I am drawing blanks.

I hope I can be be optimistic, thinking that maybe USA Rugby is level-headed about extenuating circumstances, I don't know though.  My doubtful, pessimistic outlook comes from seeing changes that one could argue as "common sense" took some time (and negative press) to implement on their end.  For example, did you know that before 2015, those who left college to serve in the military would have had to live with their clock time being completely expired when they returned to college>³  From what research I could gather up, it became an issue in 2013, two years before they realized "oh damn, maybe this sort of rigidity needs some exceptions for those circumstances."  I am by no means comparing myself to those people, by the way, what they do takes more bravery than I can muster.  I was using it only as an example of how slow progress can take.

Enough about me, though.  As I said before, there might be a lot of people who have similar stories to mine, there might be people who have had their own stories that, while very different, all have the same underlying theme in that they want to participate in college sports, were unable to for unique circumstances, and feel like eligibility might become an issue - and I get that we want teams on an even playing field, that is not a bad thing.  There just needs to be more flexibility to it all.  Whether I will need to put in an uphill fight or not, whether my circumstances seem extenuating enough, have yet to be seen - I just hope that this issue of eligibility won't completely shut me out of my dream to play some form of college sport.

Notes:
¹ Full time students at 4 year schools are often students who take 12 or more credits per semester.  In community colleges, the minimum needed to be considered "full time" can be lower.  At Westchester Community College, for instance, 9-12 credits is considered "full time," and 6 or fewer credits is considered "part time."

² USA Rugby College Eligibility FAQ [PDF]

³ USA Rugby Pilots new Military College Eligibility Rule (October 14th, 2015)

Why Club Sports?

When it comes to college sports, there are a lot of option, something for everyone if you will, from the casual enthusiast, to those who seek out the prestige of playing in Division 1 sports (irrespective of whether going pro is a goal to them or not), to those who want something a little more in between.

You can break down these different levels of college sports into 3 categories:

Intramural:

Intramural sports are a way to allow anyone attending a college to play some form of sport.  They are played with teams formed within the walls of an institution, and do not compete against other schools.  You could look at intramural sports as the most casual level of college sports.

Varsity Sports:
Often considered the The "Big Cheese," so to speak, there are actually many layers to this category.  You have your Division I NCAA athletes, the highest level of competitive play under the NCAA, often full of those who on top of wanting to play competitively, aspire for greater things afterwards (like playing professionally, or even competing in the Olympics).  These are the athletics that bring money into schools, garner the most attention in the media.  These teams compete regionally, and nationally, against other institutions, and work their hardest to be the best.  They have the most rigorous schedules, and sets of guidelines - and also the most visibility.  There are also Division II, and III NCAA athletics, which are often distinguished by smaller budgets, less public exposure compared to Division I athletics, and as a result, an increased ability to balance college and athletics on the part of athletes.  It is considerably rarer to get full scholarships as a Division II athlete, and impossible as a Division II athlete, though athletes in these 2 divisions can get some form of assistance for part of their tuition.  Iona College is a Division I school, meaning their teams all play in NCAA's Division I category.

Club Sports:
Club sports are sports that are intercollegiate in nature - teams compete against other schools, either regionally, nationally, or both.  Their budget, however, is often far, far smaller than that of a varsity team.  Some of the funding might come from their host school, but often club sports have to fend for themselves, and raise a lot of the money for equipment, uniforms, and transportation on their own.  In a sense, you could look at club sports as "any competitive, intercollegiate sport that is not operated under NCAA jurisdiction."  For example, men's rugby in American colleges falls under the jurisdiction of USA Rugby.

'Why did I choose to play a club sport?' you might be wondering.  Between the statement that could be made by pursuing varsity sports (given the issues I've had to overcome), and the prestige associated with varsity sports, you'd think that playing in a varsity sport would be worth pursuing.  There are a few factors, however, that make me lean towards club sports over varsity sports besides the fact that men's rugby is considered a club sport.

1. Time Dedication
It is no secret that varsity athletes work hard, especially Div. 1 athletes.  So hard that the NCAA limits their time playing, and practicing, to approximately 20 hours a week, or 4 hours per working day.  This eats away a lot of time that could be dedicated to studying for classes, leisure, and necessities like eating, and sleeping.  Additionally, practice schedules can create issues in so far as class availability, and scheduling.

In contrast, many club sports meet for about half that time, or 2 hours a day, for a total of 10 hours a week.  Some club sports meet for less time than that.  As a result, those who participate in club sports have more time to dedicate towards academic success, compared to those who are in varsity sports.  For someone like me, who is still working on improving time management, and sometimes finds dis tractability an issue, the additional free time also makes it less stressful to plan out my time.  Finally, the lower amount of time dedicated to practicing per day makes the prospect of registering for the next semester/s classes less odious, as I have considerably greater flexibility regarding the times of day when I can take class compared to someone playing in a varsity sport.


2. Entry Overhead
When I use the term "overhead," I mean the amount of preparation I would need learning about a sport, as well as getting in the exercise and conditioning needed to prepare myself to play.  This would be increased if I expressed interest in a varsity sport, versus a club sport, at least partially from the increased rigor needed.  The other part of this increased overhead, I feel, is driven by next factor, which I call "competitiveness in entry."

3. Competitiveness in Entry
This is probably not the best name for a factor, but maybe it won't sound so bad once I elaborate.  Usually, club sports don't require prior experience, and are open to people who want to try their hand at a sport, irrespective of if they have had much experience at it.  On the other hand, while it is not outright impossible to join a varsity team without any form of repertoire, the odds are much more slim.  At least part of this, I feel stems from the fact that at tryouts you'll often be competing for a spot against those who have played on teams in the past (whether at prior colleges, in high school, et cetera), people who never had to contend with the physiological issues I've had to deal with.

4. It is still competitive
Club sports still compete against other schools, and still have that sense of commitment that you need to play on a team, and you can still feel like you're a part of something bigger than yourself.  For example, USA Rugby has divisions for collegiate rugby, with Division 1-A being the highest level of competitive play for college rugby in the U.S, 1-AA being the second highest, and Division III being the bottom division.  Apparently, there was a Division IV from 2006 to 2011.

There is a perception I have noticed on the internet, as well as in media, that seems to go along the lines of "Div I NCAA or bust," where anything other than NCAA Div. I athletics is not competitive, or not worth the time.  This is absurd, because it ignores that there are many levels of competitiveness.  It also ignores that some sports that are considered club sports are not available as a Division I sport - like golf, or rugby.  I will not go into a rant about the perception about club sports, as that is not the goal of this particular post, but it is a matter I do want to talk about at some point in the future.