It’s that time again: students are being checked for eligibility for sports and other activities. But this process can cause confusion. What exactly do you have to do to be eligible? Why are some students being told they can’t compete?

Mike Beaton, activities coordinator at South, has some reminders for students who want to participate in sports or other activities such as forensics or competitive music. “South follows the NDHSAA main by laws,” Beaton said. “These include academic eligibility: students need to be passing at least five classes at the time of the eligibility check. They also cannot be over the age of twenty years old, and must complete high school in four consecutive years.”

One of the lesser-known eligibility rules is the transfer aspect. If you transfer schools for sports or activities, you and all residents of your household must physically move into the boundary of the school you’re attending to be immediately eligible. Otherwise, you must play for one full year or two consecutive semesters to be checked for eligibility for the next school year.

Also, students are not allowed to participate in a club team during a season. For example, if you are on a club basketball team outside of school, you can’t compete on a school team. Following this same thread, the school basketball team would not be allowed to attend a basketball camp during the season.

All these rules are the same for homeschooled students, who sometimes compete through a public school and do some or all of their academics at home. As for foreign exchange students, there is one catch: Some countries have students graduate earlier than American schools. If a student is sixteen years old, for example, but has already graduated from their home country, they may not come to the U.S. and participate in sports or other activities that fall under the NDHSAA regulations.

Eligibility checks occur every 3 weeks. If a student is not eligible, they must sit out of all competitions until the next check. There are exceptions, of course, but these are the general rules.

The biggest thing, Beaton said, is to just talk to your activity’s coordinator if you have questions. “[They] will know the ins and outs, so if you have questions, please speak to them,” said Beaton.