Québec's CEGEP snafu, sort of (updated)

The NCAA, which classifies CEGEPs as high schools, changed its eligibility rules in August 2007. In a move that somehow eluded CEGEP athletic directors, academic advisers and coaches, the new NCAA rules require CEGEP students to graduate in two years instead of three.

Many students ... take three years to complete the requirements for a CEGEP diploma. — Montréal Gazette
This has been touched on at the dot-org. Quite understandably, there is a lot of uncertainty over what this means for the aspirations of Québec student-athletes in terms of opportunities to go south vs. playing in Canada. The understanding here is that it might lead to players having to sit out a season, or only having three years of NCAA eligibility instead of four. The image of someone being left high and dry with a half-done degree comes to mind, but that sounds more like fear-mongering.

It's unclear what this might lead to; everyone's got a theory. One would hope it would lead to more Québec athletes playing at Canadian schools, and maybe lead to more parity, especially in football with Laval and women's hockey with McGill.

Update ... a contact who follows the QSSF very closely has provided some clarity, pointing out this might create a "Québec double cohort" over the next couple years, as some athletes in their third year and some in their second might have their desirability to a NCAA school reduced. After this year, everyone should be able to plan accordingly.

Related:
CEGEP athletes hit speed bump on road to U.S.; NCAA's new eligibility requirements create barrier for Quebec students in elite sports programs (David Yates, Montréal Gazette, Nov. 27)
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5 comments:

  1. It should be reduced to 1 year at a CEGEP without losing eligibility to make it a level playing field for the rest of us. Look at 4th year high school rules and JC eligibility in the rest of the country. Trying to get an athletic scholarship is a competition.

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  2. athletics aside, what I read between the lines is the NCAA strongly implying a CEGEP graduate cannot keep up to the rest of their class academically

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  3. Note: aren't you bloggers journalists, i.e., should be following CP style?

    It's Quebec (no accent), and it most certainly is the Montreal Gazette (again, no accent).

    Very sloppy...

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  4. No disrespect, but (a) I'm a writer who has a blog and (b) what's very sloppy are the people who work in the media (never say "in the business," because we're not) who have never thought about doing it their own way. That mentality is part of what's killing daily journalism -- people who think it has to be done one way, like the TV correspondents who always sign off, "Charlie Upshot, CBC News."

    I know what your name is -- I saw it when they introduced the report. I know what channel I'm watching. So why did you waste 5 seconds of precious airtime telling me again? I can see where it made sense in the early days of broadcasting when the engineers needed a cue to know when someone was done, but it's really quite useless.

    Challenging what's conventional because you don't agree with it is more journalistic as far as I'm concerned, point being.

    CP Style once had the Qur'an as the Koran and the Mi'kmaq as the Micmac, so please, if we want to go my own way, that's our prerogative, because it's our blog.

    I'll concede your point on Montreal Gazette because that is the official name and it's an English-language paper. As far as I'm concerned, it should be Québec or Montréal. Those are French names, and it's a province and city where French speakers are the plurality. It's simple respect, in my mind.

    ESPN, which knows something about sports journalism, spells it Hawai'i not Hawaii and it also puts accents in the names of Latino ballplayers.

    My viewpoint is that for non-English placenames and people's names, you should use the accents if you know which ones are correct. We don't have the right to change it just because more people in North America speak English.

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  5. Hah, good grief, CP style. Never heard that one.

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