U SPORTS CEnTRaL STUDEnT-aTHLETE USER GUIDE
INTRODUCTION WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT 2
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Table of Contents TaBLE OF COnTEnTS 5 6 8 10 15 17 18 Introduction Remarks from Graham Brown, CEO Remarks from David Goldstein, COO U SPORTS Central What is it and what happens next? General U SPORTS Information Instructions & Page Summaries U SPORTS National Championships Schedule FAQ U SPORTS Partners 3
Operations INTRODUCTION WE ARE UNIVERSITY WE ARE SPORT UNIVERSITY SPORT 4
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Introduction MESSAGE FROM THE CEO MESSAGE FROM THE COO Hello everyone, and welcome to the Student-Athlete Registration Centre on U SPORTS Central, our online member services portal. This is a time of tremendous growth and progress at U SPORTS, and we are confident that this exciting initiative will provide great benefits to our conferences and members, as well current and prospective studentathletes. With your valued cooperation and assistance, U SPORTS Central will allow us to be more effective from a compliance perspective, more efficient from a human resource perspective, and more sophisticated across the board. In short, U SPORTS Central constitutes a quantum leap in the efficiency and effectiveness of U SPORTS operations, allowing us to professionalise our primary and overarching mission - servicing and elevating the experiences of our student-athletes. From everyone here at U SPORTS, I thank you for your support as we continue to bring the organisation forward, together. On behalf of the U SPORTS staff, I am pleased to provide you with this user guide pertaining to the Student-Athlete Registration Centre on U SPORTS Central. To put it simply, this is a momentous step forward for the operations of U SPORTS. The Student-Athlete Registration Centre dramatically improves our ability to track and monitor recruiting, manage and oversee eligibility and compliance, enhance and modernise the collection and organisation of student-athlete information, and allow our organisation to be more capable and proficient in servicing our members and student-athletes. We at the U SPORTS national office are extremely excited about this initiative and the various benefits it yields for our student-athletes. As always, I look forward to hearing from you with any questions or feedback you may have as we continue to work together to modernise our organisation and grow university sports in Canada. GRAHAM BROWN, BHK, MHK President and Chief Executive Officer DAVID GOLDSTEIN, BSJ, LLB Chief Operating Officer 5
INTRODUCTION U SPORTS Central WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT U SPORTS Central What is it, and what happens next? WHAT IS IT? The implementation of U SPORTS Central is a momentous advancement for university sports in Canada, for a variety of reasons: ELIGIBILITY AND COMPLIANCE Eligibility is one of the foundations of our organisation, and U SPORTS Central is a substantial eligibility tool. Maintaining a fair and level playing field is of the utmost importance to U SPORTS, our members, and our student-athletes. U SPORTS Central greatly enhances our ability to collect, track, and monitor our student-athletes academic and athletic information, and in time will vastly improve U SPORTS ability to oversee and enforce its compliance mechanisms and policies, ensuring that recruitment and eligibility are governed more effectively and efficiently than ever before. That, in turn, will allow us to improve our mechanisms for ensuring that every student-athlete who competes in a U SPORTS event is eligible to do so. For student-athletes, this means greater peace of mind that the teams against which they are competing, or the programs by which they are being recruited, are all abiding by the rules that have been implemented to protect them. Due to the importance of these issues conceptually, and the recent implementation of revised and enhanced U SPORTS recruiting regulations, there is a greater need than ever for efficiency, especially with respect to compliance review - the utilisation of this sophisticated but easy-to-use technological advancement will address that need. UNDERSTANDING OUR STUDENT-ATHLETES U SPORTS Central is far more than just compliance software. For the first time ever, U SPORTS has the ability to collect, track, and analyse a set of historical data relating to its student-athletes. By building and developing this new source of institutional knowledge we can better understand who our student-athletes are, what they need, and how we can improve our ability to provide it to them. In short, we will be more informed and educated when making decisions that impact their lives and will be able to implement better tools for servicing their needs and elevating their experiences. Of course, we are sensitive to concerns individuals may have about the security and privacy of the data we collect, and we have revamped and enhanced our privacy policy accordingly. RECENT ADVANCES U SPORTS Central has many operational benefits to our student-athletes. It does or will soon streamline processes relating to athletic and academic awards, student-athlete and member communications, letters of intent, international programs, Athletic Financial Awards, and more. In short, U SPORTS Central has become a valuable multi-purpose tool a one-stop shop for all things U SPORTS. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? ALL recruits or prospective U SPORTS student-athletes, in ALL sports, will be required to register on U SPORTS Central. This includes recruits or prospective student-athletes in (M/W) basketball, (M/W) cross country, (M/W) curling, (W) field hockey, (M) football, (M/W) hockey, (W) rugby, (M/W) soccer, (M/W) swimming, (M/W) track & field, (M/W) volleyball, and (M/W) wrestling. This process entails your creating a personal and athletic profile (and receiving a unique U SPORTS Central Identification Number) that will follow you throughout your varsity career, as well as a one-time $50 CDN registration fee. 6
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT INTRODUCTION 7
Membership INTRODUCTION Landscape WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT U SPORTS by The Numbers 4 21 Conferences National Championships 12 Sports 43 Cities U SPORTS 8 8
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT INTRODUCTION Algoma University University of Alberta Brock University Brandon University Carleton University University of British Columbia 20 Schools 15 Cities University of Guelph Lakehead University Laurentian University McMaster University Nipissing University University of Ontario Institute of Technology University of Ottawa 17 Schools 14 Cities University of British Columbia Okanagan University of Calgary University of the Fraser Valley University of Lethbridge University of Manitoba MacEwan University Mount Royal University Queen s University Royal Military College of Canada Ryerson University University of Toronto Trent University University of Waterloo University of Western Ontario Wilfrid Laurier University University of Northern British Columbia University of Regina University of Saskatchewan Thompson Rivers University Trinity Western University University of Victoria University of Winnipeg University of Windsor York University Acadia University Bishop s University Cape Breton University Concordia University Dalhousie University Université Laval Memorial University of Newfoundland Mount Allison University Université de Moncton University of New Brunswick McGill University Université de Montréal Université du Québec à Montréal Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières 11 Schools 9 Cities University of Prince Edward Island Saint Mary s University St. Francis Xavier University 8 Schools 5 Cities Université de Sherbrooke St. Thomas University 56 Member Institutions 3,600+ Academic All-Canadians 700+ Head Coaches 14,000+ Student-Athletes U SPORTS 9 9
Instructions WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Instructions & Page Summaries These instructions will take you through the U SPORTS registration process. Your registration with U SPORTS is a mandatory step for competing in U SPORTS events, and the information you provide will help inform future U SPORTS decisions and improve the student-athlete experience for you, your peers, and the student-athletes that follow! During the registration, you will be asked to enter information relating to your academic and athletic history. Thank you for your time. The U SPORTS Team U SPORTS Central navigation instructions: At any point during the registration, you can return to a previous page by clicking on the navigation links on the left-hand side of the webpage. Do not click the BACK button on your web browser, as this will take you back to the home page. Any field with an asterisk is mandatory and you will not be able to proceed without filling it out. 1. To begin, visit U SPORTS Central at https://usportscentral.ca and select Student-Athlete. 10
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Instructions 2. Click on Register to start the registration process. You will need to read and accept the terms of the Statement of Consent in order to continue past this point. Click I Agree & Continue to start. 3. This will bring you to the Welcome page. After clicking Next, you will be able to begin the registration process. 4. You will be then asked to enter and confirm your email address and a captcha graphic. (NOTE: this graphic is case- sensitive.) Click on Begin Registration to have a Registration Code sent to the email address you entered above. If you do not receive your code within five minutes, please review your information to confirm it is correct and accurate. Once you have received the registration code, enter it and click Begin Registration to access the Acknowledgement and Consent form. 11
Instructions WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT 5. Next is the personal information page. Entering your date of birth will ensure that there is no confusion in the event of multiple users with the same name. In addition, inputting your phone number(s) and mailing addresses will enable U SPORTS to connect with you when necessary. You will be asked to enter your Permanent Address, that we define as the address you use to file your income taxes. U SPORTS will also ask you to confirm your citizenship status as certain programs limit the number of non-canadians or non-permanent Residents permitted to participate in that sport. 6. You will be then asked to fill out your academic information. This information will help U SPORTS better understand the academic background of its student-athletes and will be used by your university to assist with the eligibility verification process. 12
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Instructions 7. The next page will ask you to fill out your athletic information. This information will be used in conjunction with your academic information to determine your eligibility status. Please note that the year of eligibility will be confirmed by your university. You may enter up to three sports in which you are interested in participating at the U SPORTS level. When entering your previous team and league, please ensure that you Click to Save Entry to ensure that the information is captured by the database. 8. After clicking on Save & Continue from the Athletic Information page, you will be prompted to complete the Consent for U SPORTS Communications. Select either option to move to the Review Submission page. 9. At this point you will be able to review your submission and ensure that all information provided is accurate and true to the best of your knowledge. In the event that you are required to make corrections to the information you have entered, please use the navigation controls on the left-hand side of the page to go back to the appropriate section. Do not click on the BACK button on your web browser that will take you back to the home page. Once complete, click on NEXT 13
Instructions WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT 10. Arriving at the Payment page, you will be asked to enter the Cardholder name as well as their Card number. Please note that only VISA Credit and Debit, as well as MasterCard Credit and Debit payments are accepted by U SPORTS Central. Enter the Expiry Month and Expiry Year. Click on the Pay & Complete Registration link to process your payment. 11. You have now completed your registration and your U SPORTS ID will be sent to the email address provided. Please retain this number for your records as you will need it to log into U SPORTS Central to update your information and to register for future seasons. 14
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Schedule U SPORTS National Championships Schedule Fall SPORT FALL 2018 FALL 2019 FALL 2020 Thurs Nov 1-Sun Nov 4 Thurs Oct 31-Sun Nov 3 Thurs Nov 5-Sun Nov 8 FIELD HOCKEY (W) RUGBY (W) SOCCER (M) SOCCER (W) CROSS-COUNTRY (M&W) FOOTBALL Semi-Final (Mitchell Bowl) FOOTBALL Semi-Final (Uteck Bowl) FOOTBALL (Vanier Cup) City: TBD (OUA Champion) City: TBD (CW Champion) City: TBD (OUA Champion) Host: TBD (OUA Champion) Host: TBD (CW Champion) Host: TBD (OUA Champion) Venue: TBD (OUA Champion) Venue: TBD (CW Champion) Venue: TBD (OUA Champion) Thurs Nov 1-Sun Nov 4 Thurs Oct 31-Sun Nov 3 Thurs Nov 5-Sun Nov 8 City: Wolfville, N.S. City: TBD City: TBD Host: Acadia University Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: Raymond Field Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Thurs Nov 8-Sun Nov 11 Thurs Nov 7-Sun Nov 10 Thurs Nov 12-Sun Nov 15 City: Vancouver, B.C. City: TBD City: TBD Host: University of British Columbia Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: Thunderbird Stadium Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Thurs Nov 8-Sun Nov 11 Thurs Nov 7-Sun Nov 10 Thurs Nov 7-Sun Nov 10 City: Ottawa, ON City: TBD City: TBD Host: University of Ottawa Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: Gee-Gees Field Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Sat Nov 10 Sat Nov 9 Sat Nov 14 City: Kingston, ON City: Kingston, ON City: @ AUS Host: Queen's University Host: Queen's University Host: @ AUS Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Venue: @ AUS Sat Nov 17 Sat Nov 16 Sat Nov 21 City: CW @ OUA City: OUA @ CW City: CW @ RSEQ Host: CW @ OUA Host: OUA @ CW Host: CW @ RSEQ Venue: CW @ OUA Venue: OUA @ CW Venue: CW @ RSEQ Sat Nov 17 Sat Nov 16 Sat Nov 21 City: AUS @ RSEQ City: RSEQ @ AUS City: AUS @ OUA Host: AUS @ RSEQ Host: RSEQ @ AUS Host: AUS @ OUA Venue: AUS @ RSEQ Venue: RSEQ @ AUS Venue: AUS @ OUA Sat Nov 24 Sat Nov 23 Sat Nov 28 City: Québec City, QC City: Québec City, QC City: TBD Host: Université Laval Host: Université Laval Host: TBD Venue: Telus-UL Stadium Venue: Telus-UL Stadium Venue: TBD 15
Schedule WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT Winter SPORT WINTER 2019 WINTER 2020 WINTER 2021 Fri Feb 22-Sat Feb 23 Fri Feb 21-Sat 22 Fri Feb 26-Sat 27 WRESTLING (M&W) SWIMMING (M&W) BASKETBALL (W) BASKETBALL (M) TRACK AND FIELD (M&W) HOCKEY (W) HOCKEY (M) VOLLEYBALL (W) City: TBD (AUS/RSEQ) City: TBD (CW) City: TBD (OUA) Host: TBD (AUS/RSEQ) Host: TBD (CW) Host: TBD (OUA) Venue: TBD (AUS/RSEQ) Venue: TBD (CW) Venue: TBD (OUA) Thurs Feb 21-Sat 23 Thurs Feb 20-Sat 22 Thurs Feb 25-Sat 27 City: Vancouver, B.C. City: TBD City: TBD Host: University of British Columbia Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: UBC Aquatic Centre Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Thurs March 7-Sun 10 Thurs March 5-Sun 8 Thurs March 11-Sun 14 City: Toronto, ON City: Ottawa, ON City: Kingston, ON Host: Ryerson University Venue: Mattamy Athletic Centre Host: Carleton University & University of Ottawa Venue: TD Place and Ravens Nest Host: Queen's University Venue: Queen's Athletics & Recreation Centre Fri March 8 -Sun 10 Fri March 6-Sun 8 Fri March 12-Sun 14 City: Halifax, N.S. City: Ottawa, ON City: Halifax, N.S. Host: Dalhousie University Host: Carleton University & University of Ottawa Host: StFX University Venue: Scotiabank Centre Venue: TD Place and Ravens Nest Venue: Scotiabank Centre Thurs March 7-Sat 9 Thurs March 5-Sat 7 Thurs March 11-Sat 13 City: Winnipeg, Manitoba City: TBD City: TBD Host: University of Manitoba Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: James Daly Fieldhouse Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Thurs March 14-Sun 17 Thurs March 12-Sun 15 Thurs March 18-Sun 21 City: Charlottetown, P.E.I. City: Charlottetown, P.E.I. City: TBD Host: University of P.E.I. Host: University of P.E.I. Host: TBD Venue: MacLauchlan Arena Venue: MacLauchlan Arena Venue: TBD Thurs March 14-Sun 17 Thurs March 12-Sun 15 Thurs March 18-Sun 21 City: Lethbridge, AB City: Wolfville, N.S. City: TBD Host: University of Lethbridge Host: Acadia University Host: TBD Venue: ENMAX Centre Venue: Andrew H. McCain Arena Venue: TBD Fri March 15-Sun 17 Fri March 13-Sun 15 Fri March 19-Sun 21 City: Edmonton, AB City: TBD City: TBD Host: University of Alberta Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: Saville Community Sports Centre Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Fri March 15-Sun 17 Fri March 13-Sun 15 Fri March 19-Sun 21 VOLLEYBALL (M) CURLING (M&W) City: Québec City, QC City: TBD City: TBD Host: Université Laval Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: PEPS Venue: TBD Venue: TBD Fri March 15-Tues 19 City: Fredericton, N.B. City: TBD City: TBD University of New Brunswick Host: TBD Host: TBD Venue: Willie O'Ree Place Venue: TBD Venue: TBD 16
WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT FAQ Frequently Asked Questions Do all student-athletes have to register on U SPORTS Central? ALL recruits or prospective U SPORTS student-athletes, in ALL sports, are required to register on U SPORTS Central, our member services portal. This includes recruits or prospective student-athletes in (M/W) basketball, (M/W) cross country, (M/W) curling, (W) field hockey, (M) football, (M/W) hockey, (W) rugby, (M/W) soccer, (M/W) swimming, (M/W) track & field, (M/W) volleyball, and (M/W) wrestling. Do student-athletes have to re-register annually, or is it a one-time process? Each student-athlete will have to register once in their lifetime. When a student-athlete has registered on U SPORTS Central, that profile will cover all of that individual s U SPORTS activities, including participation in multiple sports, if applicable. When should a student-athlete register on U SPORTS Central? Student-athletes can register as early in their high school careers as they see fit. In the sport of football, a prospective studentathlete must register with U SPORTS Central prior to making an official visit to a U SPORTS member institution. In all other sports, a prospective student-athlete must register with U SPORTS Central prior to becoming a confirmed recruit (including signing a Letter of Intent), or before competing for a U SPORTS member institution. In short, if you want to participate in U SPORTS competition, you must be registered on U SPORTS Central. Is U SPORTS Central available in languages other than in English? Yes, U SPORTS Central available in French. Users may toggle back and forth between English and French using the En Fr icon on each page of the site. All automated emails received from the site will be sent in the user s chosen language. What is the cost of registering as a prospective student-athlete? Prospective student-athletes are required to pay a $50.00 (CAD) registration fee. Member institutions are NOT PERMITTED TO PAY on behalf of a prospective student-athlete or confirmed recruit. Do transfer student-athletes also have to register with the U SPORTS Central Student-Athlete Registration Centre? Every student-athlete who will be competing for a U SPORTS institution for the first time must be registered in the U SPORTS Central Student-Athlete Registration Centre. Accordingly, a student-athlete who did not register as a prospective student-athlete, and who is transferring from a non-u SPORTS institution to a U SPORTS institution would need to register. A student-athlete who is transferring between U SPORTS institutions would not need to register if the student-athlete had already done so as a prospective student-athlete or as a current student-athlete at his or her prior institution. For this reason, it is important to record and safe-keep your log-in and U SPORTS identification details. 17
Partners WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT THanK YOU TO OUR PaRTnERS SUPPORTERS SUPPLIERS MEDIA PARTNERS FUNDING PARTNER 18
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HEAD OFFICE 45 Vogell Road, suite 701 Richmond Hill, ON L4B 3P6 P: 905-508-3000 F: 905-508-4221 WE ARE UNIVERSITY SPORT