NCHC Eligibility Appeals

National Christian HomeSchool Championship Overview

The National Christian HomeSchool Tournaments have continued to grow since 2000.   This year we have 4 Regional Basketball Tournaments, a basketball tip-off Tournament, and National Tournaments for 7 sports—Basketball, Volleyball, Fall Soccer, Spring Soccer, Golf, Cross Country, and Track & Field.

The organizational structure of the National Tournaments is as follows:

Executive Committee –  This committee oversees all of the initial eligibility decisions, structural and financial decisions of Nationals, such as locations, dates, fees structure, programs “good standing” status, special events (All-American Game), and the selection process for other committees.

Regional Committee – The functions of this committee are to interact with local programs concerning eligibility and to suggest eligibility changes. The Regional Committee is also in put in place to rule on appeals to decisions made by other committees (Executive &/or EAB.) The Regional Committee typically consist of 6-12 members, when need arises this committee can be expanded to as many as 30 leaders. No boys or girls program will have more than 1 position. The members of this committee includes (but is not limited to) directors that are involved with running the NCHC Post Season Events.

Eligibility Advisory Board (EAB) – This board is being expanded this year. The members of the committee are made up of the coaches and athletic directors that attend the National Tournament. Currently the EAB has 400+ members.

The EAB has two primary functions:

  1. To vote on hardship eligibility appeals.*
  2. To offer advice, opinions, and vote on eligibility changes for upcoming season.*An eligibility appeal is when a player or team is denied a hardship exemption and wishes to file an appeal. All appeals are in writing and voting is done through e-mail.

Eligibility Advisory Board (EAB)

The EAB is made up of leaders, coaches, and administrators who represent teams from across the nation, that have or will attend NCHBC Post Season Events.

The reason for the EAB is, the NCHBC feels it is essential that HomeSchool Coaches, Directors, & Administrators are given an opportunity to have active role/voice influencing the rules and policies that their program has agreed to abide by.

When a family request a hardship the ruling they are sent is based on what we consistently enforce for all programs. If the hardship request has a precedent to be denied they will be informed their hardship has been denied, if the family appeals the ruling it is taken to the EAB for a vote.

The NCHBC strive’s for consistency and an equal playing field. As the landscape of HomeSchool Athletics has shifted over the past 26+ years there have been thousands of unique situations that require hardship exemption request.

When a vote is brought to you, the 500+ Member Eligibility Advisory Board (EAB), I remove the name of the players, team, talent of player, race, sex, etc. This removes any ability for potential false accusations of discrimination as well as keeps a fair and equal playing field for all teams.

The bottom line is, eligibility is the #1 threat in HomeSchool Sports. We believe that nothing can ruin a parent, player, coach, or fan experience than to have ineligible teams at our HomeSchool Basketball Events.

In the end we at the NCHBC believe that the EAB provides the opportunity for making sure our rules and policies reflect the vast majority of the teams/programs that attend our events. EAB members who vote help us both now & in the coming years to make sure that the integrity of HomeSchool Sports is kept in tact.

The NCHC ONLY handles eligibility exemptions or questions in writing, it does NOT handle the questions on the phone. Coaches, Athletic Directors, Parents, & Players if you have questions about an eligibility situation in your program and you have told the player has been granted an exemption ask to see it in writing. We are issuing this clarification statement because the last couple of years we have had 3 situations where coaches have told players that it was approved by Tim or Rob but we had not even heard of the situations. As players, coaches and parents it is your responsibility to make sure your team meets the eligibility requirements. Again all eligibility issues must be dealt with in writing, no exceptions.