To complete the California Athletic Clearance Form, create an account at AthleticClearance.com, enter the student’s biographical, insurance, and physician information, upload a current pre-participation physical exam, sign the required health information sheets, and submit the packet for the athletic director’s review. The clearance is done once per school year and covers every sport the student plays that year. No student can try out, condition, practice, or compete until the portal shows a “Cleared” status, so start well before the first day of tryouts.
What to Have Ready Before You Log In
Fill out the portal in one sitting if you can. Pull together the student’s full legal name, date of birth, grade level, and school-issued ID number. You’ll also need emergency contact names and phone numbers and the primary care physician’s name, office address, and phone.
Have the family’s health insurance card in front of you. The portal asks for the provider name, policy number, and group number, all printed on the front of the card. If the family doesn’t carry private insurance and is using a school-offered student accident policy, enter those details instead. The insurance fields cannot be skipped.
The Pre-Participation Physical Exam
Every student athlete needs a current physical exam before the school will process clearance. Under CIF Bylaw 503.G, the exam must be performed by a licensed Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Physician Assistant, or Nurse Practitioner, and the practitioner’s statement must appear on a school-board-approved form for the current school year.1CIF. A Message to Student-Athletes – CIF Guide to Eligibility The exam is valid for 365 days from the date it is performed, but it must not expire at any point during the sport’s season. If it would lapse mid-season, schedule a new exam before the season’s clearance deadline.
The exam has two parts. Parents complete a medical history form first, noting past injuries, surgeries, chronic conditions, and family heart-health history. The practitioner uses that history during the hands-on evaluation, which focuses on cardiovascular function, musculoskeletal integrity, and any red flags from the history form. At the end, the practitioner marks the student as “Cleared,” “Cleared with Recommendations,” or “Not Cleared” and signs the form. Confirm the office stamp is also on the document. Schools reject uploads that are missing either the signature or the stamp.
Expect to pay roughly $35 to $65 out of pocket if your insurance doesn’t cover the visit. Many districts partner with local clinics to offer free or reduced-cost physicals during the summer; check the school’s athletic department page for dates. Book the appointment well before tryouts, not the week of.
Insurance Coverage the School Will Verify
California Education Code Section 32221 requires every school district to ensure that each athletic team member has insurance covering medical and hospital expenses from accidental injuries.2California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 32221 The statute allows a district-approved medical plan meeting specific accidental and major medical thresholds, a plan the Insurance Commissioner certifies as equivalent to at least $1,500 in coverage, or at least $1,500 in total coverage for all medical and hospital expenses.
Most families with an existing employer plan or a Covered California marketplace plan already meet those thresholds. The school verifies coverage during its review of your submission. If the family doesn’t carry health insurance, the district is required to offer a low-cost student accident policy; premiums vary by district and coverage level.
The Information Sheets You’ll Sign
California law requires the athlete and a parent or guardian to review and sign several health disclosures every year before practice or competition. These aren’t optional; the school cannot clear the student until each one is signed.
Concussion and Head Injury
Education Code Section 49475 requires that a concussion and head injury information sheet be signed and returned by both the athlete and a parent or guardian every year before the student begins practice or competition.3California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 49475 The sheet covers how to recognize concussion symptoms and the return-to-play protocol. A student removed from activity for a suspected concussion cannot return until a licensed health care provider gives written clearance. CIF recommends schools use its own Concussion Information Sheet.4California Interscholastic Federation. Concussions
Sudden Cardiac Arrest
Under the Eric Paredes Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act (AB 1639), schools must collect a signed sudden cardiac arrest information sheet for each student athlete every school year before participation.5California Department of Education. Eric Paredes Sudden Cardiac Arrest Prevention Act The sheet explains warning signs like fainting during exercise, unexplained shortness of breath, chest pain, and a racing heart rate. Education Code Section 33479.3 requires the school to collect and retain a copy before the student participates.6California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 33479.3
Opioid Factsheet
Education Code Section 49476, added by Senate Bill 1109, requires any school offering an athletic program to distribute the CDC’s Opioid Factsheet for Patients to each athlete every year.7California Legislative Information. California Education Code EDC 49476 The athlete, and a parent or guardian if the athlete is 17 or younger, must sign an acknowledgment of receipt and return it before practice or competition. The statute allows electronic handling, and most schools include it as a digital signature step in the portal.
Consent to Treat and Liability Acknowledgments
The packet also includes a consent-to-treat authorization and general liability acknowledgments. The consent form lets school staff arrange emergency medical care if an injury happens when a parent isn’t present. The liability acknowledgments confirm the family understands the physical risks of competitive sports. Both require a parent or guardian signature.
Submitting Through AthleticClearance.com
Most California schools use AthleticClearance.com as the central submission platform. Some districts pair it with HomeCampus, which digitizes school-specific forms and feeds them into the same portal.
- Create an account at AthleticClearance.com using the student’s name, school, and sport. Select the correct CIF section for your school; choosing the wrong one can delay processing.
- Complete the information fields for biographical data, emergency contacts, physician, and insurance.
- Upload the completed physical exam form as a scan or clear photo. The doctor’s signature and office stamp must be legible. Blurry or cropped images are a common reason for rejection.
- Sign each disclosure the portal presents: concussion, sudden cardiac arrest, opioid factsheet, consent to treat, and liability acknowledgment. The student and a parent or guardian both apply digital signatures where indicated.
- Review every section, then confirm and submit. The packet routes to the school’s athletic department for review.
If your school still uses paper forms, download the packet from the athletic department’s webpage, complete every page, and deliver it (physical exam included) to the athletic director’s office. Paper submissions tend to take longer to process.
What Happens After You Submit
The athletic director or a designated staff member checks that the insurance meets statutory requirements, the physical exam is current and properly signed, and every information sheet carries both student and parent signatures. Processing time depends on volume. Early in a season, when hundreds of athletes submit at once, the wait can stretch well beyond a few days, so submit as soon as the portal opens.
When the review is clean, the portal updates the student’s status to “Cleared” and sends an email confirmation. Coaches can see the status in the system. Save a screenshot or the email; it’s the fastest way to resolve any mix-up on the first day of practice.
If the review turns up a problem, the portal flags it so you can fix and resubmit. The most common issues are a physical that will expire mid-season, incomplete insurance fields, and a skipped digital signature page. Check each section before hitting submit.
Eligibility Rules That Sit Alongside the Clearance
Clearance through the portal is one piece of eligibility. CIF also enforces academic standards: students generally must maintain a minimum GPA and be enrolled in a required number of courses to compete. Grades are checked by grading period, so a cleared student can still lose eligibility if grades slip mid-season. Some CIF sections layer additional academic rules on top of the statewide baseline, so ask your athletic director for the exact requirements in your section.
Parents don’t sign a separate heat illness sheet in the clearance packet the way they do for concussions and cardiac arrest, but Education Code Section 35179.4 requires every school offering interscholastic athletics to maintain a written emergency action plan for medical emergencies, including heat illness, and to set temperature thresholds that trigger modifications to activity. If practice runs through a day that exceeds the district’s threshold, or the school has no posted emergency action plan, families can raise it with the athletic director or principal.