To clear an Orange County Public Schools student for sports, marching band, cheer, dance, or ROTC, you need to complete the OCPS sports physical form — the FHSAA EL2 Preparticipation Physical Evaluation — and upload page four to the district’s Aktivate portal before the first practice or tryout.1Orange County Public Schools Athletics. Forms Most families finish the medical piece in one doctor’s visit and the upload in a single online session.
Download the OCPS Packet
Get the forms from ocpsathletics.net/forms. The download is a single packet that contains the FHSAA EL2 and the OCPS Cardiology Report.1Orange County Public Schools Athletics. Forms Your school’s athletic department can also print copies. Don’t bring a generic sports physical from a walk-in clinic or an out-of-state form to the appointment; OCPS will not accept substitutes.2Apopka High School Band. ECG and Physical Information
Fill Out Pages 1 and 2 Before the Appointment
Pages one and two are the medical history section, and you and your student complete them at home. They ask about general health, heart health, bone and joint history, and a short mental-health screening called the PHQ-4.3Florida High School Athletic Association. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation One section covers family cardiac history — whether any close relative had sudden cardiac death, unexplained fainting, or a heart condition before age 50. Answer everything honestly; the provider uses your answers to decide what to look at more closely during the exam.
Both the student and a parent or guardian must sign pages one and two.4Florida High School Athletic Association. FHSAA Handbook – Bylaw 9.7.3 Bring documentation from any treating specialist if your student has a known orthopedic issue or a recent concussion, so the examining provider has the full picture.
What the Provider Completes: Pages 3, 4, and Sometimes 5
Page three is the physical exam itself: vitals (height, weight, blood pressure, pulse, vision), an assessment of the eyes, ears, heart, lungs, abdomen, skin, and neurological function, and a musculoskeletal screen covering neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees, and ankles.3Florida High School Athletic Association. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation
Page four is the one the school actually needs. The provider marks one of four outcomes: cleared for all sports without restriction, cleared after follow-up with a specialist, cleared for certain sports only, or not cleared.3Florida High School Athletic Association. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation This is the page you upload.
Page five only exists if the student is referred to a specialist. The specialist completes it after their own evaluation, and you upload it alongside page four once it’s done.
Who Can Sign the Form
Florida law lets five kinds of practitioners perform the evaluation: a licensed physician (MD), a licensed osteopathic physician (DO), a licensed chiropractic physician, a licensed physician assistant, or a certified advanced registered nurse practitioner.5Florida High School Athletic Association. FHSAA Handbook – Bylaw 9.7.2 The practitioner must be licensed in Florida and in good standing with their regulatory board.6Florida High School Athletic Association. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation
How Long It’s Good For
The signed EL2 is valid for 365 calendar days from the date the practitioner signs it, not from the date you upload it.3Florida High School Athletic Association. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation Once that window closes, the student cannot practice, try out, condition, or participate in any team activity, including off-season workouts.7Florida High School Athletic Association. FHSAA Handbook – Bylaw 9.7.1 Time the appointment so the physical covers the entire upcoming school year — a late April or May exam usually carries a student through the following spring season.
Don’t Forget the ECG
The EL2 alone isn’t enough at OCPS. Every high school student-athlete also needs an electrocardiogram screening once every four years, and the results go on the OCPS Cardiology Report form included in the same downloadable packet.1Orange County Public Schools Athletics. Forms A physician completes the form and marks whether the student is cleared or needs further cardiac evaluation.2Apopka High School Band. ECG and Physical Information
Incoming ninth graders and students new to the district need a fresh ECG even if they had one in middle school. For the 2025–2026 school year, OCPS accepts ECGs completed on or after April 1, 2025 for these students. A student who already completed the ECG during a previous year in an OCPS high school does not need to repeat it — one screening covers all four years.8Orange County Public Schools. Lake Nona High – Athlete Clearance OCPS periodically hosts free or low-cost campus screening events, which use the correct form; check the athletics site before booking a private appointment.1Orange County Public Schools Athletics. Forms
Gather the Rest Before You Log In
Aktivate won’t approve a registration on the physical alone. Have these scanned or photographed and ready:
- The student’s birth certificate.
- The front and back of the student’s health insurance card.
- The parent or guardian’s driver’s license or government ID.
- Completion certificates for three required National Federation of State High School Associations online courses, taken each school year.9Timber Creek Athletics. Online Athletic Clearance Information
Use a document-scanning app rather than a quick phone snapshot. Blurry uploads are the most common reason submissions get kicked back.10Kelly Park School. Athletics Home
Submit Through Aktivate
OCPS uses aktivate.com as its clearance system. If you had a Register My Athlete account from before the rename, your login still works; don’t create a second one.11Aktivate. How to Begin a Registration for a Sport
- Log in at aktivate.com, or click Create Account if you’re new. One parent account handles every child, even across different OCPS schools.
- Open the Parent Portal and start a registration.
- Search by state and school name and select the correct OCPS campus.
- Add the athlete, or pick an existing student profile.
- Choose the current academic year and every sport or activity the student plans to join. You can add more later if plans change.
- Work through the registration checklist. Upload page four of the EL2, the OCPS Cardiology Report, the birth certificate, insurance card, parent ID, and NFHS certificates, then read and electronically sign the consent forms and waivers.11Aktivate. How to Begin a Registration for a Sport
After You Submit
The status will show “Pending School Approval” once everything is in. The school’s athletic trainer reviews each submission to confirm the physical is current, the ECG is on file, and every document is legible. When approved, the status changes to “Cleared,” and the student can practice and compete.11Aktivate. How to Begin a Registration for a Sport
If something gets rejected, Aktivate flags the specific item. Fix that one thing and re-upload; you don’t have to redo the whole registration. Turnaround stretches during the summer rush before fall sports, so start a few weeks before the season if you can.
If the Provider Doesn’t Fully Clear Your Student
Not every exam ends in a clean page four. A provider may mark the student as eligible only after specialist follow-up, eligible for some sports but not others, or not eligible. Referrals often follow an abnormal ECG, a heart murmur, uncontrolled asthma, a concussion that hasn’t fully resolved, or an unhealed orthopedic injury.
When a referral happens, the specialist completes page five after their evaluation, and you upload it in Aktivate alongside page four.3Florida High School Athletic Association. Preparticipation Physical Evaluation Until that page is on file, the student cannot participate in any team activity, including light practices. Book the specialist appointment right away rather than waiting to see whether the season start forces the issue — that’s the delay that most often keeps a student on the sideline.