College Sport Divisions NCAA I NCAA II and NAIA

COLLEGE DIVISIONS AND SPORT LEAGUES

Instead of playing a sport in a club with club leagues, where you can ascend or descend to another level based on performance, the amateur competitive sports in the US are mostly played in College Leagues, within which the universities are divided into four different divisions in up to 30 different sports.

The main factor determining in which division a college competes, are the size of the university and the number of sponsored sports, not the individual teams’ performance.

The NCAA houses three of the four college leagues under one roof. The NCAA I is the largest and also strongest division, in which the biggest universities play. There is an age limit of 24 in the NCAA I.

Smaller colleges and universities play in the NCAA II, and the range of ability is also somewhat bigger here. In contrast to the NCAA I, there is no age limit, however, there is a limit on how many semesters you are allowed to compete. In addition to this, one should avoid "gap years" in between the high school graduation and the start of studies.

Universities in the NCAA III do not award scholarships like universities in the other divisions, but there are still coached teams at your disposal. The NCAA III is the weakest division.

The NCAA holds its own "Initial-Eligibility-Clearinghouse", which is responsible for the awarding of eligibilities. In order to be allowed to play in the NCAA I and II, you must have registered.

The level of performance in the NAIA is comparable to that of the NCAA II, although fewer sports are offered in the NAIA.

Because the divisions are sorted according to factors other than performance, as mentioned above, the strength of teams within the divisions vary considerably.

For example, the top teams in the NCAA II are usually better than teams in the NCAA I with a lower rank.

Terminology and Information

NCAA:
stands for "National Collegiate Athletic Association".
http://www.ncaa.org

NAIA :
stands for "National Association of Intercollegeiate Athletics".
http://www.naia.org

NCAA-Clearinghouse
www.ncaaclearinghouse.net

collegiate / intercollegiate / varsity level:
This denotes those who compete with university sponsorship in the NCAA and NAIA, as opposed to

intramural level:
Competition on a voluntary basis. These teams do not belong to the NCAA or the NAIA. These free time sports are usually organised by the student themselves.

Scholarship-Ticker

Value of Scholarship-Offers
for our Clients in
the Year 2009/2010

over 20.400.000 US$

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