Sponsor's & Scholarships ?

[gymmomntc2e6]

In this tight economy I am sure I am not the only one working on ways to allow my gymmie to continue doing what she enjoys while still paying the other bills !!

I have read somewhere on here that if a child has sponsors that this would make them not eligible for NCAA scholarship later on.

I am trying to find out more about this.

If I were to find a local sponsor for my 8 yr old. And in 1o yrs she was still in gymnastics and trying to get a college scholarship - would this prevent her from doing so?

It is hard to imaging that something done at the age of 8 could keep you from getting a college scholarship - when you don't even know at that age if you will still be doing the same sport.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Billy]

I have heard the same thing and even went and researched the NCAA eligibility rules online. From the best I can interpret, any type of sponsorship (getting "paid" for gymnastics) is a big no-no. Although, part of the wording made me think it really only applied to girls in high school but I can't remember. I'm curious about this too, so hopefully someone who knows will post.

 

[momof5]

My husband is a collegiate swim coach and deals with the NCAA rules all the time so I asked him to respond to this question for me.

NCAA rules do prohibit sponsorship or taking money for your child's athletic talent. If that was done, your daughter would be considered a professional and technically her eligibility to compete in college would be affected. I would stay clear of it if you think she might want to compete in college. Some club programs will pay certain competition fees to certain competitions if the athlete meets certain qualifications standards that are open to all people. If this waiving of fees was subject to all athletes who meet the same standards, it would probably be ok. It might be a better idea to get the entire team sponsored by a business rather than one individual athlete so that you don't run into problems with professionalism and eligibility to play in amateur sports. If a team is sponsored by a business or corporation, that would be looked at much differently by the NCAA than it would be if an individual was sponsored based on athletic talent. Hope that helps.