High School Sports Eligibility

To participate in high school athletic activities at Chicago Public Schools, including practice and competitions, students must be eligible based on general eligibility requirements and their grades.

General Eligibility for High School Students

A student is generally eligible for interscholastic sports when the Player Record Packet (including the current medical permission and concussion acknowledgment) of the student is on file at the school, and the student has been recorded in the sports module in Aspen by the school athletic director.

Even if a student meets scholastic eligibility requirements, there are other factors that impact student eligibility, such as:

Age

For varsity-level competition, a student will be ineligible to participate in a sport when he/she turns twenty (20) years old during the season of that sport. For sophomore-level competition, a student shall be in the first or second year of school attendance and shall not have reached the seventeenth (17th) birthday prior to September 1 of the current school year. For freshmen-level competition, a student shall be in the first year of school attendance and shall not have reached the sixteenth (16th) birthday prior to September 1 of the current school year.

Enrollment

The student must be enrolled in the school by the tenth (10th) day of the semester. A student is only allowed 8 semesters of athletic eligibility starting when the student first enrolls as a freshman. If a student has been out of school for some period of time, the term “past semester standing” shall be understood to mean the last semester of which the student was a member of any school for ten days or more.

Transfers

Once a student transfers to another school or into a school in the district, the student is ineligible for one calendar year from the date of enrollment in the new school or until a ruling for eligibility has been determined by the IHSA or the Office of Sports Administration.

Amateur Status

All student-athletes must be amateurs. Non-amateur student-athletes will be determined to be ineligible for the duration of their tenure at the school. An amateur is an individual who has never used his or her knowledge of athletics or athletic skill for pay in any form, and has never played on any team on which there are paid players.

Many situations can compromise amateur status, not limited to:

Accepting pay to perform athletically.
Accepting a promise to play in exchange for pay even after eligibility has expired.
Signing a contract or commitment to play professionally.
Competing on a team with professional athletes whether or not pay is involved.
Receiving awards for athletic performance/participation greater than $50.
Accepting remuneration by permitting the use of the student’s name or picture to advertise, recommend, or directly promote the sale or use of a commercial product or service of any kind.
Accepting remuneration by endorsing a commercial product or service through the individual’s use of such a product.
Appears or permits the use of his or her name, picture or likeness in any media, for the purpose to advance a commercial interest without expressed permission from CPS District Officials.
If a student’s name or likeness appears on commercial items without the permission of the student’s (parents’) knowledge, the student and parents must take steps to stop such activity to regain eligibility.

Clubs / Other Affiliations

While a member of a school team, an athlete shall not represent any out of school organizations in the sport during the formal IHSA season of that sport.