Redshirt (college sports)
Encyclopedia : R : RE : RED : Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics. Typically, a student-athlete has four years of eligibility in a given sport, to coincide with the standard four-year calendar for obtaining a bachelor's degree. The term redshirt is used when a student-athlete attends classes and practices with the team, however does not participate in competition. The student-athlete will not use one of the four years of eligibility in that season. Such a student-athlete is said to redshirt that athletic season. A student-athlete has five academic years to use the four years of eligibility.
There are multiple reasons a student-athlete may redshirt. A student-athlete may redshirt to gain a year of practice with the team prior to participating in competition. In football, a student-athlete may redshirt to add size prior to participating, as football tends to favor the larger players. As the college years coincide with the typical completion of physical maturity, using a year of eligibility in the fifth college year is generally more beneficial to the team and to the student-athlete's potential professional prospects than it is to use the same year of eligibility in the first college year. Commonly, an athlete will redshirt the first year of college, if the athlete is redshirting at all.
There is also a medical redshirt that may be obtained to replace a season lost to injury. A medical redshirt can be granted by the governing body for a season lost completely or almost completely to injury. A medical redshirt can allow a player to gain additional eligibility beyond the standard five academic calendar years.
The term redshirt freshman indicates an academic sophomore (second-year student) who is in the first season of athletic eligibility. A redshirt freshman is distinguished from a true freshman (first-year student) as one who has practiced with the team for the prior season. The term redshirt sophomore is also commonly used to indicate an academic junior (third-year student) who is in the second season of athletic eligibility.
According to Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged, the term "redshirt" is so called from the red jersey commonly worn by such a player in practice scrimmages against the regulars.
External links
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.