Athletic Eligibility

Every student who plays for the Benton Tigers must clear the eligibility rules of the Louisiana High School Athletic Association and Bossier Parish Schools. Health, age, grades, attendance, residency, the rules reach all of it. Sit down with a parent and read them before each season opens. Eligibility gets checked before a player ever takes the field, and a problem caught that late is a hard one to undo.

Academic eligibility

The LHSAA ties the right to compete to academic progress. To stay on track for graduation, you have to clear a minimum of coursework each grading period, and your current schedule must keep that progress steady. A slide in your core subjects puts the coming season at risk.

Grades count all year, not only the week a season opens. A single fall course gone wrong can cost you a spring sport. Because the counseling office reads athlete transcripts every grading period, word of a slipping grade reaches you while time remains to recover it.

College athletics adds a layer for juniors and seniors. The NCAA Eligibility Center maintains its own approved course list and works out a core grade point average of its own, apart from your school transcript. Headed that way? Register with the center during junior year, and take each course to your counselor to check against the approved list before you sign up.

Attendance

Attendance and eligibility move together. Taking part in a contest means being at school the day it happens, and a string of absences can send your eligibility into review.

Bossier Parish also fixes a minimum amount of class time per course for the credit. Forfeit a credit to absences and eligibility may follow it out the door. A sanctioned absence is fine, but clear it with your coach and the front office first. Miss school without an excuse on game day and the bench is where you will sit.

Age and enrollment

An age cutoff applies under LHSAA rules. A nineteenth birthday before September 1 ends your eligibility for high school competition that year. You also have to enroll within a set window at the start of the year and keep a full course load.

Eligibility covers eight straight semesters, timed from the day you first enter ninth grade. The count advances whether you compete or not, so plan four years of coursework around it.

Residency and transfers

Live in the Benton attendance zone without a break and you will usually clear the residency requirement without trouble. A transfer from another school faces a stricter set of LHSAA rules, and it can carry a waiting period before the player is cleared.

Weighing a move or a transfer? Phone the athletic office before you make it, not afterward. The athletic director can explain how a transfer bears on eligibility and which forms the LHSAA will expect.

The physical examination

No one practices or competes without a current sports physical on file. Once each school year, a licensed physician completes and signs the LHSAA physical form. The exam confirms a student is fit for the demands of the sport.

A physical done in spring or summer carries through the year ahead. Schedule it well before the first practice. Until the form comes in, a player misses every workout, and the season will not hold for it.

Concussion awareness

Concussion education is required under Louisiana law, and it covers athletes along with their parents and coaches. Each year, before any practice or game, a student and a parent go over concussion information together and sign an acknowledgment.

A player showing concussion symptoms leaves the contest immediately. Only written clearance from a licensed health care provider brings them back. The point is to guard a young athlete against a second injury, the one that does the lasting harm.

Sportsmanship and conduct

A Benton Tiger stands for the school in every contest. Good sportsmanship is the expectation the LHSAA and Bossier Parish hold for players, coaches, and the crowd alike. The conduct rules of the school, the team, and the LHSAA apply on the field and off it.

Serious or repeated misconduct can mean a suspension from competition. A program may layer on its own rules for practice, travel, and behavior, and signing onto the team means accepting them.

Forms a student-athlete must submit

A student and a parent complete and return these before the season opens.

• The LHSAA sports physical form, signed by a physician.
• The concussion information acknowledgment, signed by the student and a parent.
• The athletic participation and consent form.
• Any insurance or emergency contact form the athletic office requires.

Every form comes from the athletic office. Hand them all in before the first practice. One missing signature keeps a player on the sideline until the file is complete.

Questions

Call Benton High School at 318-759-2580, or visit 449 Fairburn Avenue, Benton, Louisiana 71006.