Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to delaying or suspending an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, a number derived from the four years of academic classes that are normally required to obtain a bachelor's degree at an American college or university. However, a student-athlete may be offered the opportunity to redshirt for one year which allows the athlete to spread those four years of eligibility over five years. In a redshirt year, a student athlete may attend classes at the college or university, practice with an athletic team, and dress for play but he or she may not compete during the game. Using this mechanism, a student athlete has up to five academic years to use the four years of eligibility, thus creating the phenomenon of the "fifth-year senior."
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