Has anyone ever signed a "Certificate of Intent", not a letter of intent or National letter of intent?
Signing question
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Here's a link to information regarding the NCAA "National Letter of Intent" National Letter of Intent Home Page - it may help answer your question
Maybe the "Certificate of Intent" is the nomenclature used by other bodies e.g. NAIA or JUCO
Maybe the "Certificate of Intent" is the nomenclature used by other bodies e.g. NAIA or JUCO
I should have asked in the form of a "trivia question". But google takes the fun out of it.
I had no idea about a "certificate of intent" for a D1 school until last night. And thought I'd share my new acquired information and a "twist" of recruitment that blew my mind.
So we are at one of the family Christmas parties and we get to talking about how recruiting has changed over the years and how each process is different from D1 to Juco. From personal introduction to unofficial/official visits, $$$ offers, facilities, educational value.
NCAA and D1 trivia part: ( remember I had no clue either, just sharing now )
So I asked my youngest nephew first, why I didn't see him signing in the paper and second, why I don't see him listed on the college site of 2013 signees? He replied that he had signed earlier in the fall. So I'm sitting there thinking, no way he could outside the NCAA dates. ( our family can be clowns sometimes ) So he said "I can sign anytime uncle Al because I'm better than you and dad were". So about the time I got up and had my hands around his throat, "he said let me explain".
The Air Force Academy in Colorado had came to watch him pitch at a premier BB exposure in Alabama. And recruited him from there. They flew him to Colorado for his official visit, and then the recruiting changes with NCAA rules.
The AFA doesn't offer scholarships, if you get excepted its a "full ride" education for everyone valued at $400,000. But because the college works by a rigorous and long "appointment" process, the NCAA has different guidelines for them. That's where the "certificate of intent" comes in.
( Many high school student-athletes will participate in signing days and appear to sign a National Letter of Intent with the Air Force Academy, but they are actually signing a Certificate of Intent which is a non-binding agreement that signifies an athlete's commitment to follow through with the appointment process and allows them to participate in signing day for publicity purposes. The Academy is a non-scholarship institution and doesn't use the National Letter of Intent, as most civilian schools do. )
Twist: And we think recruiting is hard for our DD's.
After the 48 hour official visit nephew had to write 3 "life" essays. One of his early life, second what he can do and expect out of the AFA, and third his adult life after.
He then had to pass the physical requiments. A scheduled meeting with an officer for 2 hours after school. Timed running, pushups, ladders, sit ups, etc.
Then a SURPRIZE unscheduled visit by another officer at school for 3 hours of "mental evaluation".
They do a thorough background check on all family members.
He MUST be appointed by a sitting member of Congress, he had his meeting 2 weeks ago with Congressman Blackburn. About an hour interview.
The AFA excepts less than 11% of applicants, gets to play D1 sports, offers an Ivy League education, and is ranked #7 nationally in acedemics as a whole, and ranked #2 in athletic acedemics in the nation behind Stanford.
We talked about this a few months ago in another post, if you are injured or suffer a traumatic injury playing sports you stay in the AFA until graduation and it's still "free".
There is my sharing of the Certificate of intent.
I had no idea about a "certificate of intent" for a D1 school until last night. And thought I'd share my new acquired information and a "twist" of recruitment that blew my mind.
So we are at one of the family Christmas parties and we get to talking about how recruiting has changed over the years and how each process is different from D1 to Juco. From personal introduction to unofficial/official visits, $$$ offers, facilities, educational value.
NCAA and D1 trivia part: ( remember I had no clue either, just sharing now )
So I asked my youngest nephew first, why I didn't see him signing in the paper and second, why I don't see him listed on the college site of 2013 signees? He replied that he had signed earlier in the fall. So I'm sitting there thinking, no way he could outside the NCAA dates. ( our family can be clowns sometimes ) So he said "I can sign anytime uncle Al because I'm better than you and dad were". So about the time I got up and had my hands around his throat, "he said let me explain".
The Air Force Academy in Colorado had came to watch him pitch at a premier BB exposure in Alabama. And recruited him from there. They flew him to Colorado for his official visit, and then the recruiting changes with NCAA rules.
The AFA doesn't offer scholarships, if you get excepted its a "full ride" education for everyone valued at $400,000. But because the college works by a rigorous and long "appointment" process, the NCAA has different guidelines for them. That's where the "certificate of intent" comes in.
( Many high school student-athletes will participate in signing days and appear to sign a National Letter of Intent with the Air Force Academy, but they are actually signing a Certificate of Intent which is a non-binding agreement that signifies an athlete's commitment to follow through with the appointment process and allows them to participate in signing day for publicity purposes. The Academy is a non-scholarship institution and doesn't use the National Letter of Intent, as most civilian schools do. )
Twist: And we think recruiting is hard for our DD's.
After the 48 hour official visit nephew had to write 3 "life" essays. One of his early life, second what he can do and expect out of the AFA, and third his adult life after.
He then had to pass the physical requiments. A scheduled meeting with an officer for 2 hours after school. Timed running, pushups, ladders, sit ups, etc.
Then a SURPRIZE unscheduled visit by another officer at school for 3 hours of "mental evaluation".
They do a thorough background check on all family members.
He MUST be appointed by a sitting member of Congress, he had his meeting 2 weeks ago with Congressman Blackburn. About an hour interview.
The AFA excepts less than 11% of applicants, gets to play D1 sports, offers an Ivy League education, and is ranked #7 nationally in acedemics as a whole, and ranked #2 in athletic acedemics in the nation behind Stanford.
We talked about this a few months ago in another post, if you are injured or suffer a traumatic injury playing sports you stay in the AFA until graduation and it's still "free".
There is my sharing of the Certificate of intent.
Congrats to your nephew, you forgot to tack on to that after playing 4 years he gets the honor of serving his country as an officer in the US Air Force for 4 to 6 years.
Hopefully he understands and I'm sure it was made really clear to him that his is really a calling to a profession of arms and not just a free ride to play ball. Getting into a service academy is a grueling process even playing a "sport" you still can't cut any corners as far as grades, scores and personal character.
I did not go to the Academy but am a retired Air Force Officer so I spent my career around folks from the Academy hopefully your nephew has a great time, plus Colorado Springs will do wonders for the distance on his fly balls, it is actually higher than Denver; it's a great place (I was stationed there 5 years) but he won't get to hang out in town too much.
Hopefully he understands and I'm sure it was made really clear to him that his is really a calling to a profession of arms and not just a free ride to play ball. Getting into a service academy is a grueling process even playing a "sport" you still can't cut any corners as far as grades, scores and personal character.
I did not go to the Academy but am a retired Air Force Officer so I spent my career around folks from the Academy hopefully your nephew has a great time, plus Colorado Springs will do wonders for the distance on his fly balls, it is actually higher than Denver; it's a great place (I was stationed there 5 years) but he won't get to hang out in town too much.
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Thanks for the insight David. The academy is new territory for us, but I'm proud of him for taking on the challenge.
And he gets a big ole ring to wear, forever!
