Mainland Eagles Academy US College Recruiting Update

Firstly we would like congratulate and celebrate the signings of Helen Matthews (Wofford College) and Tom Webley (Hartford University) on Thursday with them signing on the first day of the late basketball signing period.  This has been the result of a lot of hard work for both of them in the classroom and outside of the classroom to create these opportunities.  We are continuing to work with our Mainland Eagles ’20 recruits and we are looking forward to making some more college signing announcements over the next couple of weeks.

For our Mainland Eagles Academy athletes and families below is a quick update on the Mainland Eagles Academy US College recruiting process for those athletes interested in pursuing this pathway.

We also wanted to provide an update on the impact of the COVID-19 situation on US college recruiting.  Please feel free to reach out for any questions or guidance. 

Mainland Eagles Academy Recruiting Process-

For our Mainland Eagles Academy Performance athletes we are currently creating a website profile for each player like we have for the 2020 recruits.  This will be updated over time with highlight video’s and college recruiting academic information such as GPA conversion and SAT score.  For all Mainland Eagles Academy Advanced athletes we will provide US college recruiting education, guidance and advice.  Please contact Caleb with any questions.  Please respond to Nakita’s requests for academic information, game footage and photo’s to help with this process.  Please see below links to both the Mainland Eagles Academy athlete benefits and the Mainland Eagles US College Recruiting Process.

Mainland Eagles Academy College Recruiting Process – https://mainlandeagles.com/college-recruitment/

Mainland Eagles Academy Athlete Benefits – https://mainlandeagles.com/athlete-benefits/

NCAA COVID-19 Waiver-

The NCAA announced on Saturday that they are introducing an initial eligibility waiver for all entering freshman for the 2020 recruiting class.  This includes waiving the SAT test score and lessening the core class requirements.  Note this is only applicable for the 2020 recruiting class.  This will make no difference to athletes who are already NCAA academically eligible or athletes who have already signed.  For athletes who were previously academically in-eligible this waiver could now mean they are NCAA Division 1 & Division 2 eligible.  These athletes will need to register with the NCAA Eligibility Centre and email NZQA Record of Learning and Year 9 & 10 School reports to the NCAA Eligibility Centre for determination.  The NCAA Eligibility Centre is now allowing these documents to be emailed to them to speed up the determination process.  A full update from the NCAA can be seen in the link below.

NCAA COVID-19 Waiver Announcement – http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/eligibility_center/COVID-19_Public.pdf?fbclid=IwAR0nPvf676EylPlIklqX41Ws9BbSu3d5OEZ4AGB1-KGwyvr_EaOIhgfOnFQ

SAT Test-

Due to the COVID-19 situation all SAT tests are currently cancelled.  Due to this College Board are going to announce more available tests throughout the rest of 2020 and beginning of 2021.  The plan is for SAT Tests to begin again in August with test registration beginning on a date in May.  The registration and test dates have not been announced yet.  We will let you know as soon as these dates are set.  Please see College Board announcement below about SAT Testing.

College Board SAT Test Announcement – https://pages.collegeboard.org/sat-covid-19-updates?excmpid=FB-ED-CB-1

2020 Signee’s & US College Returners, University Start Date & Student Visa’s-

For athletes who have signed for 2020 and were expecting to arrive for Summer School in June/July or start the Fall Semester in August it can be an uncertain time with University campuses closed and current travel restrictions. Individual states and the NCAA will make decisions over the next couple of weeks on whether Universities within their State will be able to open for summer school (June/July, 2020).  This will be a State by State and NCAA decision so each University and athlete’s situation could be different.  While we wait for the State and NCAA’s decisions, it is looking likely that the earliest start date will be the Fall Semester in August for most if not all States.  We are staying in close communication with the Universities to determine when SEVIS #’s will be ready, US Consulates open for visa applications and travel restrictions lifted.  We will keep you updated once we have more information.