ANAHEIM, California -- Division II mixed football health and safety issues with its desire to simplify administration and came up with a little re-regulation to go with its previous deregulation.

After a series of legislative and parliamentary moves, Division II delegates to the Association's 97th annual Convention voted January 13 to move the start date for football practice to 21 days before the first permissible date of competition, which now will be the Thursday preceding September 1. However, they voted to leave the practice start date for other fall sports on August 10, a common date that was approved as part of Bylaw 17 deregulation at the 2002 Convention.

The principal issue involved the desire of the membership to approve new health and safety standards for preseason football practice that were included in Proposal No. 29. The standards were designed to address heat illness and included the establishment of a five-day acclimatization period for football practice and standards for the conduct of preseason activities after the acclimatization period.

However, as originally proposed, Proposal No. 29 would have limited the number of football practices beyond what they are now. That raised concerns from football coaches, who said that the number of workouts would be insufficient to condition players against traditional injuries such as knee and shoulder problems.

At first, delegates used an amended version of Proposal No. 36 to establish a practice start date 21 days before the first permissible date of competition in all fall sports. However, administrators became concerned about whether that amount of time was excessive for fall sports other than football.

"The Football Issues Project Team has made a compelling case for extra time because of the need for acclimatization," said Sharon Taylor, athletics director at Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania. "Now, for the sake of a common start date, we would pull the rest of fall sports to an earlier start date. The costs associated with that do not compel me to vote for this proposal. It would give us the potential for 56 to 84 practices for field hockey before the start of classes (using multiple practices each day) -- without the safeguards for heat that football will have."

The delegates reconsidered their original action and voted by a large majority to leave the practice start date on August 10 for fall sports other than football.

Although the decision means that one Bylaw 17 deregulation objective -- common practice start dates -- has been breached, it at least was compromised in a way that should not overly complicate the administration of fall practice seasons. Because the start date for football now will depend on the first permissible date of competition, the NCAA Manual will be able to include an actual date that will apply to all football-playing institutions. Had Proposal No. 36 passed as originally written, institutions would have had to count back 21 days from their first contest for all fall sports.

However, some post-Convention concern was expressed that the legislation as adopted could compress the practice schedule for schools that begin early, perhaps prompting coaches in fall sports other than football to conduct multiple practice sessions within a day when they otherwise might not have.

Presidential legislation

In general, form held at this Convention, as it has in Division II in every Convention since the Association restructured in 1997. Aside from Proposal No. 36-1, only one proposal sponsored by the Presidents Council was defeated. Proposal No. 27, which would have permitted an institution to provide six complimentary admissions to team members participating in conference championships, was defeated by a vote of 97-138-5 after the Division II Student-Athlete Advisory Committee claimed it would produce inequities that might affect recruiting.

Several important pieces of academic reform were approved, including Proposal No. 16, which increased the number of high-school core courses required for initial eligibility from 13 to 14 (effective in 2005) and Proposal No. 20, which increased progress-toward-degree requirements (effective in 2004).

The Legislation Committee continued with an unblemished record on legislative deregulation as all 11 of its Bylaw 14 deregulation proposals breezed to approval. The formal deregulation process is scheduled to conclude next year with examinations of Bylaw 12 and 16.

Other notable Presidents Council proposals to be approved were No. 7, which better defined the expectations of senior woman administrators, and No. 28, which established rugby and re-established equestrian as emerging sports for women.

In addition, delegates defeated Proposal No. 9, a membership proposal opposed by the Presidents Council that would have required an institutional compliance review once every 10 years by an outside agency.

Membership proposals

Of the remaining proposals, No. 33 featured the most debate. Delegates approved the proposal, which will exclude any state government grants awarded not based on athletics ability. Supporters said defeating the proposal would disadvantage student-athletes financially compared to the rest of the student body, but opponents said that the proposal would unfairly disadvantage institutions in states that do not have such programs and would potentially leave some student-athletes with financial aid exceeding a full grant-in-aid.

The membership also approved Proposal No. 37, which will move the first date of competition for fall sports to the Thursday preceding September 1. Previously, the first date was the Thursday preceding Labor Day.

Also, a resolution directing a review of Division II financial aid limits was approved