Road trips are a fact of life in sports — they should not interfere with studies

A few years ago, an athletic director in Washington was on the road with his school’s softball team when he realized that they’d forgotten something very important — the equipment bag.

“No helmets, no bats, balls, catcher’s equipment, nothing,” the AD recalled. The team was four and a half hours from their home.

Sound like a nightmare? Here’s a worse one: Students who participate on road trips like these often miss class, fall behind and, in some cases, don’t have another option to a more flexible schedule.

There are a lot of solutions for this problem, but the one that many school leaders continue to turn to is that They simply expect their student-athletes to work harder. 

“The problem is that these students are alreadyputting in countless hours of training on top of all of the things that every other student has to do,” said Graduation Alliance chief development officer Greg Harp. “On top of that, many student-athletes have to maintain jobs to help pay the fees that most districts now require of student-athletes.”

Online learning can help — but only if it is aligned with the NCAA Eligibility Center. 

“Student-athletes need the flexibility that an online NCAA-approved course can provide ,” Harp said. “And we are happy to be able to offer teacher-led courses with 24/7 tutoring to support them..”   

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Graduation Alliance provides NCAA-approved curriculum is focused on helping students meet stringent academic eligibility requirements.