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CSB's participation in the PSL could be among the last times the NCAA will allow its student-athletes to utilize their SGLs. PSL (file photo) |
MANILA--The ongoing PSL season and the early goings of the upcoming MPBL year could be the last time NCAA student-athletes would be allowed to play in the pros under special guest licenses.
The NCAA has joined the UAAP in not anymore allowing its homegrown players to play in professional leagues under SGL beginning Season 100.
According to a report by GMA News quoting NCAA management committee member Peter Cayco of Arellano, this is basically a re-implementation of an old rule in which the league's student-athletes are not allowed to play in the pro leagues unless they forgo their remaining playing years.
The Games and Amusements Board, the national governing body for professional sports, introduced the SGL during the COVID-19 pandemic to give collegiate players a chance to play in the pros without losing their amateur statuses, especially since only pro leagues were allowed to play during that time inside bubbles.
The NCAA was the first known league to forge an agreement with GAB for the SGL, paving the way for its student-athletes to suit up in the MPBL beginning with the 2021 Invitational.
The SGL's effect on the NCAA peaked during the 2022 and 2023 MPBL and PSL seasons when a bunch of key players from the NCAA's member schools got to play in the said regional leagues, although they were called back to their collegiate teams immediately by the start of the NCAA calendar.
The 2024 PSL season even saw the College of St. Benilde playing in the league as virtually an entire unit, although incoming transfer recruits Justine Sanchez and Tony Ynot are suiting up for pro club Davao Occidental.
Only the UAAP decided not to adhere to the SGL rule when it was first implemented, forcing former University of the Philippines star Juan Gomez De Liano to turn pro immediately upon joining the 2020 Chooks-To-Go Pilipinas 3x3 bubble in Calamba.
Now, the NCAA is also tightening up on fully keeping their student-athletes amateur since according to Cayco, Philippine sports are back to normal.
Another old rule that will be implemented again starting NCAA Season 100 is the grade cut-off in which the student-athletes must have a final grade of at least 60 percent to keep their academic eligibility intact.
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