Page 270 - 2019-20 NJCAA Handbook - May, 2020

Case 4
Recertification Scenarios – When to Recertify for the Second Term for a Two-Term Sport

All athletes remain eligible from the fall.
~ Recertify the team prior to participation in the first contest outside of the 20 calendar days after the term.

All athletes who participated during the fall are all eligible for the spring and ineligible athletes who did not participate in the fall
but have become eligible for the spring term.
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~ If you are adding these athletes before the 20 calendar day after the end of the fall term, the entire team must be
recertified for the spring term at the same time. Those athletes completing a probationary period can be added once their
terms of the probation are completed.
~ If you are adding these athletes after the 20 calendar day after the end of the fall term, then you must certify that athlete
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on a spring term eligibility form and recertify the remainder of the team prior to participation in the first contest outside of
the 20 calendar days after the term.

There are ineligible athletes from the fall who cannot play during spring term and there are no new athletes to add for the spring
term.
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~ Ineligible athletes may participate during the next 20 calendar days following the end of the fall term. On the 21 calendar
day those ineligible athletes may not continue participating.
~ Recertify the remainder of the team prior to participation in the first contest outside of the 20 calendar days after the term.
~ Student-Athletes who become ineligible may resume participation once they regain their eligibility and are submitted online.

There are ineligible athletes from the fall who cannot play during spring term and newly eligible athletes to be added for the
spring term (2 different scenarios):
1. If you allow ineligible athletes to participate for the 20 calendar days following the end of the fall term, you may not allow
the newly eligible athletes to participate during those 20 calendar days. If you choose this scenario, the ineligible athletes
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must cease participation on the 21 calendar day and the newly eligible athletes can be added anytime on or after this 21
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calendar day on a spring eligibility form. These athletes must be certified prior to participation.
** The remaining team members must be recertified prior to participation in the first contest outside of the 20 calendar days
after the term.
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2. If you choose to exchange the ineligible athletes for the newly eligible athletes before the 20 calendar day after the end of
the fall term, the remainder of the team must be recertified for the spring term at the same time. The exchange of these
athletes must occur on the same day. Ineligible and newly eligible athletes cannot be participating at the same time.

Case 5
Recertification – Two-Term Sports – Officially Posted Grades
SITUATION:
When determining eligibility for the spring term for basketball, what grades should Community College A use? Can letters
from teachers containing the student-athletes’ grades suffice or are official posted grades necessary?
ANSWER:
Community College A must wait until official grades from the registrar’s office are posted prior to determining and
submitting eligibility for the basketball team for the spring term. Only those grades from the registrar’s office are official.
(Please refer to the Recertification section in Section 3.B.2.b for when to submit for the second term of a two-term sport.) A
letter from the teacher stating the student-athletes grade is not sufficient for NJCAA eligibility purposes.

Case 6
Recertification – Precedence
SITUATION:
Once the recertification process has taken place and that recertification took place within the 20 calendar day window
following the end of the fall term, may student-athletes who were eligible in the fall term but will not be eligible in the spring term
continue to participate for 20 calendar days beyond the end of the fall term even though recertification has taken place?
ANSWER:
Once recertification has been completed that eligibility supersedes any and all previous eligibility submissions. The
students listed on the recertification are the only student-athletes eligible for participation at that time. The previous fall
certification becomes null and void.

Non-Participation Form
Case 1
The Purpose of the Non-Participation Form
SITUATION:
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What is the purpose of the Non-Participation Form that is required to be completed online with a deadline of July 1 for
each academic year?
ANSWER:
Submitting the information for all participants and non-participants online for each sport season every year will create a
database of all student-athletes who have been submitted on the NJCAA Eligibility System. Therefore, member colleges and
the National Office can search for this information to know which student-athletes have participated and have not participated
within the NJCAA.
Case 2